Watershed - Hardcover

Everett, Percival

3.93

302 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1555972373 ISBN 13: 9781555972370

Publisher: Graywolf Press, 1996

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On a windswept landscape somewhere north of Denver, Robert Hawks, a feisty and dangerously curious hydrologist, finds himself enmeshed in a fight over Native American treaty rights. What begins for Robert as a peaceful fishing interlude, ends in murder and the disclosure of government secrets.

Why was the impossibly short Louise Yellow Calf hitching a ride on a snowy, deserted road following the discovery of two FBI agents murdered on the reservation? And what is the female FBI agent doing in Robert's shower? As our reluctant hero fits together the pieces in the all too rapidly unfolding drama, connections emerge to his own family's long-standing civil rights battles-- battles that he has thus far managed to avoid.

In Watershed, Percival Everett has created an original mystery that crackles with tension and sly wit. Robert Hawks is revealed as someone who has been indelibly defined by the history of our country's racial relationships, and the one man uniquely qualified to take us with him through this complex and contested territory.

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Review:

The protagonist of this tale is Robert Hawks, a black man and a hydrologist by profession, who has deliberately gone into the wilderness north of Denver to lose himself for a while--and to find himself too. Seeking to break up with his girlfriend, he goes fishing in the wilds. He catches more than he bargained for when he becomes involved with an Indian woman of the Plata tribe and learns firsthand of their dispute with the federal government, a dispute of mysterious importance to the Feds. When two F.B.I. agents are murdered, Hawks finds himself in a compromised position. He learns again what it means to be black and identifies with the tribe's fight for its rights.

From the Back Cover:

Praise for Watershed:

"If Percival Everett isn't already a household name, it's because more people are interested in politics than truth. Maybe Watershed, with its fine combination of humor, satire, and well-founded outrage, will do the trick."
Madison Smartt Bell

"Precise and important, Watershed is a book about honesty, and how to live with dignity in the presence of betrayal. It is a story we need; it contains a code of action for the present and unfortunately for the near future. It is mercilessly funny, as well. I enjoyed it greatly."
Rick Bass

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