Emmy’s gift had me raising my eyebrows, but in the end I decided we weren’t really in a realistic novel. I actually had no problem with Albert’s mechanical prowess, I had a kid who was a real prodigy on computers - he built me a website when he was nine back in the days where you had to do them completely from scratch. A kid who can play by ear, can absolutely play tons of tunes. I’ve met those kids too.
I thought Mose’s muteness was mostly symbolic. The point of the schools was to mute Native Americans in every way. He was just literally muted.
I get giftedness, but the cloistered, deprived background the kids lived in wouldn’t have given them much access to music, I’d think. If you’re playing by ear, you generally have to have at least heard the music somewhere.
I get mechanical ability—my S put together a stroller when my friend got it as a shower gift and he was like a preschooler. It still means you have have all the parts or be able to make them. Artistic license dispenses with these mundane things, I guess.
Emmy was able to use her gifts with no guidance, just prescience, love and instinct, it seemed.
All in all, it was still an interesting read and enough lightness to mostly lighten the darkness also in the book.
Right. In fact, it was a bit of a feat, in that the story was able to feel real with so much in it that was unreal.
Miracles I could not buy: Pig Scarer Jack’s transformation. That guy may not have been a child molester or a murderer, but he was a monster. His friendly interaction with Odie later in the Post Office just didn’t ring true – didn’t feel like an “earned” redemption.
Descriptions I could have done without: Odie peeing out the window. Twice. …Why?..
Chekhov’s Gun doesn’t go off: At one point in the story, Odie is worried about the others and thinks they have been apprehended. He is told later that the police activity was for someone else:
“There’s a state hospital for the criminally insane downriver a few miles. Two days ago, some crazy man escaped. Pretty dangerous, they say.”
I was absolutely sure that escapee was going to cross the path of the Vagabonds before the end of the novel, but he was never referred to again.
I decided to see if I could find any ties - other than Odie’s name - between TTL and The Odyssey. I found only one: One-Eyed Jack = Cyclops. I’m sure others exist.
However, I stumbled across more than one site that discusses the close ties between TTL and The Wizard of Oz.
“The Wizard of Oz” comes into play as the four Vagabonds on the trip search for something lacking in their lives while encountering witches both good and bad. Odie wants a home. His older brother Albert wants to protect Odie. Their best friend Mose, a Sioux Indian who had his tongue cut out as a child, wants to know who he is. And Emmy Frost is searching for her role in life. Review of “This Tender Land” by William Kent Krueger | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
Unlike Huck and Jim’s journey though, there is a magical thread that weaves it’s way into the story. Young Emmy has a special gift that is wanted by the Black Witch who will stop at nothing to capture and use her. While there is no yellow brick road one isn’t needed – the rivers the Vagabonds travel on have their own characters and secrets. There is even a ‘Good Witch’ – the faith healer Sister Eve who despite initial appearances may also have a true gift. Saint Louis is no Oz and Aunt Julie is no wizard but the journey to get to her – with all its surprising twists and turns – reveals that the family and the love the orphans are searching for was with them all along. This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger – Unfolded Maps
^ That’s a “D’oh!” moment for me – The Wizard of Oz connections now seem so obvious when you lay them out, with Mrs. Brickman as the Wicked Witch and Eve as Glinda. In the Baum books, Glinda–the Good Sorceress of the South–even wears a pure white dress.
The Wizard of Oz gets acknowledged on William Kent Krueger’s website in a Q & A:
This Tender Land contains many allusions to classic literature—Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Odyssey, The Wizard of Oz. What other books influenced This Tender Land or shaped you as a writer?
WKK: Because of the setting in the Great Depression and the importance of the landscape, John Steinbeck was often on my mind. The horrific conditions in the Lincoln Indian Training School hark back to Charles Dickens and the social consciousness evident in so many of his works. And Upton Sinclair was probably always lurking somewhere at the back of my thinking. https://williamkentkrueger.com/wp-content/uploads/70569-This-Tender-Land_RGG.pdf
“D’oh” , me too, about the Wizard of Oz connections. I knew the “black witch” resonated and NOW I am sure it was the wicked witch from Oz.
Earlier I posted this book was a hot mess, but want to clarify, I liked this book a lot, rated five stars on Goodreads, because traveling the yellow brick road, or “ the winding Gilead” with the vagabonds was a rewarding experience.
The politics worked for me, “pulling the curtain back ( like oz ) revealing”
the Hoovervilles,
exposing the Hanging of the native Americans,
Revealing the horror of the Indian schools,
And, the hypocrisy of the traveling healing crusades.
If I were to compare this book to a recipe it would be a stew, lots of ingredients all mixed up, but results in a flavorful filling meal.
I gave it a five-star rating despite some reservations. I rather liked all the quirky weird characters even One-eyed Jack, Sister Eve and Sid, Aunt Julia.
in hindsight, Wiz of Oz references should’ve been obvious. But that’s me lately. It’s like I’m reading with only half my mind on it, the other half is busily planning something else.
About TTL, I would say that the character development and the writing style were top-notch. It is the story that was a bit all over the place, a tale than ran like the river, many rivulets and many turns that detracted from the book’s flow.
Considering that the book was paying homage to multiple other books, it’s no wonder that it was all over the place. Consider how many characters were being referenced: Odysseus, Dorothy, Huckleberry Finn, Glinda, the Wicked Witch, The Wizard, Circe, pigs, Cyclops…
I’m going to add one more to that: Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis. William Kent Krueger says:
I have always been fascinated by Sharon Falconer, the story’s tent evangelist, a woman of deep and honest religious passion but also of worldly experience. My own Sister Eve is largely constructed on the framework of Lewis’ intriguing character.
There’s no doubt that Krueger is well-read, but – to build on @jerseysouthmomchess’ analogy – he may have added one too many spices to the stew.
Lewis’ character of Sharon Falconer was, in turn, inspired by the real-life Aimee Semple McPherson:
Tent revivals — places where Christians would gather to hear religious leaders speak — were common in the Great Depression, often traveling across the country from town to town. They offered hope to people in desperate times, as Sister Eve does to Odie, Albert, Emmy and Mose. However, Albert is skeptical of Sister Eve’s healings, calling her a con. What do you believe about Sister Eve’s ability to heal? What is the con that Albert is warning Odie about?
@jerseysouthmomchess quoted Krueger above as saying: “I had no idea in the beginning where the story would take me. I simply had to trust that all my storytelling instincts would guide me correctly.”
I believe that in the process of telling his story, the author fell a little bit in love with Sister Eve. At the outset, she could have been a fraud, but by the end, he has endowed her with extraordinary gifts that seem to be genuine.
I’m willing to go with the flow and believe in Sister Eve’s ability to see into a person’s past. However, I don’t like the intimation that those whom she cannot cure lack sufficient faith. What kind of loving God would operate like that?
As for the question about “hope to people in desperate times,” I would say this about tent revivals: The healer gives something that is fake, but the recipient receives something that is real. This is one of the themes of the movie “Leap of Faith” with Steve Martin. Has anyone ever seen that?
There’s a line in the movie when a young man says to Martin, “My sister says you’re a fake.” He answers, “Well, maybe I am and maybe I’m not; but I get the job done, so what difference does it make?”
I think there’s an element of that in the Sword of Gideon Healing Crusade.
What an astounding life, Aimee Semple Templeton! WKK, wouldn’t have to embellish any parts of her life, just tell the STORY.
Thanks for finding this connection, Mary13.
Her first husband dies of malaria while on mission in China, she is penniless, remarries, has another child, leaves that husband, drives with her mother to California, lives in tents on side of road, conducting revival meetings,
In California builds the Angelus Temple, collecting $250,000 ( 3 million dollars today ), she is Sister Eve, white gown, charismatic, empathetic, beautiful,
Goes missing from beach,thought to have drowned, hundreds search two men drown searching for her, ( actually had affair married man in Carmel California) nation on edge about her supposed “kidnapping” …… fall from Grace. Dies young 53 of appendicitis and wiki says barbiturate.
What a “story” ……her life.
She emboldens and inspires women, the “lost , the battered, “ feeds and clothes during desperate times,
A lot of faith healing relies on the placebo effect or just chance. I think often the healers are as much fooled by their gifts as the participants and honestly if your illness disappears because of believing in someone or some medicine, does it matter?
I rather liked the way the story meandered just like the river.
Hello everyone! I dusted off my CC account to check in here and get motivated to read. I’ve immersed myself in news/reality and have had difficulty getting back to reading for diversion. The books I read on my own seem go into that forgotten zone in my head, while the ones I’ve read here have had real staying power. So here I am, lol.
Anyway, this was a really good choice for me at this time - I found it easy to read as it was a straightforward journey and not Cloud Atlas I was unaware of this whole chapter of our past, but a week after I started reading, The NY Times published an article about the forgotten history of indigenous boarding schools. I then saw other relevant articles about Canada’s history. This book became both an entertaining summer read and an opportunity to learn. The comments here are so enriching.
in hindsight, Wiz of Oz references should’ve been obvious. But that’s me lately. It’s like I’m reading with only half my mind on it, the other half is busily planning something else.
I was unaware of this whole chapter of our past, but a week after I started reading, The NY Times published an article about the forgotten history of indigenous boarding schools. I then saw other relevant articles about Canada’s history. This book became both an entertaining summer read and an opportunity to learn. The comments here are so enriching.