Reviews for When the Legends Die
Review - When the Legends Die
Why I read the book: Racine List — 37 to go.
What the book was about: Thomas Black Bull was a five-year-old Ute Indian boy living in Colorado in 1911. His rather killed a man in self-defense and ran off the reservation. Thomas and his mother followed, and the family lived off the land for several years. While Thomas grew, he learned how his tribe lived before there were reservations. By the time Thomas was 10, both of his parents died. He lived alone for a year and adopted a Grizzly cub. He walked into town with the bear to trade some baskets he made for a new blanket. Blue Elk followed him back to his lodge and talked him into going to the school on the reservation.
Thomas rebelled at first, but soon settled down although he refused to make friends or speak unless spoken too. He was put in charge of the horse herd and learned to ride. When he was 14, a rancher named Red got permission to take Thomas to his ranch. He taught Thomas to break horses, then took him to rodeos and bet money. Thomas loved riding broncos, but hated it when Red made him deliberately lose to throw a contest.
When Red died, Thomas went out on his own and soon became a legend, riding harder and better than anyone else on the circuit. After many years and many minor injuries, Thomas had a horse fall on him, injuring him severely. He spent several weeks in a hospital, then went back to Colorado to recuperate. He took a job herding sheep near his old lodge. By the time the summer was over, Thomas had decided he didn’t want to go back to the rodeo circuit — that wasn’t who he really was. He knew he couldn’t go back to living the “old way,” but he decided to spend a winter alone in the mountains to find out who he was and start his life over.
What I liked about the book: The descriptions of living in the mountains were good. I also learned a lot about herding sheep and bronco riding.
What I didn’t like about the book: There was a lot of Indian mysticism — chanting to the morning and so forth. I’m all for preserving culture, but preserving pantheistic worship is just wrong. Borland’s writing style was sparse and almost seemed rather “Dick and Jane” at times.
Recommendation: I gave it a six. Make what you will of that.
What the book was about: Thomas Black Bull was a five-year-old Ute Indian boy living in Colorado in 1911. His rather killed a man in self-defense and ran off the reservation. Thomas and his mother followed, and the family lived off the land for several years. While Thomas grew, he learned how his tribe lived before there were reservations. By the time Thomas was 10, both of his parents died. He lived alone for a year and adopted a Grizzly cub. He walked into town with the bear to trade some baskets he made for a new blanket. Blue Elk followed him back to his lodge and talked him into going to the school on the reservation.
Thomas rebelled at first, but soon settled down although he refused to make friends or speak unless spoken too. He was put in charge of the horse herd and learned to ride. When he was 14, a rancher named Red got permission to take Thomas to his ranch. He taught Thomas to break horses, then took him to rodeos and bet money. Thomas loved riding broncos, but hated it when Red made him deliberately lose to throw a contest.
When Red died, Thomas went out on his own and soon became a legend, riding harder and better than anyone else on the circuit. After many years and many minor injuries, Thomas had a horse fall on him, injuring him severely. He spent several weeks in a hospital, then went back to Colorado to recuperate. He took a job herding sheep near his old lodge. By the time the summer was over, Thomas had decided he didn’t want to go back to the rodeo circuit — that wasn’t who he really was. He knew he couldn’t go back to living the “old way,” but he decided to spend a winter alone in the mountains to find out who he was and start his life over.
What I liked about the book: The descriptions of living in the mountains were good. I also learned a lot about herding sheep and bronco riding.
What I didn’t like about the book: There was a lot of Indian mysticism — chanting to the morning and so forth. I’m all for preserving culture, but preserving pantheistic worship is just wrong. Borland’s writing style was sparse and almost seemed rather “Dick and Jane” at times.
Recommendation: I gave it a six. Make what you will of that.
Reviewed by Roger on 2006-07-26 12:00:46