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The Buffalo Soldier
The Buffalo Soldier | Chris Bohjalian
7 posts | 16 read | 17 to read
With his trademark emotional heft and storytelling skill, bestselling author Chris Bohjalian presents this resonant novel about the formation of an unconventional familythe ties that bind it, and the strains that pull it apart. Two years after their twin daughters died in a flash flood, Terry and Laura Sheldon, a Vermont state trooper and his wife, take in a foster child. His name is Alfred; he is ten years old and African American. And he has passed through so many indifferent families that he cant believe that his new one will last. In the ensuing months Terry and Laura will struggle to emerge from their shell of grief only to face an unexpected threat to their marriage; Terrys involvement with another woman. Meanwhile, Alfred cautiously enters the family circle, and befriends an elderly neighbor who inspires him with the story of the buffalo soldiers, the black cavalrymen of the old West. Out of the entwining and unfolding of their lives, The Buffalo Soldier creates a suspenseful, moving portrait of a family, infused by Bohjalians moral complexity and narrative assurance. BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Chris Bohjalian's The Light in the Ruins.
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Lcsmcat
The Buffalo Soldier | Chris Bohjalian
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Pickpick

I think I‘m a little bit in love with Alfred and his borrowed horse Mesa. There was a lot in here to take in, including especially the epigraphs before each chapter. But a huge theme for me was how many lives can be affected/damaged/upended by one bad choice. #authoramonth @Soubhiville

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ChrisBohjalian
The Buffalo Soldier | Chris Bohjalian
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“It rained throughout September and October, and people made jokes about biblical floods before the Sheldon girls drowned.” So begins my novel, The Buffalo Soldier. It was published 17 years ago this week.

JazzFeathers Congrats!!! And fantastic opening!!! 6y
48 likes1 comment
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ChrisBohjalian
The Buffalo Soldier | Chris Bohjalian
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It was 20 years ago today that a punishing rainstorm caused flash floods across Vermont, and rampaging water washed away two steel bridges across the New Haven River in my little village. It also inspired this novel about a foster child, his foster parents, two remarkable neighbors — and a horse.

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Jas16
The Buffalo Soldier | Chris Bohjalian
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Four books I have actually read that have an #occupationintitle. #anditsaugust

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ChrisBohjalian
The Buffalo Soldier | Chris Bohjalian
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"He was, as far as he could tell, the only black child for miles, and that didn't help, either. He wasn't just the new foster kid, he was the black foster kid." -- from THE BUFFALO SOLDIER, because May is National Foster Care Month.

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ChrisBohjalian
The Buffalo Soldier | Chris Bohjalian
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“A day doesn't go by when I don't look at them, she said. I can't have them up on the kitchen refrigerator or in a frame in the bedroom -- I just can't do it, I just can't run into them casually when I'm supposed to be doing something else -- but I also can't last a day without seeing them.” -From THE BUFFALO SOLDIER, published 15 years ago this month.

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Soubhiville
The Buffalo Soldier | Chris Bohjalian
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I love this story #setinasmalltown in Vermont, as most of Chris Bohjalian's books are. A white police officer and his wife adopt a 10 year old black child, who isnt aware of the complicated situation he's moving into.

I'm also incredibly excited to see Mr Bohjalian speak at the TX Book Festival today and hopefully get a couple of books signed! He's been one of my favorite writers since the mid 90's!

#photoadaynov16 #txbookfestival

ChrisBohjalian Color me honored. Thank you so very much! 8y
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