The Last Pow-Wow
By: That Native Thomas, Steven Paul Judd / Narrated By: That Native Thomas
Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
Probably better in print (Oh my ears!) but erratic storytelling gives way to a genuinely rousing hip hip hooray of an ending
So perhaps I should just get the narration out of the way cuz it was the biggest stumbling block to enjoying The Last Pow-Wow. It’s narrated by That Native Thomas himself, and it’s YET AGAIN an instance where I do wish someone in charge had either said No to author narrating his own work, or had ponied up the funds to get a narrator worthy of the written work. As it was, oh my poor ears! Thomas has the halting lilt of a Native American storyteller which is awesome, right? Weeeeeeelllll, uhm, almost. See, yes in that one has the feeling, listening to him, that one is sitting in a circle and an elder is spinning a fantastical and wonderful yarn. And No in that he doesn’t have performance skills which would add drama to a rather fraught tale when it’s called for. And believe me, when you’ve got The Pow-Wow to End All Pow-Wows, and multiple characters in various states of angst and in the throes of magic, and you have Wendigo zombie-like creatures running amok? Dude! You neeeeeed someone who can vary their pitch, their pace, and emphasis. And then when we get to the free-for-all climax? Dude! You neeeeeed someone who can notch up the performance and tones rather than just speed up rate of delivery and shout it all out (Once again? Oh my eeeears!).
Then too, full enjoyment of the work is hindered by some rather basic writing. This book is a wildly imaginative work (Think: The best character is a 3-legged dog wearing battle headdress or a young girl who emits ghosts when she opens her mouth to speak), and it’s dragged down by dull dialogue which only gets duller when narrated in a monotone. Yikes! I’m yawning when there are four-armed zombies ripping and shredding all they come across?!? Yup! AND I’m covering my ears to save the delicate eardrums.
It’s kinda too much to summarize, but here’s what we’ve got: A tipi, the biggest tipi ever! is built for The Pow-Wow to End All Pow-Wows, but things are already touchy in that only pure-bloods will be allowed entry, and not those who are of mixed lineage. This has mixed-bloods peeved, and it’s got the hippie types all in a lather also. But it inspires the stories of the many characters this book follows. We’ve got the grandson who crosses the country to take the body of his grandmother there as it’s her final wish. We’ve got a vengeful assassin heading over to commit his final act of revenge, to kill the father who left his mother and him when he was yea-high. There’s the young man who speaks through his fancy dancing. The girl who speaks ghosts. An artists whose drawings capture souls. Etc. and Etc. and Etc.
The stories dip and twirl and fade away, and through it all are the indignities Indians and Native Americans have suffered throughout history. And if you come away with nothing at all, then at least get this: That Native Thomas and Steven Paul Judd wanna make SURE you KNOW Abraham Lincoln wasn’t no nice guy. He was death to Indians, literally. While Lincoln could stick his neck out and suggest Blacks were humans? Oh nooooo, he was NOT going to suggest the same of those populating the continent prior to the white man. So boo hoo, and sob sob sob, cuz truly—now I know the man was NOT the saint I’d had in mind all these years.
The dialogue is banal and poorly written. When two individuals meet for the first time and it’s love at first sight? What do we get: Hi, he said. Hi, she said. What’s up, he said. Not much, she said. Stuff of that ilk. Not scintillating by any stretch of the imagination so it was kinda hard going throughout the story. Plus, the authors are fond of repeating titles of people, things, and at first it made things sound all quaint. But trust me, it gets old when you hear it for the seven hundredth time (Are you sick of me writing: The Pow-Wow to End All Pow-Wows? No really: Try hearing it a gazillion and sick times. It just comes to sound like lazy writing).
So I was getting ready to dislike the whole thing, even tho’ things started promisingly enough with an Origin legend/storytelling. Trickster Coyote is set up and that’s always fun too. But then things kinda got all convoluted, but what saves the day is the final Good v. Evil Battle in the biggest tipi in the world. It’s otherworldly and violent and graphic as all get-out. And what reeeeeally saves it all is, after all the representations of the white man’s evil throughout the story, and as it comes to fruition in the final battle, there’s a twist at the verrrrrry end which had me delighted and is oh so respectful of the Coyote. It’s a joyful and hilarious twist.
9+ hours started feeling kinda long there for a while, and yeah it could’ve been written with more style. But the storytelling wound its way to a decent enough conclusion…
…just park your literary snobberies by the door, and expect the righteous indignation re: the blue-eyed white man’s atrocities, and dooooooo wad some cotton into your ears.
And get ready for a truly righteous slambanger of an ending.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.