What do you think?
Rate this book
The Sun Is Not Merciful: Short Stories
A collection of stories about contemporary tribal life.
133 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1985
1 person is currently reading
56 people want to read
About the author
Anna Lee Walters
14 books5 followersAnna Lee Walters (born 1946) is an award-winning Pawnee/Otoe-Missouria author from Oklahoma.
Walters works at the Diné College in Arizona, where she directs the college press. She lives in Tsaile, Arizona with her husband Harry Walters. He is the former Director of the Museum at Diné College.
Her first novel, Ghost Singer (1994) is a two-level mystery: one relates to the suicide of researchers at the Smithsonian Institution, which is attributed to ghosts related to Indian artifact (archeology)s; the other is that of how American Indians understand their position related to their ancestry and culture. Turning the genre on its head, Walters "solves" only the second mystery.
Her short story collection, The Sun Is Not Merciful, won the Before Columbus Foundation 1985 American Book Award.
(from Wikipedia)
Walters works at the Diné College in Arizona, where she directs the college press. She lives in Tsaile, Arizona with her husband Harry Walters. He is the former Director of the Museum at Diné College.
Her first novel, Ghost Singer (1994) is a two-level mystery: one relates to the suicide of researchers at the Smithsonian Institution, which is attributed to ghosts related to Indian artifact (archeology)s; the other is that of how American Indians understand their position related to their ancestry and culture. Turning the genre on its head, Walters "solves" only the second mystery.
Her short story collection, The Sun Is Not Merciful, won the Before Columbus Foundation 1985 American Book Award.
(from Wikipedia)
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 19, 2023
3 stars
Little free library find.
Pawnee Nation author Anna Lee Walters won the Before Columbus award in 1985 with this collection of eight stories.
The stories are, in themselves, fine. Not horrible, but just not better than okay.
They deal with the topics one often sees in Native American writing: tribal customs, alcoholism, criminality due to poverty, casual and not-so-casual racism and discrimination, the mixing of ancient belief and Christianity and the loss of tribal land and traditions.
Unfortunately, the writing is very plain and blocky, using mostly only simple declarative sentences. There is little characterisation or setting description.
Some may enjoy this unembellished, direct style of writing but I found myself wanting to be drawn more tangibly into the world of the stories than what the author seemed to be willing to put on the page.
It's an okay collection for those really interested in Native American lit, but I'd have to recommend the anthology Talking Leaves: Contemporary Native American Short Stories or newer anthologies for those looking for Native stories with more literary merit.
Little free library find.
Pawnee Nation author Anna Lee Walters won the Before Columbus award in 1985 with this collection of eight stories.
The stories are, in themselves, fine. Not horrible, but just not better than okay.
They deal with the topics one often sees in Native American writing: tribal customs, alcoholism, criminality due to poverty, casual and not-so-casual racism and discrimination, the mixing of ancient belief and Christianity and the loss of tribal land and traditions.
Unfortunately, the writing is very plain and blocky, using mostly only simple declarative sentences. There is little characterisation or setting description.
Some may enjoy this unembellished, direct style of writing but I found myself wanting to be drawn more tangibly into the world of the stories than what the author seemed to be willing to put on the page.
It's an okay collection for those really interested in Native American lit, but I'd have to recommend the anthology Talking Leaves: Contemporary Native American Short Stories or newer anthologies for those looking for Native stories with more literary merit.
January 31, 2021
This illuminated a lot of things that a settler like me can go through life ignoring.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews