Eye of the Bear: A History Novel of Early California
Naida West ô 1 READ & DOWNLOAD
Marvelous as a prequel to River of Red Gold, using the tribe of Umne on the Cosumne River to tell the story of their treatment by the Spanish Missionaries. But, whether I had read River of Red Gold or not, the book stands on its own as a wonderful, well-written, well-researched slice of California history. English I like historicals and books on history and this was an interesting and entertaining book. English Written by a local author and set in the area I live it now so great to be driving around knowing that the book is set in the places I can see. English I finished this book, but I doubt that I will read another by this author. Which is a pity as her subject is California history, something I am very interested in right now. I appreciated her telling the story of the settlement of California from an Indian point of view, but she seemed to enjoy describing the atrocities in detail and lingered (and lingered!) over the descriptions. It turned my stomach and made me only able to read a short section at a time before I had to put the book down. By the middle of the book I was irritated that she was manipulating my emotions in this manner. If her goal was to highlight the sufferings of the Indians she succeeded, but if her goal was to obtain a loyal reader she failed. English I read this book because my father-in-law loved it. He read history, and the novel mentions the area where my in-laws lived for over 25 years, near Elk Grove, CA and the Cosumnes River.
The novel portion has to do with a Native American protagonist and his family and friends.
This book was tedious and I disliked it, mainly because it was a mash-up of history and fiction, and neither done terribly well. I think the author's heart was in the right place, but the story was horrifically sad. This was one of the books that made me decide that I'd prefer non-fiction unless the fiction story is entertaining, uplifting, and satisfying, which this one wasn't. Even the Native American tribe was completely made up, and the references to the spirits of Coyote and Bear surprisingly, added nothing whatsoever.
Nevertheless, my father-in-law loved it, so if you are interested in California history, give it a try. I did learn a few things, such as, why Mount Diablo got its name, just how dreadful the missions were (author tries to paint a picture of pros and cons), inspired my hatred of organized religion even more, stuff like that. English