^ Seems like a final insult that Jim Thorpe was portrayed on film by Burt Lancaster, who didn’t have a drop of Native American blood in him. But those were the times. (Lancaster also played an Indian in “Apache.”)
Slightly off-topic: See the description under “Sitting Bull” in the link above. I remember those “Crying Indian” commercials so well. I had no idea that the actor (Iron Eyes Cody) had pulled the wool over everybody’s eyes and was actually born Espera Oscar de Corti to Italian immigrant parents.
Back on topic: I agree @jerseysouthmomchess, I think William Kent Krueger was likely influenced by Jim Thorpe’s story when creating the character of Mose – with his natural athletic grace and foray into Major League Baseball.
I was amused by this way of trying to walk the line between realism and magical-realism. I think I still ended up on the slightly irritated line there, but there was so much to like in the book I didn’t let it bother me.
I felt a bit dumb about not realized Odie was short for Odysseus. It’s the classic journey tale of the hero trying to get home. (And I’m fine with defining Odie’s killing DiMarco as heroic.) I’d have to go look at the Odyssey again, but surely we meet sirens, and Circe and pigs, as he tries to get home.
It’s interesting that he chose a fictional name for his river. There’s a lot to ponder in its choice from the Biblical origins to its use in more recent fiction. I see that according to Wikipedia.
In Hebrew, גלעד (transcribed Gilad or Ghil’ad) is used as a male given name and is often analysed as deriving from גיל (gil) “happiness, joy” and עד (ad) “eternity, forever”; i.e. “eternal happiness”.
I’m glad I wasn’t the only one to take so long to cotton onto the significance of Odie’s name! The importance of names runs throughout the book: Emmy never uses a pseudonym, Mose (with some parallels to the babe found in the bullrushes) takes the name Amdacha meaning Broken to Pieces, Albert becomes Norman. Odie becomes Buck Jones, the cowboy.
My husband and I are currently binge-watching “The Handmaid’s Tale,” so Gilead has terribly menacing connotations for me! For the Vagabonds, Gilead was a dangerous conduit through which they eventually found eternal happiness (more or less).
This Tender Land was a book I loved and hated. The casual brutality and violence the kids kept confronting was tough to take but part of what made them so strong and evolved them and moved the story.
I had no knowledge of Indian boarding schools but D says she was taught about them, so I’m glad of that. The boarding schools seemed like a bleak and horrible place, like “ Annie,” but many times worse.
The writer could certainly tell a compelling story.
I enjoyed reading the book and found that I had to read it slower than I usually do for fiction, more like a science book. I found it amazingly coincidental that it referred to violence at the Indian School and the information coming out of Canada. It must have been common knowledge. The violence did not bother me, as I felt it was more realistic. It kind of jumped a little too fast at the end to what happened to them in life. But, tying up the loose ends was nice.
I liked the book a lot! It was an easy read, but very meaningful. I didn’t really considere the Odyssey association until reading the above posts. I did tell a friend it was a bit of a cross of Huck Finn and The Grapes of Wrath. But I did also think of East Of Eden, read earlier this year.
As @himom mentioned the “casual brutality” , plus the news about the Canadian school, almost made me put the book down for good and not read it.
I was particularly sensitive to the sexual abuse, and appreciate that WKK - painted the picture, but didn’t go into graphic details.
So after, putting thr book down for a week, I ventured back into it, and glad it did.
I wonder did the author keep track of all the characters and events, and made sure to balance every sad, depressing, heart wrenching depiction, with someone or something lovely, life affirming. It’s what made the book work for me, the dark and light were balanced…….and as I said above didn’t cross some critical lines for me as a reader,
@Mary13 spot on. picaro novel. Like others I didn’t get that Odie was short for Odysseus, until right before it was stated in the book. I actually googled the Odyssey, and would like to know it’s significance to the novel.
When did Odie return, or find his home, when he discovered his real mother ? And, what a GREAT twist that moment of realizing Odie’s aunt/ mother ran a brothel, had been a prostitute,
Really didn’t see that coming, and for much of the novel, I fretted over what he would discover when he reached his aunt,
From wiki:
The protagonist, Lázaro, lives by his wits in an effort to survive and succeed in an impoverished country full of hypocrisy. As a pícaro character, he is an alienated outsider, whose ability to expose and ridicule individuals compromised with society gives him a revolutionary stance.[10] Lázaro states that the motivation for his writing is to communicate his experiences of overcoming deception, hypocrisy, and falsehood (engaño ).[11]
As narrator of his own adventures, Lázaro seeks to portray himself as the victim of both his ancestry and his circumstance.
In order to understand the historical context that led to the development of these paradigmatic picaresque novels in Spain during the 16th and 17th centuries, it is essential to take into consideration the circumstances surrounding the lives of conversos, whose ancestors had been Jewish, and whose New Christian faith was subjected to close scrutiny and mistrust.[22]
I have about 50 pages left to read in This Tender Land. I’m going to be the odd one out with regard to liking the book. I’m not surprised that the comments have been overwhelming positive; another of my book clubs read it (I didn’t) and I got the impression it got a solid thumbs up from everyone.
My problem: I read more than one book at a time and have had to push myself - over and over - to pick this one back up but finish I will, probably today. I’m now at the point, though, that whenever mention of Odie’s harmonica crops up or whenever Odie begins one of his stories, my eyes roll.
I’m actually enjoying the discussion much more than I enjoy the book.
For what it’s worth, this is the third William Kent Krueger book I’ve read. I wasn’t a fan of Iron Lake and didn’t pick up the next in the series. I love Ordinary Grace. Overall, though, I’m keeping WKK off my must-read list from here on out.
^ That’s funny, I found it to be such a quick read – but maybe that’s on account of the fact that Odie pulled out his harmonica one too many times. The Luminaries, this ain’t. But perfect for a summer read, in my estimation.
I guess the harmonica was the only thing he actually owned from his past life and that was really special to him. I agree that the harmonica was somewhat annoying and the chances they took were also. But, they were kids with very limited life experiences on the outside.
I don’t disagree with Ignatius. I didn’t love the book either. The first section, at the Indian school, reminded me of The Nickel Boys. That’s neither bad or good; it just is. The rest of This Tender Land I enjoyed, but it didn’t grab me.
That said, I have for the last several months been having difficulty concentrating on any books at all. Maybe I’ve covid-ed out – all I did last year was read – or maybe I’m just developing Alzheimer’s, but I’m just having trouble concentrating and enjoying any books at all right now.
I did love Have You Seen Luis Velez? and Dear Edward, however. They’re both relatively light and happy, which may be what I need right now.
On your website you say that This Tender Land is deeply personal. Do you see yourself in Odie O’ Banion? Can you explain how this book is so personal to you?
In writing This Tender Land, I invested a great deal of myself, who I am and what I believe, in the story. Odie is definitely a kindred spirit, and when he makes an observation—about God, about life, about other people, very often it comes from my experience. In addition to Odie, the family of the vagabonds contain two characters from my own family: Albert is patterned after my oldest brother and Emmy after my younger sister. The territory, the great Midwest of America, set a hook in me long ago, and the landscape of the story is in so many ways a valentine to this homeland of mine. Yeah, what this story contains of me is simply a huge piece of my heart.emphasized text“
Just watching the Olympics and another renown Native American athlete profiled, Billy Mills.
“ Mills grew up in Pine Ridge, in one of the poorest regions of the U.S. He was eight years old when his mother died; four years later, his father died. Now an orphan, Mills attended Haskell Institute, a boarding school for Native Americans in Lawrence, Kansas. Mills was such a strong runner at Haskell that he earned a scholarship to run for the University of Kansas.”
