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Odette
Minor sticker damage on cover. Wrinkles on covers. Reading creases on spine. Bookstore stamp on first page. Light tanning due to age.
Hardcover
Published January 1, 1973
About the author
Rachel Moran
9 books40 followersRachel Moran is the founder of the organization SPACE International (Survivors of Prostitution-Abuse Calling for Enlightenment). She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in creative writing and speaks globally on prostitution and sex-trafficking. She lives in Dublin, Ireland.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 13, 2016
I first read Odette back in the early 70's in Redbook magazine, which at that time was still printing short stories and novels in each monthly issue. I loved it then, I loved it once I found a used copy in a paperback swap shop, and I've loved it every time I have read it ever since. Okay, now that's out of the way, and you know that this is not an objective review, I will try to explain about Odette's story.
The book begins with an 'Editor's Preface' in which the author explains how he found the letters which Odette wrote to her dead mother, how intrigued by them he became, how he went out to the San Carlos Indian Reservation in Arizona to interview one of the Apache men who had been a youngster at the time of the events in Odette's letters. Of course I always wondered if this book was true. I was still curious when I started this umpteenth re-read, but this time I was able to Google the author. I did not learn much: he was a screenwriter, he is still alive, and he was born in 1923. And that date proves that Odette is a work of fiction, since in that Editor's Preface, R. B. states that his first year out of law school he was sent to Arizona to do some research, and in the course of that work discovered the letters. The date of that trip? 1924. So, Odette's story is not fact, it is fiction. But maybe it could have happened, and I think those of us who first read this haunting book all those years ago, will believe it did happen just the way Odette's letters and the interviews with Tia-Tish say it did.
Arizona in 1858 was still a battleground between the whites that were flooding into the territory and the Apache who had always been there. The story is revealed slowly, bits and pieces appearing throughout the letters Odette begins to write less than a year after her mother's death. Odette and her father Gunder are about to make a week-long wagon trip to Tucson to meet the man who will become her husband. Gunder had put an ad in an Eastern newspaper, so Odette is going to be a 'catalog' bride. But she is not depressed about this, she is excited that finally she will be able to love and be loved in return. She is, in her own words, a 'scrawny whelp with scarred lungs' (the family
had moved to Arizona in hopes of curing her tuberculosis) but she has her dreams and she is ready to see them come true.
Her strength of character is revealed (and grows) bit by bit throughout the book. She gradually becomes the woman she was meant to be, and I think that is one aspect of this book that appealed to my painfully shy self when I first read it. She grew, she dared, she loved, she learned that she was much more than she thought she was. She has a fun sense of humor and a natural way of expressing herself: she is real.
Disalin was the young war chief of the Apache band in the immediate area. He had been living for some untold reason at the Mission San Xavier Del Bac in Tucson when the Apache raided one day. Their leader Cassadora carried the boy away and raised him as his own son. Disalin takes his responsibilities seriously, and worries about his people and their eventual fate. What can he do to protect them, to maybe change their destiny?
Between the letters and the interviews we learn from both sides what happened that summer. Some of the language is quite salty, and there are raw, violent scenes when the Apache and the white men clash. There are also some of the most sensual (not sexual, the two are so very different) moments I have ever read. The bittersweet intensity of those pages still makes me weep. I just can't keep from tearing up when I read that section. And the last letter as well, come to think of it.
I don't want to give anything more away, all I can say is that this will always be a five star book for me. I do so wish the story had been true. I think perhaps I will allow myself to go ahead and believe it all really happened just like the letters say it did.
The book begins with an 'Editor's Preface' in which the author explains how he found the letters which Odette wrote to her dead mother, how intrigued by them he became, how he went out to the San Carlos Indian Reservation in Arizona to interview one of the Apache men who had been a youngster at the time of the events in Odette's letters. Of course I always wondered if this book was true. I was still curious when I started this umpteenth re-read, but this time I was able to Google the author. I did not learn much: he was a screenwriter, he is still alive, and he was born in 1923. And that date proves that Odette is a work of fiction, since in that Editor's Preface, R. B. states that his first year out of law school he was sent to Arizona to do some research, and in the course of that work discovered the letters. The date of that trip? 1924. So, Odette's story is not fact, it is fiction. But maybe it could have happened, and I think those of us who first read this haunting book all those years ago, will believe it did happen just the way Odette's letters and the interviews with Tia-Tish say it did.
Arizona in 1858 was still a battleground between the whites that were flooding into the territory and the Apache who had always been there. The story is revealed slowly, bits and pieces appearing throughout the letters Odette begins to write less than a year after her mother's death. Odette and her father Gunder are about to make a week-long wagon trip to Tucson to meet the man who will become her husband. Gunder had put an ad in an Eastern newspaper, so Odette is going to be a 'catalog' bride. But she is not depressed about this, she is excited that finally she will be able to love and be loved in return. She is, in her own words, a 'scrawny whelp with scarred lungs' (the family
had moved to Arizona in hopes of curing her tuberculosis) but she has her dreams and she is ready to see them come true.
Her strength of character is revealed (and grows) bit by bit throughout the book. She gradually becomes the woman she was meant to be, and I think that is one aspect of this book that appealed to my painfully shy self when I first read it. She grew, she dared, she loved, she learned that she was much more than she thought she was. She has a fun sense of humor and a natural way of expressing herself: she is real.
Disalin was the young war chief of the Apache band in the immediate area. He had been living for some untold reason at the Mission San Xavier Del Bac in Tucson when the Apache raided one day. Their leader Cassadora carried the boy away and raised him as his own son. Disalin takes his responsibilities seriously, and worries about his people and their eventual fate. What can he do to protect them, to maybe change their destiny?
Between the letters and the interviews we learn from both sides what happened that summer. Some of the language is quite salty, and there are raw, violent scenes when the Apache and the white men clash. There are also some of the most sensual (not sexual, the two are so very different) moments I have ever read. The bittersweet intensity of those pages still makes me weep. I just can't keep from tearing up when I read that section. And the last letter as well, come to think of it.
I don't want to give anything more away, all I can say is that this will always be a five star book for me. I do so wish the story had been true. I think perhaps I will allow myself to go ahead and believe it all really happened just like the letters say it did.
March 30, 2015
I first read this book years ago. I found it in the nonfiction section of the library where I was looking for material on the Chiricahua Apache of Arizona for a paper I needed to write. The story was haunting and has stayed with me through the years. I rediscovered the book in a used book store a few years ago, but it was in paperback form and listed as a "novel." I guess that I would like to think that there really was an Odette who wrote the 24 letters to her dead mother, and that the interviews with Tia-tish at the reservation in the 1920's really occurred. But, regardless of whether "Odette" was a real woman, I really enjoyed the story of a young woman coming to age in a time when women had little choices or power. I agree with the author when he wrote, "Throughout the years, Odette's letters have had meaning for me. In this day, I feel they may have meaning for others as well."
February 28, 2008
Shame that this is out of print. This story should not fade from our history.
September 10, 2010
I love this book. It's haunting. I've read it more than once and it's always intriguing. I wish I knew more about Reuben Berkovitch and the story or the idea/inspiration behind this book. I guess it's fiction but it always seemed so real to me.
April 2, 2026
I first read Odette in the May 1974 edition of Redbook. During that time period, Redbook magazine published short novels in their monthly volumes. I'm sure of the date because I have saved the magazine all these years. It's been through 8 moves and is disintegrating due to age, but I was still able to read it periodically. I was relieved when I was finally able to purchase a hard copy from a used book seller. Years ago, I searched for Mr. Bercovitch's contact information, as I wanted to tell him how touched I was by his book, but I drew a blank. His realistic writing style blurs the line between fiction and non-fiction. Unfortunately, he now passed.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews