The Nightbirds by Thomas Maltman
Booklist Review: In 1862, led by Chief Little Crow and incited by the government’s failure to provide their annuity, the Dakota Sioux staged an uprising in Minnesota, slaughtering hundreds of settlers. As a result, 38 Dakota men were hanged, the largest mass execution in U.S. history. Maltman’s promising first novel bounces between the years leading up to this atrocity-laden conflict and 1876, when the James-Younger gang would stir up its own brand of bloody mayhem in Minnesota. Following the struggles of the Senger family, Maltman keeps the telling personal and local, tacked to the Sengers farm and the Dakota tribe situated a stones throw across the river.
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2 comments:
I just finished The Night Birds - appropriately in the middle of the night! and found it to be beautifully written and very provocative. Set in 1876, the story looks back at the dark history of the Sioux Uprising in 1862 and of a particular family's involvement in this historical event. This is one of the books where I marked particular sections that spoke to me - pages to refer back to after the tale is done. I'm wondering if anyone else has finished this book?
Patti Folsom said: I started Night Birds and just fell in love with the prose, but midway through I got totally bogged down and for the first time in many years I almost didn't finish the book. I don't know if others will have the same experience, but I don't think the average reader will be able to follow this book. I really think that for a first novel, the author could have used another round of editing to tighten the story line.
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