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Northwest Fiction
Two Old Women
Velma Wallis
Call number: 398.2089 WALLIS 1994
It's winter and food is scarce. The tribe must make sacrifices and according to tradition, that means leaving the two eldest women behind to starve. The two old women, however, have different opinions. They decide to survive and prove that age has nothing to do with strength and will.
No-No Boy
John Okada
Call number: Okada
Kenji has already suffered the humiliation of being imprisoned in the concentration camp just because he is Japanese. When offered the chance to fight for the U.S., he says no because he feels his country has rejected him. It's after the war and Kenji has served prison time for refusing to join the army. He finds upon his return to Seattle that he is scorned by both Anglos and Japanese.
Reservation Blues
Sherman Alexie
Call number: Alexie
Life is difficult on the Spokane Indian reservation. Nothing seems to ever happen until legendary blues man Robert Johnson suddenly appears. It seems that he is still alive and is ready to pass on his enchanted guitar. It is fantastical realism at its best.
River Why
David Duncan
Call number: Duncan
There are fishermen and then there is Gus Orviston who lives to fish. Even readers who aren't fly fishers will be entertained by Duncan's story of Gus who is always looking for the perfect place to fish. Along the way, Gus becomes concerned with the environment and his quest for spiritual fulfillment. Sounds heavy but Duncan lightens it with lots of humor.
Housekeeping
Marilynne Robinson
Call number: Robinson
Ruth and Lucille have experienced a lot of tragedy in their short lives. Their grandfather dies in a train wreck. Their mother accidentally drives off a cliff. Their grandmother and great aunts come into their lives to care for them but then are unable to. Finally their eccentric Aunt Sylvie arrives. Her method of housekeeping is far different than their previous care givers. Robinson's excellent writing draws you into a story of girls who have a house to live in, but feel homeless.
Snow Falling on Cedars
David Guterson
Call Number: Guterso, Lge-type Guters, Cassette Guters, CD Guterso
The quintessential Northwest novel.. Guterson does a marvelous job of describing the fictional San Piedro island-an island in the Puget Sound. It's 10 years after WWII and emotions against the Japanese residents are still running high. When one of the "white" fishermen is found dead on his boat, Kabuo, a rival, is accused of murder. It seems he has been framed but the evidence is mounting against him.
Love to Water My Soul
Jane Kirkpatrick
Call Number: Kirkpatrick
Based on a true events, a small girl gets separated from the wagon train. She is rescued by an Indian tribe but because she is "other", she is not accepted into the tribe. As a young child she must go through some harrowing events but her real tragedy is her unfulfilled longing to be loved and wanted. Her story of ultimately finding that love makes a gratifying read.
The Living
Annie Dillard
Call Number: Dillard, Lge-type Dilla, Cassette Dilla
The title is almost a misnomer. Life in the 1800's is really hard for the settlers of Washington state. People die but nature survives despite man's effort to subdue it. After finishing this novel, you will truly appreciate what life was like in Washington before drive up Starbucks and cell phones.
The Jump-off Creek
Molly Gloss
Call Number: Gloss, Lge-type Gloss
Another early settler novel. This one is set in Oregon. Lydia Sanderson comes to Jump Off Creek to homestead on her own. She encounters prejudice and intimidation by those around her. Lydia is determined to survive. She has just left a bad marriage and savors the chance to be Alone. She learns, as did most of the early pioneers that she is only going to make it with a little help from her friends.
Last Go Round
Ken Kesey
Call Number: Kesey
The setting is the Pendelton Round up. Kesey takes real life events and turns it into a novel about the rivalry and friendship among three bronco riders. Kesey first heard the story from his father and he weaves his own imagination into the true stories of black
cowboy George Fletcher, white teenager Jonathan E. Lee Spain and Nez Perce Indian Jackson Sundown.
Ricochet River
Robin Cody
Call Number: Cody
Even in the beautiful Northwest, small town life can be confining to teenagers. It is 1960 and the outside world is changing. Wade, the narrator, feels he fits in little Calamus. However his girlfriend, Lorna and friend, Jesse feel quite differently. Lorna and Jesse view the river as a symbol for a chance to find a new life-to break free.
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