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" Linda Hogan is a poet who writes exquisitely beautiful and deeply meaningful novels about the emotional and environmental fall-outs of devastating events that somehow manage to come to a place of redemption and hope. Raised on a remote west coast reservation, Thomas Just goes out drinking with his buddies and ends up signing up to serve in the Vietnam War. The effects of the war on Thomas, his wife, his children, and his community reverberate through the years as everyone struggles to restore the lost balance in their lives and the world around them. Whales and the sea are the main sources for spiritual connection and redemption. Though all the characters are engaging, Thomas's wife, Ruth, was the emotional center of the novel for me. Her strength of spirit and ability to gracefully survive and speak her own truth are an inspiration. "
- Miz, 2/18/2014
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" People of the Whale may be Linda Hogan's most beautiful novel yet. The novel is set among a fictional tribe in the Pacific Northwest who decide to resume a whale hunt to secretly sell the meat to the Japanese. I expected this book to be about the politics of whaling in the context of native sovereignty. It is not. Hogan depicts the whaling controversy without nuance. It is greed and corruption. It is a war on life on par with larger wars. The whaling however is only a background story to a novel far more engaged with the tragedies of war and the healing necessary after Vietnam. The novel weaves together the stories of its hero Ruth, her husband Thomas Witka Just, their son Marco, Ma (Thomas's wife during the war), and Ma and Thomas's daughter Lin. This is a novel grappling with the transnationality of contemporary Native American life and one of the most haunting novels I have read about the consequences of Vietnam. "
- sdw, 2/13/2014
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" It nearly killed me to finish it, but I did. It goes so far into despair that I forgot my blinker (another commuting book-on-CD for me). The reader is entirely enchanting. And in the end, it balances. Barely, but it does. This will inch out more room in your soul. "
- Caroline-manring, 2/8/2014
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" What a beautiful book, a lovely read! "
- Laurel, 2/1/2014
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" Hogan's prose is unbelievably lush - there is such compassion and beauty to this book, even when Hogan turns her attention to the ugliness of humanity; war, loss, grief, murder, colonialism, PTSD. Multiple worlds exist in these pages - Dark River, self-sufficient, wonderfully contained, bordered by ocean and forest, brushing up against the spirit world; Saigon, a half-world away, rich with the scent of flowers even amid poverty, confusion, silences, the memory of war. The larger world isn't absent, but at times it falls away, since the business of the world isn't always most important to the characters. Time circles and dips; distances grow and the narrow again; relationships flounder, are rebuilt, and flounder again. There is a wonderful wholeness to the story, a sense of what is, what can be, and I lack the talent or words to express it nearly as well as Hogan does. Highly recommended. "
- Catherine, 1/20/2014
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" I heart Linda Hogan. One of the most gifted, poetic writers ever. "
- Colin, 1/16/2014
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" this is a good book to read. it makes you think about your life and how what you do affects those around you. the story makes you think about your heritage and traditions in your family, how important these are. "
- Lana, 10/25/2013
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" Gorgeous prose--heartbreaking but satisfying read... "
- judy, 10/19/2013
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" Amazing as usual from this wonderful prolific writer! "
- Deborah, 10/3/2013
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" Beautiful imagery, mystical, heartbreak, horror of war "
- Trudy, 9/27/2013
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" Another great book by one of my favorite authors. It took awhile for me to read because it was so depressing, but I loved it nonetheless. "
- Andrea, 6/18/2013
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" I love having time to pick random books off the library shelf again. This book left me missing the ocean (what else is new) and it provided a really interesting look at cultural change. "
- Julianna, 5/30/2012
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" There is hope we can all grow and transform into who we need to be against all odds "
- Solea, 2/4/2012
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" A young woman in the present day, living in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, while her current boyfriend is out with the fishing fleet, becomes involved with the local indigenous culture. This could have been better. They woman's tawdriness turned me off, and at time it was not clear what was going on. "
- Susan, 1/28/2012
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" I found this too 'mythy'. I understood some of the myth but often found myself confused. Might be my dislike of the 'magic' type concepts. Not for me "
- Jill, 9/17/2011
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" Politics, sea creatures, history, and the northwest, all in one book. So of course I'm going to like this. "
- Madeleine, 7/3/2011
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" I love Linda Hogan and now I am in her voice again, this time with whale people, mysterious, gifted people who can hold their breath under water for a long time. I have just begun and shall savor what I find. "
- Rwildfon, 4/29/2011
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" Beautiful, lyrical sentences with almost a dreamlike feel. Compares and contrasts the suffering of Native Americans with that of the people of Vietnam during the unjust war in the 60s and 70s. "
- Marzia, 4/8/2011
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" Another great book by one of my favorite authors. It took awhile for me to read because it was so depressing, but I loved it nonetheless.
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- Andrea, 3/24/2011
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" A young woman in the present day, living in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, while her current boyfriend is out with the fishing fleet, becomes involved with the local indigenous culture. This could have been better. They woman's tawdriness turned me off, and at time it was not clear what was going on.
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- Susan, 1/28/2011
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" American contemp....~1960s-90 NW and Vietnam....Native American, whale hunting, tradition, war, Vietnam, fences, deceit, worlds.
Lyric, mythic, unreal and real. Not my usual style, but this book will stick with me.
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- Kim, 1/22/2011
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" Although evocative and full of rich themes, this book was also tedious.
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- Alex, 3/10/2010
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" A little slow at times, but beautifully written story of Indian culture and tortured events and relationships.
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- Janet, 8/11/2009
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" i LOVED this book. Read it, live it, love it. Beautiful, Beautiful book.
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- Katy, 7/30/2009
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" So good! But tragic, so not a light summer read. It is the story of a Native American that is haunted by Vietnam and returns years later to a broken tribe. This book made me want to read all of Linda Hogan's books.
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- Miquela, 7/9/2009
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