Song of the River

November 3, 1997
No static diorama of prehistoric Alaskan life, Harrison's (Brother Wind) engrossing fourth novel, set among the ancient Aleuts, is a complex psychological and sociological epic. Then as now, nature's ice and snow are benign compared to the devastating effects of human nature. The reverence that the ancients accord to animals (placing a gift in the mouth of a freshly killed fox, for example) contrasts sharply with the commonplace rapes, mutilations and murders that they inflict on one another. At the center of the story is Chakliux, a Near River baby abandoned by his mother and adopted by K'os, a Cousin River woman, who sees a good omen in his clubbed foot. K'os finds Chakliux shortly after she has been brutally raped by three Near River men: she is convinced (because of his "otter-like" foot) that he is a gift from the animals sent to restore her powers so that she can take revenge. Two decades later, Near River elders unknowingly send Chakliux, who has grown into a great storyteller, back to his birth tribe in order to negotiate a peace which K'os schemes to undermine. Young Near River people, also itching for war, frame Chakliux in a mysterious double murder and the death of many hunting dogs, spurring him to undertake an arduous journey in search of the truth. Violent as that truth is, Harrison witholds it successfully until the end of the story and makes it seem authentic to this primitive, vengeful time and place. 50,000 first printing; author tour.