Big Chief by Jon Hickey

 

Another really good novel--and this one by an author entirely new to me. I think this is his debut, so probably new to just about everyone. It's kinda interesting to read a novel about indigenous folk that's not really any kind of genre novel, but this was a pleasant read. Clearly has lots to say about family and culture and relationships and politics and power, and there are some obvious overlaps with current broader American politics; the stories of the novel always take precedence, though. I kept getting flashes of Bright Light, Big City, which seemed kinda out of place for a novel set in a far-from-the-big-cities reservation ... then there was a chapter in a slightly surreal second-person-present-tense voice. So, yeah, there's that going on. Differentiated and believable characters, solid prose. I wouldn't say the story is exactly fun, but there's real tension and release, though the main is definitely left in a position I'd describe as pending. That's fine, though.