Native:A Novel - Hardcover

Henderson, William Haywood

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0525935746 ISBN 13: 9780525935742

Publisher: Dutton, 1993

Synopsis

Blue Parker, a young ranch foreman living in Wyoming, falls in love with a new ranchhand, but a triangle emerges with the arrival of Gilbert, a native American from a nearby reservation. 10,000 first printing.

About this title

Reviews

Although it draws impressively from the rugged power of its contemporary Wyoming setting, short story writer Henderson's first novel, a gay coming-out and coming-of-age tale, is a bit too studied to succeed completely. At the center of the book stands narrator Blue Parker, a promising 23-year-old ranch foreman who finds himself torn by the conflicting demands of professional duty, his attraction for a subordinate and his respect for a mysterious Native American. Gilbert is a berdache , a relic of an Indian tradition of cross-dressing men who possess magical powers; he functions in the novel primarily as a catalyst and symbol rather than as a fully drawn character. Gilbert's presence alerts Blue to his true feelings toward Sam, the third person in the triangle, and the Indian's return in the novel's final movement draws together all the plot threads in an uneasy climax. Henderson ambitiously blends present, flashback and fantasy in his narrative; he displays a sure feeling for the stark, often dangerous beauty of the American West, and astutely depicts the tensions in a masculine society that fears men who love each other. But as Blue's life unravels in the book's final third, the narrative drive gets lost in a welter of fantasies and memories.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A Wyoming ranch-hand represses his homosexuality until he meets a drifter and then a Native American berdache, or wise man, and finds his own identity in the New West--in a first novel that mixes lyricism with a strong sense of place to chronicle the travails of being gay in a straight world. Blue Parker, 23, is a ranch foreman who's lived his life in a small Wyoming town as a sort of cowboy. It's a place where men are men and you better not mess around with anything queer. Blue makes his peace in such a situation until Sam, a drifter, appears. They go drinking at a bar and meet Gilbert, a Native American quasi- shaman with great personal presence and an interest, possibly sexual, in Blue and Sam. When Gilbert dances with Sam, all hell breaks loose and Sam ends up in the hospital at the hands of Derek, a wild-eyed, crazy redneck. Blue stays with Gilbert for a time: Gilbert is one of those literary figures who's placed inside a book to represent magical doings and absolute confidence and self- possession (``I have things to give you, boys''; ``You're safe and happy with me now''). Then Blue, faced with the suspicions and perplexities of the locals, cares for Sam until Derek comes to Blue's cabin with a knife, whereupon Sam drives away. The rest of the narrative is told mostly in poetic vignettes--flashbacks abound--until, finally, Blue and Sam reconnect before Sam is thrown from a horse. By the end, Blue is off into the sunset alone, to live with--and face down--his demons. Two thirds of this is a finely textured Western narrative with a gay perspective; attached to it is a different kind of windup that's impressionistic and fragmented. Mostly it works, though the stitches show through sometimes. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Set in the mountainous and remote Wind River country of Wyoming, this contemporary coming-of-age novel explores gay sexual mores in the conservative, small-town American West. Although women find him attractive, narrator and ranch foreman Blue Parker leads a lonely, sexually unfulfilled life. His need for the love of another man triggers Blue's attempt to enter the forbidden world of his true feelings. Two men are central to Blue's growing awareness: Sam, a boyishly handsome hired hand, and Gilbert, a Native American berdache (a man who takes on the dress and roles of a woman) possessed of magical powers. Barroom brawls, mental anguish, and confused childhood memories all play a crucial role in a narrative distinguished by excellent place descriptions and good character development. A fine first novel.
- James B. Hemesath, Adams State Coll. Lib., Alamosa, Col.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Dutton
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0525935746
• ISBN 13: 9780525935742
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256