The Long Knives are Crying

You can't begrudge anyone for mourning the way the great Native tribes were domesticated by the white man in America or for wanting to erect monuments to commemorate that tragic history. But monuments make for inert fiction. What should be a stirring account--an Indian perspective on the legendary battle of Little Bighorn--is rendered in Marshall's novel and in his reading as ceaselessly mournful, reverent, and lifeless. Nearly every Indian character is similarly high minded, respectful, and wise. Dialogue is seldom more than explication. One is clearly meant to be inspired by the nobility of the Indians, but the feeling that Marshall's book and performance leave most strongly is tedium. M.O. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine