Book Review: Fools Crow by James Welch

 About the Book: 

Fools Crow by James Welch

In the Two Medicine Territory of Montana, the Lone Eaters, a small band of Blackfeet Indians, are living their immemorial life. The men hunt and mount the occasional horse-taking raid or war party against the enemy Crow. The women tan the hides, sew the beadwork, and raise the children. But the year is 1870, and the whites are moving into their land. Fools Crow, a young warrior and medicine man, has seen the future and knows that the newcomers will punish resistance with swift retribution.

The story is a powerful portrait of a fading way of life. The story culminates with the historic Marias Massacre of 1870, in which the U.S. Cavalry mistakenly killed a friendly band of Blackfeet, consisting mostly of non-combatants.

"A major contribution to Native American literature." - Wallace Stegner.

Published 1986 ✧ James Welch ✧ Penguin Books ✧ 400 Pages ✧ Library Loan

Bookish Thoughts and Reflections: 

The Eagle by Roland W. Reed

In November 2024, Florida made national headlines for removing hundreds of titles from their school libraries. The official list is thirty-five pages long, and while browsing its entries broke my heart, it also inspired me to bump a banned title to the top of my TBR.

James Welch’s Fools Crow is not on the Florida list, but it has been challenged four times in Montana. Campaigns to remove the book from schools in Bozeman and Helena failed, but the effort to eradicate it from Laurel’s school curriculum passed over complaints related to its depiction of rape, mutilation, and violence. 
 
My opinion on the matter is best expressed in the author who, when asked for comment in 2000, stated he felt the book was under attack for its authenticity. Fools Crow relies heavily on the oral traditions, culture, and spirituality of the Piegan Blackfeet, but its inclusion of brutality is rooted in a rejection of romantic stereotypes and a desire to candidly illustrate Native American experiences. Its descriptions are not gratuitous and relate directly to the themes and historical context of the narrative. 

I admit I was unfamiliar with the Native American mythos referenced in Fools Crow, but that didn't prevent me from appreciating how Welch used it to illustrate the power of dreams, and the sacred connection the Pikuni feel to the natural world. I also liked how this element of the novel acknowledged tribal storytelling traditions. 

My only criticism of this theme-heavy fiction is that the intricate layering of motifs comes at the expense of complex character development. Shallow arcs undermine the impact of Fast Horse, Yellow Kidney, and Owl Child, but feeble exploration of Red Paint and Heavy Shield Woman highlights a wealth of untapped potential in the fabric of Fools Crow.  

Book Review: Souls Left Behind by Fan Wu

About the Book: 

Souls Left Behind by Fan Wu
Translated by Honey Watson

We were the Chinese Labour Corps, all 140,000 of us. Sailing eastwards in the final years of the Great War, youth bound to toil behind the trenches of France. Too many of us will never see home again.

Anne Zhang’s father is missing, the feast for his 85th birthday is going cold.

Pride, desperation or hope? Meaningless amid the horror. Somehow I survived, and with Marguerite’s help found roots in this foreign land.

Never one to share a burden, the years since mother’s passing have only claimed the few who remember a painful past.

The battlefields have long since scabbed over with cornflowers. My comrades stare back at me as gravestones. I tend to them, lest they be reduced to forgotten characters of a language that no local understands.

No one told Anne of their stories, nor does she have time to listen.

When I’m gone, who will speak for us?

Published 2024   ✧  Fan Wu   ✧  Sinoist Books  ✧  290 Pages  ✧  Personal Library

Bookish Thoughts and Reflections: 

  Men of the Chinese Labour Corps unload a lorry at Boulogne on August 12, 1917.

I owe my reading of Souls Left Behind to the references K.F. Kuang made to the Chinese Labour Corps (CLC) in Yellowface. Kuang’s fiction centers on a stolen manuscript inspired by the history of the CLC, but it doesn’t explore the material directly. The omission inspired a search for a novel that would fill the gap, a search that led directly to Fan Wu’s 2024 release.  

 

Though officially neutral for much of the First World War, China allowed labor recruitment for the French and British campaigns to begin in 1916. By the end of the conflict, some 140,000 Chinese citizens would accept the terms of these contracts and lend themselves to the most backbreaking functions of Entente operations.

Fan Wu explores the experiences of these men through Delun. Unlike most Labour Corps recruits, Delun is the son of a wealthy merchant and is driven to enlist by his disdain for the life and cultural mores his parents impose on him. His decision to enlist changes the trajectory of his life and sends him more than halfway around the world to the front lines of northern France.

A testament to the CLC’s oft-forgotten and overlooked contributions, Souls Left Behind highlights the physical hardship of digging trenches, repairing roads and railways, filling sandbags, building munitions depots, and staffing factories while examining the emotional trauma of trench warfare, familial estrangement, racism, and cultural isolation.

Delun’s journey is historically fascinating, and I admire how it illustrates the experiences of his real-life counterparts. I also appreciate how his relationships with characters like Miss Lu, Marguerite, and Boss Cai fleshed out and layered the narrative. The story weakens in the final chapters when it shifts in favor of Anne’s comparatively underdeveloped storyline, but I still enjoyed the time I spent with Souls Left Behind and would have no trouble recommending it to readers looking for fresh and untapped perspectives.