MEDICINE RIVER by Thomas King (Penguin:...

MEDICINE RIVER by Thomas King (Penguin: $5.95). In this unpretentious novel, Amerindian writer Thomas King offers a revealing portrait of contemporary life among the Blackfoot Indians of Canada. He depicts a community of ordinary people struggling to conduct their lives with dignity, despite the devastating legacy of shattered traditions, rampant alcoholism and the limited opportunities available on the reservations. It’s no coincidence that Will, the narrator of the story, is a professional photographer. The survivor of an economically and emotionally bleak childhood, Will prefers to remain an observer, rather than get involved with the people around him. His observations gradually enable him to reconstruct his unhappy past, when his loyalties were divided between his Blackfoot mother and the white father who abandoned them to ride the rodeo. King’s lean narrative reveals how past sorrows continue to affect present lives, despite the survivor’s efforts to escape their burdens.