Medicine River

Discretion was not one of Harlan's many admirable characteristics. He kept secrets poorly and was more concerned with the free flow of information than with something as greedy as personal privacy. "People who keep secrets," Harlan liked to say, "generally got something to hide." And I don't know an......more

At first glance, Medicine River has a gentleness to its plot that is easily mistaken for the monotony of nothing happening. I’ll freely admit that, especially at the beginning of the novel, I had trouble finding something specific about the story that I could point to as a defining moment, or even a......more

It seems a lot of people either love or hate this book. I'm somewhere in the middle and I think it's a matter of expectations. I've read Green Grass Running Water by King and I adored it. It was absolutely fantastic, in my view. I've also seen King speak (and met him) and he's bright, funny, and inc......more

This earlier effort explores some of the same themes as King's better known Green Grass Running Water, but without the allegorical spirit world chattering alongside the human characters. Bluntly, I prefered this book. In Medicine River, fate isn't as fixed. The episodic stories and flashbacks are ro......more

Thank you, Thomas King! It felt like home again! You're almost a real Blackfoot or Albertan, but you said, "soda," not "pop." I really hope more of our people take comfort in reading your homey 📚 books! Just put the real prairie pic on the cover! How else will people know EXACTLY why they need to re......more