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A River Out of Eden
A River Out of Eden | John Hockenberry
1 post | 2 to read
On a night of torrential rain, a warrior appears near the Colombia River, where the Chinook people thrived before the hydroelectric dams came and changed their entire way of life. He has come to reclaim the river, to return it to its original majesty. Soon after, government employees are found murdered with elaborate harpoons. As the body count grows, Francine Smohalla, a government marine biologist of Chinook and white descent, embarks on her own investigation of the bizarre murders. As she desperately tries to find the killer and prevent any other murders, she finds herself spinning in the convergence of ethnic hatreds between Indians and whites, an unlikely relationship with a kindred spirit whose troubled life has led him to contemplate terrorism and apocalypse, an ancient prophecy about the return of her beloved salmon, and the giant dams on the Columbia that loom large and as seemingly immovable as the mountains themselves. A River Out of Eden is a gripping literary thriller straight from todays headlines set against the uniquely American contradictions of the Pacific Northwest.
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SamAnne
A River Out of Eden | John Hockenberry
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1. I‘m trying to let go of more books. I give them away or take them to a wonderful local used bookstore and get credit. 2. It all depends on the book. 3. I rarely DNF. I usually commit to a book. Perhaps the last DNF is the tagged book. A book with Native American characters written by an arrogant white guy with no relationship to the tribal communities he wrote about. ⬇️

SamAnne In the foreword or acknowledgements he mentions that for some reason he couldn‘t get the tribal people to share their stories with him. Gee, wonder why. Was not surprised when the NPR reporter/writer got taken down in a #metoo situation. Ugh. 4y
ravenlee Ugh, even the synopsis sounds arrogant and awful. 4y
BookishMe @SamAnne now I am curious what even prompted towards writing the book? 4y
SamAnne @BookishMe Good question. A white guy w/ no connection to tribal people thinking he can pull off great fiction featuring tribal characters? The opposite of Hockenberry's ridiculous book is anything by NW author Craig Lesley, who grew up on the Warm Springs reservation and had permission to write his beautiful novels set in Indian Country. His novel Winterkill introduced me to the tragedy of Dalles Dam drowning Celilo Falls on the Columbia. 4y
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