WINTERKILL

by Craig Lesley ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 23, 1984

Danny Kachiah is a rodeo rider, an Indian from Oregon who, at 34, knows the score all too well: how the white riders will tend to get ""rerides"" from judges, thus higher points; how the home-town boy will always win no-matter-what. Yet still Danny competes--each time returning to the reservation after the rodeo, picking up money here and there by driving cattle or doing miscellaneous work. But then, when his ex-wife Loxie dies in Nebraska, Danny goes east to claim his 15-year-old son, Jack, from the wretched Indian school where he's been exiled by his stepfather. So, back across half the country ride the father-and-son strangers, with Danny making slow attempts to make up for his previous neglect of the boy: he offers him skills like hunting, stories of his own boyhood experiences with his father Red Shirt. And the novel's theme soon emerges clearly: the passing-down of knowledge so that it does not drift off totally unclaimed. True, the many father-to-son lessons here--how to trap a beaver, how to keep an ornery steer from attacking, what boots to wear when riding a bronc, etc.--make this a somewhat dense or static novel. But, if slow and episodic, Lesley's debut is a promising one--with a solid western/naturalistic style, often-interesting outdoors material, and serious-yet-light treatment of a worthy theme.

Pub Date: May 23, 1984

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1984

Categories: FICTION