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The Hiawatha: A Novel
Recently widowed, and encouraged by government relocation schemes to move Native Americans off their reservations, Betty takes her four young children from their Ojibwe roots to make a new life in Minneapolis. As Betty struggles to keep her family and her dignity intact, her younger son Lester finds romance on the soon-to-be-demolished train, The Hiawatha, while his older brother Simon secretly protects his mother by taking a dangerous job as a construction worker, scaling the heights of the skyscrapers that, once completed, will never welcome him.
Twenty years later, Simon is released from prison for a horrible crime of passion. His return to Minneapolis sets in motion the dramatic, inevitable conclusion to one family's ceaseless fight to survive.
An elegy to the American dream, and to the sometimes tragic experience of the Native Americans who helped to build it, The Hiawatha is both a moving portrait of a family, and a fast-paced, page-turning literary mystery of murder and redemption.
David Treuer more than delivers on the promise he displayed in his acclaimed first novel, Little, and confirms his reputation as one of the most talented and original writers of his generation.
Twenty years later, Simon is released from prison for a horrible crime of passion. His return to Minneapolis sets in motion the dramatic, inevitable conclusion to one family's ceaseless fight to survive.
An elegy to the American dream, and to the sometimes tragic experience of the Native Americans who helped to build it, The Hiawatha is both a moving portrait of a family, and a fast-paced, page-turning literary mystery of murder and redemption.
David Treuer more than delivers on the promise he displayed in his acclaimed first novel, Little, and confirms his reputation as one of the most talented and original writers of his generation.
327 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 28, 1999
16 people are currently reading
465 people want to read
About the author
David Treuer
14 books424 followersDavid Treuer is an Ojibwe Indian from Leech Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota. He is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize, and fellowships from the NEH, Bush Foundation, and the Guggenheim Foundation. He divides his time between his home on the Leech Lake Reservation and Minneapolis. He is the author of three novels and a book of criticism. His essays and stories have appeared in Esquire, TriQuarterly, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, Lucky Peach, the LA Times, and Slate.com.
Treuer published his first novel, Little, in 1995. He received his PhD in anthropology and published his second novel, The Hiawatha, in 1999. His third novel The Translation of Dr Apelles and a book of criticism, Native American Fiction; A User's Manual appeared in 2006. The Translation of Dr Apelles was named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post, Time Out, and City Pages. REZ LIFE is his newest book and is now out in paperback with Grove Press.
Treuer published his first novel, Little, in 1995. He received his PhD in anthropology and published his second novel, The Hiawatha, in 1999. His third novel The Translation of Dr Apelles and a book of criticism, Native American Fiction; A User's Manual appeared in 2006. The Translation of Dr Apelles was named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post, Time Out, and City Pages. REZ LIFE is his newest book and is now out in paperback with Grove Press.
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
September 8, 2015
Perhaps one of the first books by David Treuer that I ever read. I originally read this back in 2008 while I was attending community college.
To be perfectly honest, I remembered very little about it. I felt this way about a lot of other books I had to read for classes such as Emma Bovary and John Tanner's The Falcon. But re-reading The Hiawatha made me realize that there are different themes that make its stories much more complex than I originally thought. Being an Ojibwe, like Treuer, I can relate to such themes as "loss of identity" and "loss of a loved one". However, when I tied these themes into how the world was changing around the main characters-- Simon, Betty, One-Two, etc.-- I began to see that something more lies underneath the surface.
I believe that Treuer wanted his readers to get a glimpse of what Ojibwe life was like in the 1960s, 70s, 80s... This is the life of a family; an Ojibwe family living in Minneapolis. Wow! I know where that is. It kind of draws into the illusion or (dare I say) belief that we are all related and that we share a common emotion when we mourn for our loved ones.
We teach that Ojibwe mourning lasts a year. But this is a lie. Mourning can last our own lifetime; it can eat away at it, consume it, bleed it. This is true for Betty who never really believes or forgives her son. Simon, on the other hand, is hardened by his losses, becomes unshaken... and loses a bit of himself each time. When his father dies, he loses his language and his culture; they move away from the reservation and never speak Ojibwe again, never partake in cultural activities again. When Lester dies, he loses family: Simon goes to jail, Betty becomes distance, one of his sisters is killed in a car accident and the other moves away, never to be seen throughout the story.
Regardless, Treuer's the Hiawatha is a very much recommended novel especially if you are interested in Ojibwe fiction. So much is tied to the struggle of Ojibwe people.
To be perfectly honest, I remembered very little about it. I felt this way about a lot of other books I had to read for classes such as Emma Bovary and John Tanner's The Falcon. But re-reading The Hiawatha made me realize that there are different themes that make its stories much more complex than I originally thought. Being an Ojibwe, like Treuer, I can relate to such themes as "loss of identity" and "loss of a loved one". However, when I tied these themes into how the world was changing around the main characters-- Simon, Betty, One-Two, etc.-- I began to see that something more lies underneath the surface.
I believe that Treuer wanted his readers to get a glimpse of what Ojibwe life was like in the 1960s, 70s, 80s... This is the life of a family; an Ojibwe family living in Minneapolis. Wow! I know where that is. It kind of draws into the illusion or (dare I say) belief that we are all related and that we share a common emotion when we mourn for our loved ones.
We teach that Ojibwe mourning lasts a year. But this is a lie. Mourning can last our own lifetime; it can eat away at it, consume it, bleed it. This is true for Betty who never really believes or forgives her son. Simon, on the other hand, is hardened by his losses, becomes unshaken... and loses a bit of himself each time. When his father dies, he loses his language and his culture; they move away from the reservation and never speak Ojibwe again, never partake in cultural activities again. When Lester dies, he loses family: Simon goes to jail, Betty becomes distance, one of his sisters is killed in a car accident and the other moves away, never to be seen throughout the story.
Regardless, Treuer's the Hiawatha is a very much recommended novel especially if you are interested in Ojibwe fiction. So much is tied to the struggle of Ojibwe people.
September 22, 2014
The writing is very good for the most part. Dense, detailed, metaphorical descriptions are very evocative, although they are also unrelentingly dark and depressing. But the book - descriptions, plot, characters - is an exercise in misery. About 60 pages from the end, something nice happens -- which is absolutely terrifying, because, given all that has gone before, there is no reason at all to think that it will end well.
There are some oddities in the writing - within paragraphs and even within sentences, the author changes tense from past to present and vice versa, without regard to any grammatical rules. Maybe it is a stylistic choice, or some sort of commentary on the fluidity of time, but if it is, it is obscure.
There are some oddities in the writing - within paragraphs and even within sentences, the author changes tense from past to present and vice versa, without regard to any grammatical rules. Maybe it is a stylistic choice, or some sort of commentary on the fluidity of time, but if it is, it is obscure.
February 21, 2014
The story of Minneapolis and the Native Americans who were encouraged to come to the city to work the high beams in the construction of buildings like the IDS tower. One might say that Minneapolis is one of the characters. Anyone who lives in the Twin Cities area will recognize place names, streets, the changing face of the downtown. There is such a wealth of local history here, but it's nothing compared to the story of Simon and his family. A sad novel but with moments that transcend. I think I won't forget this novel and the stories of its characters any time soon.
November 17, 2021
I've read past works of David Treuer before, but this is the very first time that I've picked up any of his published fiction. And I'm quite glad that I did, for as excellent as his nonfiction writing is, I have now discovered that his fiction prose can be absolutely next-level. It completely wrapped me up deep within an unforgettably tragic tale of the losses and traumas of a single Ojibwe family and the greater story that it tells of the urban experience as lived by many native Americans in the mid to late 20th century.
Also - I didn't expect to encounter an immediate example of the injustices and challenges still faced by America's indigenous peoples, but as I typed the words above, my browser highlighted Ojibwe as an unrecognized or misspelled word. Ojibwe - as in one of the largest indigenous groups in North America. There's a lot of words that I could attempt to spill here, but I think I will just let that little happening silently speak its own volumes.
Also - I didn't expect to encounter an immediate example of the injustices and challenges still faced by America's indigenous peoples, but as I typed the words above, my browser highlighted Ojibwe as an unrecognized or misspelled word. Ojibwe - as in one of the largest indigenous groups in North America. There's a lot of words that I could attempt to spill here, but I think I will just let that little happening silently speak its own volumes.
October 16, 2022
It took me a while to get a hang of what Treuer was going for in this novel, set in Minneapolis in the 1980s, but once I did, I was hooked. Our protagonist is Simon, an Ojibwe released from Stillwater prison for murdering his brother. We follow his attempts to reconnect with his family (it doesn't go well!), but Treuer's scope expands beyond Simon to his family, his friends, and the sheer hopelessness of their dispossessed community. Simon is a great character - silent and shut down and trying hard not to screw up again, knowing full well that he will. There are a lot of absurd but harrowing set pieces - from a drunken prank on a frozen lake that goes disastrously wrong, to an attempt to poach walleye that goes even more disastrously wrong. Looming over it all is the story of the construction of the IDS skyscraper, where Indians were used for the more dangerous tasks (it was theorized they had a special gene that gave them better balance). Like the titular train car, The Hiawatha, which was decomissioned and left to decay after it outlasted its use, Simon and the other characters struggle to find a place of safety. Finally, this book has an astonishing sense of place, brilliantly evoking Minneapolis in the 80s, which obviously was a huge appeal for me.
December 3, 2024
It’s tough to recommend this book without reading it as a part of a class because A lot of the deeper meaning was helped by what I was being fed during my class, but…
David Treuer has just a powerful way of writing about Minneapolis that makes it feel so real, in a way that I feel living in it right now. It’s cool to feel that because I’ve not read many novels using someplace I live as a setting.
His charcters are beautifully written and his prose is what hooked me.
I did get bored in some places as the plot did not always keep my attention, but it’s nice to read a Ojibwe perspective that dose not say the same things as all the Natuve American media that I’ve consumed before this.
4.5/5
David Treuer has just a powerful way of writing about Minneapolis that makes it feel so real, in a way that I feel living in it right now. It’s cool to feel that because I’ve not read many novels using someplace I live as a setting.
His charcters are beautifully written and his prose is what hooked me.
I did get bored in some places as the plot did not always keep my attention, but it’s nice to read a Ojibwe perspective that dose not say the same things as all the Natuve American media that I’ve consumed before this.
4.5/5
August 16, 2008
this is a deceptively great second novel. perhaps a re-telling of the biblical story of Cain & Abel. perhaps. but a story of urban native americans dealing w/ the legacy of Eisenhower's "termination policy." in america. a brave novel full of heart break, despair and dead ends. becuz sometimes the promise of the american dream can sometimes amount to, and lead to, one big elusive fucked-up dead end.
this is i dare say a great novel written by a class-act asshole. but it is still a great novel nonetheless.
this is i dare say a great novel written by a class-act asshole. but it is still a great novel nonetheless.
July 21, 2010
I liked "Little" better. I found the book almost too sad at times, although moving. I also loved that it was set in Minneapolis, except that there was so much detail that I was distracted by trying to remember the streets myself.
April 24, 2020
The bleak, unrelenting, story of a family trapped by poverty, addiction, and incomprehension into unthinkable choices, against a backdrop of urban “renewal.” I’ve discovered a new favorite author, and look forward to reading more of his work.
November 9, 2009
A great and sad novel. A native author whose style is intoxicating.
October 25, 2015
Book Club pick. Good story about the struggles of the Native Americans, in Mpls, in the 60s and 70s.
December 22, 2021
As I read this book, I gradually reduced the number of stars I was planning to give it from 5 stars to 3. The book tells the story of the Indian Simon and his family. Simon starts out as a partly likeable character, who, we are told, was responsible for the death of his brother, Lester, but we don't find out the true story until almost the end. Simon gradually transforms into a violent character and I struggled to detect any likeable traits in him, but failed. His mother Betty and her ever-loyal friend One-Two are the only characters in the book who reach out to the reader in a positive way.
Treuer's use of language is great ! He is certainly a master of description, though sometimes, his use of verbs seems a little contrived. I'm not sure if his chaotic use of the present and past tenses, sometimes in the same paragraph, is intentional or just slipped the lector's notice.
The description of the reservation and the life of the modern Indians is surely true-to-life, though it sometimes seems as if there is absolutely no beauty in the world, everything is extremely run-down, dreary, poor.
There are plenty of missing explanations. Where did Irene come from so suddenly? We never find out. She seems to be a ghost. The violence towards the end made me cringe, the ending is open, the reader does not feel that Simon will ever get out of his rut.
The title The Hiawatha is curious. The Hiawatha is only mentioned about two or three times, not enough for the reader to make a connection, except for the couple of scenes in the train. There is a lack of really likeable, positive characters, except for Betty and One-Two, which comes at the end as if Treuer desperately needed to find something good to say and needed it quickly.
A book that gets you thinking, but has plenty of flaws.
Treuer's use of language is great ! He is certainly a master of description, though sometimes, his use of verbs seems a little contrived. I'm not sure if his chaotic use of the present and past tenses, sometimes in the same paragraph, is intentional or just slipped the lector's notice.
The description of the reservation and the life of the modern Indians is surely true-to-life, though it sometimes seems as if there is absolutely no beauty in the world, everything is extremely run-down, dreary, poor.
There are plenty of missing explanations. Where did Irene come from so suddenly? We never find out. She seems to be a ghost. The violence towards the end made me cringe, the ending is open, the reader does not feel that Simon will ever get out of his rut.
The title The Hiawatha is curious. The Hiawatha is only mentioned about two or three times, not enough for the reader to make a connection, except for the couple of scenes in the train. There is a lack of really likeable, positive characters, except for Betty and One-Two, which comes at the end as if Treuer desperately needed to find something good to say and needed it quickly.
A book that gets you thinking, but has plenty of flaws.
July 7, 2020
It is was a pleasure to witness the lives of Simon, Lester, Lincoln and Betty unfold. This book is a complex and emotionally-riveting knot. Many chapters have a complete story arch and can be read on their own, such as the chapter where Simon runs alone in the woods. What the book shows is that the Native American experience is the American experience, and it was not cast aside for America's capitalism to show, that cities such as Minneapolis, were actually built by Native American construction workers. The book doesn't shy from the violent, or its characters' worst fears. Worth going back to. Over and over again.
January 18, 2021
Indigenous Family trauma
This is a hard book, but these characters are mostly up to it. The spotlight, for me, was the trickery of the US government inducing the Indigenous peoples away from their homes, and the dominoes fall.
I had the immense pleasure of hearing the Author talk last night via the Well-Read Native Book Club. I wondered why he didn’t give translations for the Ojibwa spoken in the story. His response was the characters are remembering special moments that were spoken in their native language. Also there are Many examples of authors not supplying translations, he’s not alone.
Why Doesn’t google translate offer Ojibwe for Translation?! It’s a North American Language and has been since Way Before “Americans” got here!
This is a hard book, but these characters are mostly up to it. The spotlight, for me, was the trickery of the US government inducing the Indigenous peoples away from their homes, and the dominoes fall.
I had the immense pleasure of hearing the Author talk last night via the Well-Read Native Book Club. I wondered why he didn’t give translations for the Ojibwa spoken in the story. His response was the characters are remembering special moments that were spoken in their native language. Also there are Many examples of authors not supplying translations, he’s not alone.
Why Doesn’t google translate offer Ojibwe for Translation?! It’s a North American Language and has been since Way Before “Americans” got here!
August 7, 2022
I enjoyed the book a lot. The characters revel themselves bit by bit for the reader and where they are, mostly in the city of Minneapolis, matters. The built environment is key and Treuer’s writing pulls in a good dose of place making to create and influence the setting. I can picture the places he describes and think that helped my reading. The characters and the challenges they face are memorable and as find myself mulling over them after I have finished.
October 20, 2023
Gut-wrenching. Raw and poignant. Graphic. I want to burn it and never have to think of it again, but, at the same time, I need to share it with everyone and can’t tear my eyes away from a single second.
April 9, 2019
I forgot to review this book after I finished it last week, not the best we've read for class, but I enjoyed it. I think it' something I'd need to read again to fully appreciate.
April 6, 2020
David Treuer held my attention with poetry and words from all corners of vocabulary. His description of Minneapolis will serve as an outdated roadmap when I visit. A beautiful book.
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February 25, 2023so damn good!
February 13, 2024
2.75 ⭐️
May 2, 2024
Insane. Treuer’s prose is to die for.
May 29, 2008
Treuer's prose is a bit heavy handed in this novel, but the story was interesting. It's about a man returning to his old neighborhood in South Minneapolis after serving a sentence of 15 years for killing his brother. The narrative weaves in and out of the past and present and focuses on the work American Indians did on the IDS tower, the poverty they experienced after being coaxed away from reservations and into the city, and what it feels like to go back.
I especially enjoyed the chapter where Simon gets lost in the woods after fleeing from the DNR. It was probably the only chapter where Treuer's prose style really worked. I can imagine it standing alone as a short story.
This novel wasn't nearly as good as Dr. Appelles, but it's neat to see how much he's grown as an author.
I especially enjoyed the chapter where Simon gets lost in the woods after fleeing from the DNR. It was probably the only chapter where Treuer's prose style really worked. I can imagine it standing alone as a short story.
This novel wasn't nearly as good as Dr. Appelles, but it's neat to see how much he's grown as an author.
May 10, 2014
This is a complex, well written novel. Set in the years following the termination period of 1950s American Indian policy, when thousands of Native Americans left reservations in northern Minnesota to settle along Minneapolis's Franklin Ave. Treuer explores the struggle to create new lives in the city and the ongoing connection his protagonists have to their home "up north."
May 26, 2010
David Treuer was my English Prof. and his charasmatic personality is demonstrated well in his writing. The narrative is powerful. This is one of the best books I have read this year.
Currently reading
July 10, 2011Enjoying this novel based in an American Indian neighborhood in Minneapolis by local writer Treuer.
January 2, 2015
David Treuer can sure write!
December 19, 2024
★★★✩✩
2.5/5 - rounded up
Quite a melancholy read, but kept my interest enough to finish as I wanted to see it through. Some parts were a little hard to follow, but an OK read overall.
2.5/5 - rounded up
Quite a melancholy read, but kept my interest enough to finish as I wanted to see it through. Some parts were a little hard to follow, but an OK read overall.
July 19, 2016
interesting, well-written, and depressing
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews