Ghost Dancing - by Anna Linzer & Linzer (Paperback)

About the Book

This debut book, written by a woman who lives on an Indian reservation, is a collection of stories about a couple who struggle to endure their hard-won lives and the ghosts of Native American tradition that surround them on their Pacific Northwest reservation.

Book Synopsis

American Book Award Winner

A linked collection of stories about the lives of one Native American family in Washington state and Oklahoma

Story by graceful story, Ghost Dancing reveals the evolving worlds of Jimmy One Rock, his wife Mary, and their family as they struggle together on a decaying reservation in the Pacific Northwest. Alternating between Washington state and Jimmy's childhood on an Oklahoma reservation, these stories link past and present through memory, myth, ceremony, and a sly humor that undercuts the reverence of outsiders. In spare yet rich language, Anna Linzer creates a memorable portrait of contemporary Native American life.

Here is a collection as open and honest and authentic as the characters that it documents, appealing and accessible, as bittersweet as it is lovely. Readers of Joy Harjo, Leslie Marmon Silko, and N. Scott Momaday will discover these stories with pleasure.

Review Quotes

"Linzer illustrates cultural pain through art and careful detail." --San Diego Union-Tribune

"[A] powerful first book . . . Linzer's prowess arises from her ability to convey the authenticity of Jimmy's economic deprivation as well as his spiritual wealth with honesty and humor." --Library Journal

"Drum tight with spare, imagistic prose, these stories are tough, touching, and humorous . . . Anna Linzer's fine stories call to mind the early works of Leslie Silko and Sherman Alexie," --Craig Lesley, author of The Sky Fisherman

About the Author

Anna Linzer (Lenape) lives on the Suquamish Indian Reservation in Indianola, Washington. Her stories have been published in Kenyon Review, Carolina Quarterly, the anthology Storytellers, and elsewhere. Ghost Dancing is her first book.