Book Review - Thirteen Moons

There are scores of books about the American Civil War that give a more comprehensive account of that war than Charles Frazier's "Cold Mountain." Over 600,000 Americans died, more than in any other of America's wars. But "Cold Mountain" is essentially about people, two in particular, whose lives that war so tragically shattered; and that's what makes it so compelling. In similar fashion "Thirteen Moons," which was published nine years later, is again a story of people who live, love and die during a less heroic period in our history, the Indian Wars of the 1830s. Once again Frazier makes you care deeply about what happens to the people until he and his protagonist seem to lose their way in a longing for something beyond their grasp."Thirteen Moons"The reader is at once immersed in pre-Civil War America-a time when it is neither politically correct nor particularly safe for a white man to live with a Native American Indian, much less become his son. In the first few pages, I was charmed by the author's mystical relationship with the unspoiled land, its original people and the major character, Will Cooper. Equally stirring is Frazier's frank and honest take on the callous white foreigners who at first deceitfully steal the land, then deal with its inhabitants in a manner that can only be described as genocide.Historically the period has the unfortunate imprint of the seventh President of the United States, Andrew Jackson whose greatest claim to fame is the annihilation of Native Americans. Officially referred to as the "Indian Removal" period, which translates to ship out or drop dead, Jackson turns the U.S. Army into removal and execution squads. While whites consistently raid Indian land, steal their property and cause every kind of mayhem, complaints from the Indians reach all the way to the halls of Congress. This leads Jackson to eventually order one of his most infamous death marches, the entire Cherokee Nation's "relocation" to Oklahoma where thousands die along the way. Survivors later call it "The Trail of Tears."In the wild and gorgeous setting of the Appalachian Mountains, Frazier's fictional story threads its way through carefully researched history. As the story goes back and forward in time, it is narrated by the protagonist Will Cooper, a white orphan boy adopted by the Cherokee Indian Chief, Bear who becomes Will's mentor. From his meager beginnings Will becomes the "White" Indian Chief, U.S. Army Colonel and U.S. Senator with a lifelong passion for the same woman, Claire, to whom sadly he can never commit. Claire on the other hand is the capricious, enigmatic beauty who appears to cast a spell on the man she loves while remaining chained to another.As a twelve-year-old bound boy Will is sent away from home by an aunt and uncle to pay a debt by serving at an old trading post. Barely surviving his first days and nights alone in the wilderness, Will stumbles onto a café where he first meets Claire who has been won by a rich Indian gambler called Featherstone.When Will finally reaches the trading post he finds a neglected ramshackle hovel with some dust-covered books, bottles and other sundries. Having gone to school, Will is smart; he can read and write and devours whatever books he can lay his hands on including eventually the law books that will move him toward success. He cleans the place up and makes it work. His visitors are mostly Indians who speak no English and come for what's in the bottles. Here Will meets Bear who supposedly runs the trading post. Bear drifts in and out of Will's life, teaches him the way of the Cherokee and ultimately formally adopts Will.From their first coming of age encounter at the café, the destinies of Will and Claire are inextricably woven into the rough fabric of the expanding 1830s landscape. Due to the power and wealth of the fearsome Featherstone, and Claire's strange relationship with him, for most of their lives Will and Claire continue to meet secretly. In the period of their youth the book is magical and page turning, with Will always the Davy Crockett frontiers adventurer; he actually befriends Crockett later in the story. But with the restlessness of a seeker, always looking ahead, Will never really sees what is right in front of him-his for the taking. Instead, later life finds him rich, famous and bemoaning his lost love.At the beginning of "Thirteen Moons" the author lights a roaring fire that burns through the pages. About three quarters of the way the flames begin to flicker and fade with the author's reluctance to move Will's life forward to some conclusion. Perhaps it is a reflection of the sad hopeless plight of the Cherokee whose ending is too horrific to contemplate.Although "Cold Mountain" and its heartbreaking denouement really gets to me, whereas "Thirteen Moons" becomes the follow-up that could, I would nonetheless recommend reading it. Charles Frazier is too good to leave on the shelf. His romantic realism is to be celebrated by anyone who longs for the pure rushing waters, the sweet aroma of wilderness those honest and true Americans bequeathed us.BOOK REVIEW-Thirteen Moons by Charles FrazierISBN-13 978-0-8129-6758-62006 Random House dr seuss cat in hat book