L'Avocat indien

by James Welch

Dans ce livre, Welch trace le portrait de l'un de ces Nouveaux Guerriers de la nation indienne. Abandonné par ses parents, Sylvester Yellow Calf, jeune et brillant avocat de la ville de Helena (Montana), ancienne star de basket, a réussi à échapper à la spirale de l'échec. Sa réussite est éclatante au point que les grosses huiles démocrates de Washington s'intéressent à lui. Ne serait-il pas un fantastique candidat démocrate au
Congrès?
Mais, du fin fond de sa prison, un détenu indien redoutablement intelligent, Jack Harwood, combine un plan machiavélique. Son but ? Obtenir sa mise en liberté anticipée en compromettant Yellow Calf dans un scandale de mœurs. L'agent de cette machination ? La propre femme de Harwood, la tendre et fidèle Patti Ann. Partagé entre l'ambition et l'amour, déchiré entre l'héritage de ses ancêtres et l'urgence de représenter son peuple à Washington, Sylvester Yellow Calf est pris au piège. Du grand Welch.

Genres: Fiction, Native American, Indigenous, Novels, Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Westerns

317 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 1990

About the author

James Welch was a Blackfeet author who wrote several novels considered part of the Native American Renaissance literary movement. He is best known for his novel "Fools Crow" (1986).

His works explore the experiences of Native Americans in the 19th and 20th centuries. He worked with Paul Stekler on the documentary "Last Stand at Little Bighorn" which aired on PBS.

Reviews

[Don J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will hand my Creative Writing degree track this: it opened me up to a plethora of authors and genres that I would have never previously looked twice at. "The Indian Lawyer" is one such book that I may have never looked at had it not been assigned to me. And the result...is gratitude.

This book gives readers a unique perspective on what it means to be a Native American in modern America, or more accurately, what it's like to be a successful one. Sylvester Yellow Calf, a successful lawyer who grows up on the poverty-stricken streets of Browning, Montana, must come to terms with his double-life. His success alienates him from his own people while thrusting him in the midst of a world that that treats him as an outsider. I wont spoil anything, but readers have a great opportunity to step into the shoes of "the other" and experience the pain and strife that comes with it.

On another note, Welch's use of third-person perspective is top-notch. He often switches perspectives to allow readers to view the conflict from different perceptions; while that isn't uncommon, Welch makes sure to insert every characters' biases, experiences, and fears into it --so you really are able to see where everyone is coming from. He also possesses a rare ability to shift seamlessly from exposition to narrative, so well you often don't even realize its happened until he jumps you back to when it first transitioned. Welch is a fine talent and if you are interested in a solid, well-crafted read, pick it up.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Indian Lawyer is an example of a good story that doesn't try to do too much. There are only a few key plot twists to make things interesting, but otherwise just an emphasis on the characters and the story. I also liked that the book felt "real." The references to legal concepts, and Indian law concepts in particular, felt authentic. The setting also felt authentic and Welch is particularly talented at describing and using the location and geography to contribute to the story. Descriptions felt "real" in much the same way that Walter Mosley's descriptions of L.A. and the Bay Area do. The incorporation of Montana cities and reservations into the story added to its effectiveness and kept me interested throughout.

[Pabgo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing Earth-shattering here, no world shaking revelations, no resolution to race relations between Native Americans and their oppressors, (Native American issues do present themselves, as the story warrants). This is just a really good book, great story, good character development, very enjoyable.

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved The Indian Lawyer. I found it difficult to put down. Just one more chapter, I kept telling myself, and before I knew it, I'd read 100 pages in one sitting.

This is tight, well-paced, engrossing storytelling. Sylvester and Patti Ann are particularly well-drawn characters. Patti Ann's loneliness and vulnerability are palpable, and Sylvester's ambivalence about his life as a successful lawyer is explored with great sensitivity.

In James Welch's hands, the Montana landscape springs to life as vividly as do the lives of the recently-released ex-cons who aim to wreak havoc in Sylvester's congressional run.

Sometimes when circumstances beyond your control derail your best-laid plans, you unexpectedly find yourself exactly where you need to be.

[Meaghan Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Montana story featuring Chico.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

A damn good book. A stunning portrait of the human condition. As haunting and unnerving as it is fascinating and thrilling. Along the lines of Anuradha Roy's An Atlas of Impossible Longing and John Steinbeck's East of Eden, The Indian Lawyer is a reminder of the old adage, "Oh, what a tangled web we weave." There isn't a hero or a villain, everyone is flawed but also humanized in an extremely detailed way.

It's a modern Prince and the Pauper-esque exploration of race and class and gender. Jack Harwood and Sylvester Yellow Calf are both intelligent Native American males who grew up on the reservation, yet one's been in prison for eight years and the other is a successful lawyer in a prestigious Helena firm.

This novel is completely engrossing. I knew from the beginning that things were possibly going to end tragically but the characters were so fully human and the writing so good that I had to finish, regardless. It actually wasn't that tragic in the end! Nice. I'm so glad I read this book.

Trigger warnings: rape, substance use/abuse, verbal abuse.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

First published in 1990, this is a thoughtful and suspenseful novel by a Native American writer from Montana. I had previously read his Winter in the Blood (1974) and The Death of Jim Loney (1979). All three novels concern the complexities of living as an Indian in a white-dominated world.

Unlike the struggling social cast-offs in the earlier novels, the protagonist of The Indian Lawyer has by all appearances successfully assimilated to white culture. Sylvester Yellow Calf has parlayed statewide recognition on the high school basketball court into a university education and law school. He is now one of the rising members of a high-end law firm in Helena...

Read my review at my blog.

[Carole Rae · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've enjoyed others by this author and I have a goal to eventually read all his books. He is good. After buying this a while back...it just sat on my shelf for like 5 years. Whoops. Thank goodness for the TBR challenge ;)

Here we have Sylvester Yellow Calf. He was a former reservation basketball star who became a promising young lawyer and a possible congressional candidate. He really has made his way in the world. However, when a parolee ensnares him in a blackmail scheme, he'll have a challenge in front of him. He'll have to decide who he is and what he wants in life.

I'll admit....I struggled a hair. It took longer than I thought it would to finish. This was a pretty slow narrative. Things are happening, don't get me wrong so it's not boring, but just slow. Some politics so that didn't help. And then we get to see a lot of flashbacks from a lot of characters. Lots going on but slow in building.

Even though I struggled with the pace, I did enjoy the actual story. I liked Sylvester and I even ended up liking Patti Ann. Not sure where or when that happened, but yes, I liked her. This author really does have a way of showing the complexities of humans. It's never black and white. You get to understand our hero, of course, but our "baddies". You begin to understand all of them and feel for them all. Of course, you are rooting for the hero, but you get why our baddies are "bad".

Soooo. The ending? I def had some questions. I had to look it up and I guess I'm not alone. It was for sure an ambiguous ending which is fine, but man.....I do love a good epilogue and finality ;) Kuddos to Sly for the decisions he made. He was a good egg.

Overall, I did like this one. Not my favorite of this author's, but it was good. It really made me want to continue my journey into all of his works. Someday! But yes, this had excellent characters and an interesting story. Some slowness and the ending could be seen as vague but it did make me think and have questions. I'll give this 3 stars.

[Isabelle D · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5. Character-driven story told beautifully in the style of 3rd person multi-POV, exploring themes of identity, belonging, ambition, and love.

On the surface, Sylvester Yellow Calf is a successful lawyer. But he sticks out in the legal community as “that Indian Lawyer” (hence the title) (this was written in the 90s), yet feels distant from his reservation community. His complicated feelings about his identity get more complicated when faced with two major dilemmas — being asked to run for political office, and getting caught in the schemings of an inmate whose case he oversaw as a member of the state’s parole board.

I ultimately loved this. It’s close to a five star read, but the beginning was a slog, honestly. So I’d say the first half was 3 stars, and the second half was 5 stars. I think what killed the beginning for me was the chapter that followed Jack Harwood (the inmate) in jail. Snooze. Too many characters to keep track of, I got lost.

But when the chapters followed Sylvester, Patti Ann, or Lena, I was so engaged. I grew to love and connect with each of them, along with the rest of the ancillary characters (again, all except Jack really).

I like the way the story developed— there was action, but it was not action-packed. It felt more like a character study, but with realistic human drama. The writing itself was just so well done. James Welch is a talented story teller (I also read Fools Crow years ago and loved it).

The end tied things up beautifully. It’s wasn’t a corny walk into the sunset, but a more sensible ending that still felt warm and fuzzy inside. Ah, I really liked this one. I’m so glad I kept reading past the beginning.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sylvester Yellow Calf is a Blackfeet Indian attorney, former basketball star in the state of Montana, is about to be made into a full partner in a Helena firm of renown in the state, and plans to run for the state legislature. He also serves on the state board for pardons and paroles, and it is that last fact that makes him the object of a blackmail attempt that drives the action for most of this novel. Sylvester is the flawed hero of this interesting tale, a tale I found a bit slow in the telling and somewhat unsatisfying in its resolution. That said, I liked the fact that the author built the narrative around characters that are anything but stereotypical while not denying nor sidestepping the challenges of poverty, racism, and despair facing many native peoples in the United States. Welch knows well whereof he writes.

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sylvester Yellow Calf is a complicated character, abandoned by his parents, raised by loving grandparents who were very connected to his Blackfeet tribe, a basketball star in college, and as the book opens, he's a lawyer at a fancy private firm in Helena. Making his way up in the world. He's sort of involved with a former Senator's daughter and is contemplating a run for Congress. Then...he gets tangled up in the life story of Jack Harwood, former accountant turned bank robber who is languishing in prison, not sure he will survive. There's lots of casual racism towards Sylvester, and the other Indians in the book. What I liked about this book was how it left some things messy...Sylvester sort of gets back in touch with his roots, but there's plenty of ambivalence about it. Still, there are some oddly flat, stereotypical parts to the story, and some completely incredible sequences. And the scenery...reading Montana landscapes oddly comforting while staying in place in Phila.
This book is on the Little Free Library Pandemic Reading list.

[Luis Tuyub · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third book that I have read by James Welch. It surprises me how haunting each book is in its own unique way. I found this one to be thrilling and ends on such a good note. There are plenty of little remarks that are made that impact the character of Sylvester Yellow Calf, such as the comment on his father's alcoholism, his thoughts on being rejected by his team, and how his relationship with Stan ended which all lead up to the overall message of the book. The main message is how Sylvester is at odds with himself and his perception of what he is. A constant battle of how he perceives himself and his attempts to grapple and understand his self.

I like this book very much and I am glad to have read it.

[Sherrill Watson]

See April's review and Larry Stratner's review.

The scenes in Montana are beautiful. Poor Sylvester Yellow Calf, he's trapped in intrigues he can't move out of. He's such a passive player, not a loudmouth lawyer with a red tie, as most of them are. He's a man of quiet principle, without a huge flaw, and so, he's trapped. I found the ending satisfyingly, but had very little empathy for him. He COULD have blown things wide open, but didn't. He just crawled off and became a limp lawyer in nowhere. I hope he patches things up with Lena.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is more like 3 1/2 stars. It would be four stars for a normal writer, but it is definitely three stars for Welch. I almost wouldn’t have even known it was by the same author of fools crow and charging elk, both of which are absolutely five stars on any scale. Perhaps he had difficulty writing about the modern day, but for whatever reason it just doesn’t have the same incredibly real feel as those other two novels. Still worth a read, although the suspense generated early in the book doesn’t really lead to much of a payoff.

[Greta · Rating 4 out of 5]

James Welch writes a believable story about a young Blackfoot basketball star from Browning, Montana who goes on to earn advanced degrees and practice law in Helena, Montana. His race makes him unique in the largely white world of law, parole boards and politics as practiced in Montana. Unfortunately he is targeted by some very self serving, selfish, dangerous criminals and may loose everything.

[EB Fitzsimons · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very much evocative of a certain time (late 80s/ early nineties) and place (the West), Welch's writing is intimately connected to nature and the modern world of office drudgery and parole boards. Even the small missteps (a bit of clunky dialogue or overwrought emotion) make it so much more sincere, and sometimes beautifully revelatory.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. Well enough written I guess, but the story was pretty boring and the best of the characters were only marginally likeable, while the vast majority were completely forgettable.

There was some interesting musing about what it means to be a successful Indian in the American west (of the modernish era).

D

[Toni Reese · Rating 3 out of 5]

I might have given this book a 4-star rating had I not already read Fools Crow and The Heartsong of Charging Elk. Fools Crow is one of my most favorite books I've ever read, and Heartsong was very good too. The Indian Lawyer, though, just didn't do a whole lot for me.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sylvester Yellow Calf has successfully assimilated into white society and is running for Congress, until he runs into blackmail and faces the costs of his assimilation. Set in Montana.

[Alexandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Malika-Liki · Rating 5 out of 5]

a wonderful story. a great description of Human Nature, the littleness of people, the almost falling of grace, I loved evey page, a Great Book and a wonderful stoty teller and Author

[Roger · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of very best works of fiction I've ever read.

[Johnny Elk · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book.

[Laurie DelSignore · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish this book was a series. I really enjoyed it. I am reading it during election season, so I am pretty sick of politics. But I so enjoyed Sylvester Yellow Calf’s character and storyline.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

***1/2. Excellently written but the ending was flat.

[Thegirlintheafternoon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Task: Popsugar Reading Challenge 2018 - Nordic Native noir - 4/5 stars

I picked this up on a whim, and holy crap, I'm so glad I did! What a writer. Tense and psychologically acute throughout.

[Zeynep]

DNF.School made read it but I got bored and didn’t finish it. Might come back later...

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

More conventionally told than the elliptical Winter in the Blood, and lacking the lyrical, elegiac mysticism of Fools Crow, but powerful in its straightforward, modern portrayal of an extraordinarily talented man who faces the ordinary human challenge of determining who he is in the world.
Sylvester Yellow Calf, abandoned as an infant by his mother and alcoholic father, is raised on the Blackfeet reservation in Browning, MT by his maternal grandparents. A standou high school basketball player, his star just continues to ascend through an illustrious career at Montana State and then Stanford Law. Sly is mentored in his law careere by the managing partner of his Helena law firm, who has high hopes that Sylvester will agree to run for Congress.
All is proceeding like clockwork till the state prison parole board on which Yellow Calf serves decides against parole for Jack Harmon, who has spent 7 of the past 9 years behind bars. Harmon is hanging on to his marriage by a thread and will do whatever it takes to get released, even if it means blackmail.

[Larry Strattner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book based upon its title, since I have been doing research into Native American culture for something I am writing.
The book was surprising since it was almost proceedural in nature yet had absolutely no predictable turns or pat solutions. Every time I felt as if I might predict an outcome it did not develop.

I read many thrillers, particularly series, and it might be a slight exaggeration, but this story follows what I might call the "steps" of such a story without delivering any of the set-piece outcomes.

Many of the story's emotional/thoughtful moments are penetrating and provoking.
The ending in particular is gently suprising and somehow "right." I found the book engaging, thought-provoking and satisfying. If you like character-centered stories this is a very good read.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

For so many reasons, I'm ashamed to say that this is my first James Welch novel. I had heard of Welch while in high school, but having been in college for so long I'm only just starting to get back into reading non-assigned texts.

Having said that, what an amazingly talented Montana author! Although there is no true villain or hero, Welch portrays endearing, flawed characters throughout the novel. As a Montanan, Welch was able to portray not only his characters, but the social and political dynamics of the state as well. The assumptions, the conflicts, the conversations - they all rang true in my mind, almost 25 years later. To be able to paint such a true and endearing portrait is a rare talent, and he was one.