Chief Joseph and the Flight of the Nez Perce by Kent Nerburn

 

"Tell General Howard I know his heart. What he told me before, I have it in my heart. I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed; Looking Glass is dead, Too-hul-hul-sote is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men is dead. It is cold, and we have no blankets; the little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are, perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever."  

               -Chief Joseph, from his Surrender Speech, October 5,1877

I was familiar with this portion of Chief Joseph's speech, especially the last few sentences. I had always wondered about his story and that of the Nez Perce people. Perhaps this book told me more than I wanted to know. It was dense with details and difficult to read, not because of the writing, but because of the disturbing content. I have said I like a nonfiction that reads like fiction, and this one did not. There was really no dialogue, only some quotes, but such a gripping and sad story. I guess I knew better than to expect a happy ending.

The flight of the Nez Perce begins in their homeland of the Wallowa Valley of Eastern Oregon in June of 1877. Joseph and others were leading 800 men, women and children on a 1500-mile retreat being chased by various U.S. Army officers under the command of General Sherman, head of all the U.S. armies. He delivered orders to "pursue them to the death." Not so different from his notorious march through Georgia.

Joseph never wanted to fight; he only wanted to protect his people, look out for their welfare and be allowed to live peacefully on their ancestral lands. He would be forced to fight and then to flee with his people. After the Nez Perce surrendered they were forced from one fort to another under inhumane conditions, often with little food and medicine and insufficient housing and clothing suited to the weather. In 1885 they had been relocated to the Northwest but never to their homeland as had been promised more than once by military leaders.

As a student of Florida history, the story of the Nez Perce reminded me of the Seminoles and their years-long harassment by the U.S. Army, particularly Andrew Jackson. I have to wonder how many other native culture groups experienced similar tragedies.

This book was thoroughly researched---the author says he worked for 4 years. Because of that and the excellent writing I rate it a 5. I was inspired by Chief Joseph's story---his determination, resilience and devotion to his people. He has been referred to as the "Red Napoleon" and Buffalo Bill Cody called him the "greatest Indian America ever produced."

The Maid by Nita Prose 4

 "Justice is like truth---it, too, is subjective. So many of those who deserve to be punished never receive their just desert, and in the meantime, good people, decent people, are charged with the wrong crimes. It's a flawed system---justice---a dirty, messy, imperfect system. But if the good people accept personal responsibility for exacting justice, would we not have a better chance of cleaning the entire world, of holding the liars, the cheaters, the users, and the abusers to account?"         -from the novel

Protagonist and narrator Molly Gray is a maid at the illustrious Regency Grand Hotel. She is naive and somewhat gullible with odd mannerisms that keep her distanced from her peers and she is so fastidious about her work that the other maids are either suspicious or jealous. Also Molly is grieving the passing of her adored grandmother and feeling lonely as she is living alone for the first time in her young life.

When a guest, Mr. Black, is found dead in his bed in one of Molly's assigned rooms, she is an easy target for a murder charge although she is completely innocent. Can she help find the true criminal?

The Maid was the Page Turners' selection for November.  I am rating it a 4. I liked it but maybe not enough to read further in the Molly the Maid series.

The Apprentice: A Rizzoli and Isles Novel by Tess Gerritsen 2

 

"Jane Rizzoli would never allow herself to be so spineless as to suffer a nervous breakdown. In the course of her career, she had chased a perp across a rooftop, had kicked down doors, had confronted her own death in a dark cellar. She had killed a man. But until this moment, she had never felt so close to crumbling."

       -from the novel

I had read 3 other novels from this series in 2014. Apparently, I liked them giving ratings of 5, 5 and 3. I enjoyed the TV series of "Rizzoli and Isles" very much from 2010-16, especially the two lead actresses, Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander. I am sure that's what led to reading the novels. I must have moved beyond this type of thriller because I really didn't enjoy this one so much, rating it a 2. I could hardly wait to finish it! I guess it had something going for it if I didn't quit.

I do enjoy a good murder mystery but this one about a serial killer known as the Surgeon, is just too graphic for my taste. It is the reason I gave up on James Patterson some years back. Too much technical/medical jargon, too.