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The White
In 1758, when Mary Jemison is about sixteen, a Shawnee raiding party captures her Irish family near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Mary is the only one not killed and scalped. She is instead given to two Seneca sisters to replace their brother who was killed by whites.
Emerging slowly from shock, Mary--now named Two-Falling-Voices--begins to make her home in Seneca culture and the wild landscape. She goes on to marry a Delaware, then a Seneca, and, though she contemplates it several times, never rejoins white society.
Larsen alludes beautifully to the way Mary apprehends the brutality of both the white colonists and the native tribes; and how, open-eyed and independent, she thrives as a genuine American.
Emerging slowly from shock, Mary--now named Two-Falling-Voices--begins to make her home in Seneca culture and the wild landscape. She goes on to marry a Delaware, then a Seneca, and, though she contemplates it several times, never rejoins white society.
Larsen alludes beautifully to the way Mary apprehends the brutality of both the white colonists and the native tribes; and how, open-eyed and independent, she thrives as a genuine American.
219 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 215 reviews
September 16, 2022
I found this book in an eclectic used bookshop in Baraboo, WI. I don’t think it was ever opened. I pity its former owner who missed reading a treasure.
The White novelizes the true story of Mary Jemison, captured by Seneca Indians on the Pennsylvania frontier in 1758 at the age of sixteen. She is adopted by the tribe, marries a Delaware warrior, and lives for years as an Indian before returning to white society and telling her story to a local historian in 1823.
Lee Hager Cohen’s review on the back cover captures The White perfectly though we differ on the “almost” preceding the word majestic—the book is majestic full stop:
And the cover! To again paraphrase Cohen: stark, unadorned, exquisite.
I opened this book while sitting in the car outside the store. I set aside two terrific reads in progress to finish it. I can't remember the last time I read a book in one sitting. I expect this will be the best book I read all year. For those who've read the highly-rated West by Carys Davies, The White will feel familiar, but is much better. Reader's of Hannah Kent's Burial Rites will certainly enjoy The White. Very very highly recommended.
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PS: I confess to a great fondness for stories of this era due to my family’s history. My family like Mary’s immigrated from Ireland in the early 1700’s. In 1773 (15 years after Mary's story begins) they moved to the Pennsylvania frontier. Near the close of the Revolutionary War my many greats grandfather Mathias joined the local militia and took part in Col. Archibald Lochry’s Expedition against Indian villages along the Ohio River to stop their raiding of white settlements on the frontier. The expedition failed spectacularly. It was ambushed by Mohawk warriors near present day Cincinnati, OH on August 24, 1781. Col. Lochry and a third of his company were killed. Sixty-four survivors including my grandfather were taken captive and spent months running "the gauntlet" through Indian villages in Ohio. Some died, others were kept as slaves. Mathias was sold for bounty to the British army at Detroit. He was transported up the Great Lakes across Niagara Falls and imprisoned on St. Helen’s Island at Montreal. Some months later he and several others escaped, making their way across southern Quebec and New York state to General George Washington’s camp near Albany where they were given provisions to return home. Only twenty-four men from Lochry's expedition are known to have survived. In all, Mathias journey covered more than two thousand miles over 13 months, mostly on foot. For those interested in more history of Mathias and Lochery's Expedition start here.
Many of the places in The White would have been familiar to Mathias. Mary was captured near Gettysburg, PA. Early in her journey she crosses the Monongahela River. Drawing a line between Gettyburg and the river, Mary would have passed through or very close to the land later settled by Mathias’ family near Ligonier, PA. Lochry’s Expedition targeted the Shawnee, Delaware and Sandusky Indians of Ohio. Mary and her husband, Sheninjee, an Ohio Delaware may have encountered prisoners from the battle on their way through Ohio, particularly given Mathias was brought up the Sandusky River to Detroit. Mary lived in Sandusky for many years with Sheninjee. In traveling across New York to General Washington's camp, Mathias and companions would have traveled through the lands of the Six Nations that spanned much of upstate New York. Genesee, where Mary settled with her second husband was part of these lands, though west of Mathias' path through New York.
The White novelizes the true story of Mary Jemison, captured by Seneca Indians on the Pennsylvania frontier in 1758 at the age of sixteen. She is adopted by the tribe, marries a Delaware warrior, and lives for years as an Indian before returning to white society and telling her story to a local historian in 1823.
Lee Hager Cohen’s review on the back cover captures The White perfectly though we differ on the “almost” preceding the word majestic—the book is majestic full stop:
Deborah Larsen has conceived a book uncommonly beautiful and fierce. The story is almost majestic in its stark progression, and the writing is a rare thing—at once exquisite and unadorned, and so powerful that the very spaces between the passages can leave you aching, marking your breath.The last statement is so wonderfully true. I don't think I've ever read a book where the breaks between passages carry as much weight as the words around them. Mary inhabits these white spaces, where she breathes and we are closest to her.
And the cover! To again paraphrase Cohen: stark, unadorned, exquisite.
I opened this book while sitting in the car outside the store. I set aside two terrific reads in progress to finish it. I can't remember the last time I read a book in one sitting. I expect this will be the best book I read all year. For those who've read the highly-rated West by Carys Davies, The White will feel familiar, but is much better. Reader's of Hannah Kent's Burial Rites will certainly enjoy The White. Very very highly recommended.
----
PS: I confess to a great fondness for stories of this era due to my family’s history. My family like Mary’s immigrated from Ireland in the early 1700’s. In 1773 (15 years after Mary's story begins) they moved to the Pennsylvania frontier. Near the close of the Revolutionary War my many greats grandfather Mathias joined the local militia and took part in Col. Archibald Lochry’s Expedition against Indian villages along the Ohio River to stop their raiding of white settlements on the frontier. The expedition failed spectacularly. It was ambushed by Mohawk warriors near present day Cincinnati, OH on August 24, 1781. Col. Lochry and a third of his company were killed. Sixty-four survivors including my grandfather were taken captive and spent months running "the gauntlet" through Indian villages in Ohio. Some died, others were kept as slaves. Mathias was sold for bounty to the British army at Detroit. He was transported up the Great Lakes across Niagara Falls and imprisoned on St. Helen’s Island at Montreal. Some months later he and several others escaped, making their way across southern Quebec and New York state to General George Washington’s camp near Albany where they were given provisions to return home. Only twenty-four men from Lochry's expedition are known to have survived. In all, Mathias journey covered more than two thousand miles over 13 months, mostly on foot. For those interested in more history of Mathias and Lochery's Expedition start here.
Many of the places in The White would have been familiar to Mathias. Mary was captured near Gettysburg, PA. Early in her journey she crosses the Monongahela River. Drawing a line between Gettyburg and the river, Mary would have passed through or very close to the land later settled by Mathias’ family near Ligonier, PA. Lochry’s Expedition targeted the Shawnee, Delaware and Sandusky Indians of Ohio. Mary and her husband, Sheninjee, an Ohio Delaware may have encountered prisoners from the battle on their way through Ohio, particularly given Mathias was brought up the Sandusky River to Detroit. Mary lived in Sandusky for many years with Sheninjee. In traveling across New York to General Washington's camp, Mathias and companions would have traveled through the lands of the Six Nations that spanned much of upstate New York. Genesee, where Mary settled with her second husband was part of these lands, though west of Mathias' path through New York.
February 5, 2019
A female child is born on a ship headed to the New World. Her name is Mary Jemison. In 1758 in her new home located near what is known today as Gettysburg, PA, Mary, about 16, and her family are captured by a Shawnee raiding party. Mary survives. This is her story. Deborah Larsen’s The White is written in free form prose which I enjoyed very much. It may seem disjointed to some readers, but did not to me. The author uses some of Mary’s own words as told to a doctor when Mary is a much older woman. It is a story of survival, of living with the Seneca, of marriage to a Native American warrior, and of the decision to stay with the Seneca. The author does not shy away from the brutality of the time nor its sagacity. The spaces between the lyrical narrative allows time for the reader to truly comprehend the time and what Mary experiences. Beautifully done! 5 stars.
November 25, 2009
I read this several years ago and could not find the title for a long time in order to add it to my list here. I remember being caught by the writing style of at least the beginning. Very impressionistic, haunting. This is a story of a real person who lived through some pretty horrific circumstances. Watching her family brutally killed, then being taken captive, surviving reluctantly, and then, after being traded to two sisters who had lost a brother to similar brutality yet treated her with kindness, she slowly came back to her own life. Wow, a hushed, jaw-dropped sort of wow.
December 31, 2008
started: 11/30/08
finished: 12/3/08
This book was incredibly interesting! I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in history. It follows the life of a girl who, at a very young age, is taken by indians and essentially sold into slavery with another indian tribe. She ends up marrying two indians from two different tribes and having several children. Her stories are amazing and it is shocking to realize this is all based on the actual life of this woman as she described it. Truly a worthwhile read!
pages: 240
finished: 12/3/08
This book was incredibly interesting! I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in history. It follows the life of a girl who, at a very young age, is taken by indians and essentially sold into slavery with another indian tribe. She ends up marrying two indians from two different tribes and having several children. Her stories are amazing and it is shocking to realize this is all based on the actual life of this woman as she described it. Truly a worthwhile read!
pages: 240
November 15, 2023
Uh oh… I think I’m back on the historical fiction wagon! I liked this a lot
November 28, 2015
This book had a young adult vibe about it, although no one else marked it as such. The story is based around a 16-year-old girl whose family is captured by Indians. Mary is brought on her own to a Seneca tribe, to take the place of a Seneca man who was killed by the whites. She is quietly resigned to her fate, but as she becomes more comfortable, she starts to make a life for herself. Eventually she marries, has children, and becomes one of the tribe although she is never fully accepted by everyone. I found the story to be an intriguing premise, but the book was slow-going, with kind of a preachy element about it. The old-fashioned method of speaking and referring either to Scripture or Indian stories was a bit confusing and lost my interest.
February 18, 2019
"In 1758 a woman around the age of sixteen named Mary Jemison - or as some now think, Mary Jamison -- was actually taken by a Shawnee raiding party in south-central Pennsylvania; she was forced from her home, which lay close to what would later be known as the town of Gettysburg. In 1823, in New York State, the aged Mary sat for three days with a physician and local historian, James Seaver, and told him the story that he wrote down and later published."
February 20, 2015
A beautifully written book of a white girl captured by the Seneca Indian Tribe in the mid 1750's. She accepts their ways as hers. A kind and loving wife, she sees the importance of owning land. An only survivor of the Indian attack, she holds the memory scriptures dear to her, taught by her father. Understanding both cultures she remains independant; not joining the white settlers when given the oppertunity. The author, a poet writes the story with grace and beauty.
October 31, 2010
The White is based on the real story of Mary Jemison, who was captured as a young girl by a Shawnee raiding party in 1758. That story itself is plenty compelling -- here, it is made even more so by the beauty of the author's vision and writing. (I was not surprised to find, after reading the book, that the author is a poet. Her writing asks to be read with the heart as well as the mind.)
February 17, 2009
Graceful and elegant prose makes this an enjoyable and well-formed narrative about a young settler kidnapped and assimilated into a Native American tribe in the 18th century. Extremely relevant in this age of greater social awareness of ethnic and identity issues.
April 18, 2017
More of a long prose poem than a novel, The White is Deborah Larsen's fictionalized account of the (true) story of Mary Jemison, a young girl from a family of Irish immigrants who was captured on the Pennsylvania frontier by Shawnee Indians and their French allies during the French and Indian War. The Shawnee killed her family before passing her along to the Seneca, among whom she would spend the rest of her life. The narrative moves seamlessly between third person omniscience, a closer third person perspective that usually describes things from Mary's perspective but also switches to other perspectives of Mary, and occasional, italicized stream-of-consciousness musings from the mind of Mary herself. The prose is sparse, the word choice is sharp, and sentences are whittled down into their barest elements; the end result being recognizable as the work of a verbally-economical poet.
The Indian captivity narrative was the first distinctively American literary genre. Mary Rowlandson's The Sovereignty and Goodness of God, detailing her captivity at the hands of Narragansetts during King Philip's War, was the first transatlantic bestseller to emerge from British North America. Knowing this, I was intrigued to read a modern take on this centuries-old American form. Yes, the historical Jemison dictated her own account near the end of her life, and this account is the main source material for Larsen's novel; but literary authors have always shaped the raw material of captivity accounts to tell their own stories in their own way. Increase Mather exercised a heavy editorial influence over Rowlandson's account; it is interesting to read The White with the idea that Larsen is playing Increase Mather to Jemison's Rowlandson. Reading it this way, the parallels and divergences are equally interesting.
In keeping with the tradition of captivity narratives, Larsen focuses less on external events and more on how those events shape Mary Jemison's character and her sense of herself. Brutally severed from the culture, family, and language of her childhood, Jemison struggles profoundly to come to terms with her own identity and with her sense of belonging in a life that was not of her choosing. She falls in love twice, marries twice, bears six children, and sees several of those children meet tragic ends. She experiences the brutality of Indian warfare, but also the tenderness of Indian domesticity. She wonders at times whether she should remain a white Seneca or escape to a white settlement and become an Indian Irishwoman. She struggles to have her sovereignty and human agency respected; she is taken as a war captive, bartered like a cheap commodity, at times lorded over by her husbands and her adoptive sisters. She dreams of owning land, of having a space in the world that is hers and hers alone.
Whereas God is the main protagonist in the Rowlandson narrative, Larsen's Jemison is striving to be her own protagonist in her own narrative. Rowlandson wants to preserve her Englishness and her Christianity in the company of heathens; Jemison wants to establish her individuality in the midst of her whiteness, her Indianness, and her womanhood.
The Indian captivity narrative was the first distinctively American literary genre. Mary Rowlandson's The Sovereignty and Goodness of God, detailing her captivity at the hands of Narragansetts during King Philip's War, was the first transatlantic bestseller to emerge from British North America. Knowing this, I was intrigued to read a modern take on this centuries-old American form. Yes, the historical Jemison dictated her own account near the end of her life, and this account is the main source material for Larsen's novel; but literary authors have always shaped the raw material of captivity accounts to tell their own stories in their own way. Increase Mather exercised a heavy editorial influence over Rowlandson's account; it is interesting to read The White with the idea that Larsen is playing Increase Mather to Jemison's Rowlandson. Reading it this way, the parallels and divergences are equally interesting.
In keeping with the tradition of captivity narratives, Larsen focuses less on external events and more on how those events shape Mary Jemison's character and her sense of herself. Brutally severed from the culture, family, and language of her childhood, Jemison struggles profoundly to come to terms with her own identity and with her sense of belonging in a life that was not of her choosing. She falls in love twice, marries twice, bears six children, and sees several of those children meet tragic ends. She experiences the brutality of Indian warfare, but also the tenderness of Indian domesticity. She wonders at times whether she should remain a white Seneca or escape to a white settlement and become an Indian Irishwoman. She struggles to have her sovereignty and human agency respected; she is taken as a war captive, bartered like a cheap commodity, at times lorded over by her husbands and her adoptive sisters. She dreams of owning land, of having a space in the world that is hers and hers alone.
Whereas God is the main protagonist in the Rowlandson narrative, Larsen's Jemison is striving to be her own protagonist in her own narrative. Rowlandson wants to preserve her Englishness and her Christianity in the company of heathens; Jemison wants to establish her individuality in the midst of her whiteness, her Indianness, and her womanhood.
February 22, 2024
Would give 3.5-3.75 stars for this book.
Such an interesting life’s story Mary/Two-Falling Voices had. I really liked how the author portrayed all her characters and the various cultures they came from; she was able to somehow write without a lot of judgement. She would have a character say “this is what I did, at that time in my life” and there’s no immediate jump to “that’s wrong” that the reader can feel through the writing/that we’re supposed to conclude, and I like that. Where the book fell just a bit flat was toward the end. Things just finished in a very bare minimum way, which might be attributed to source material since this is based off a true story, but I feel like I had more questions and that there could reasonably be at least a liiiitle bit more explanation at the end. Anyway still a solid, interesting read!
Found it from my gramma’s stuff with a note from the author (both lived in Gettysburg at the time this was released) which was sweet :)
Such an interesting life’s story Mary/Two-Falling Voices had. I really liked how the author portrayed all her characters and the various cultures they came from; she was able to somehow write without a lot of judgement. She would have a character say “this is what I did, at that time in my life” and there’s no immediate jump to “that’s wrong” that the reader can feel through the writing/that we’re supposed to conclude, and I like that. Where the book fell just a bit flat was toward the end. Things just finished in a very bare minimum way, which might be attributed to source material since this is based off a true story, but I feel like I had more questions and that there could reasonably be at least a liiiitle bit more explanation at the end. Anyway still a solid, interesting read!
Found it from my gramma’s stuff with a note from the author (both lived in Gettysburg at the time this was released) which was sweet :)
July 14, 2023
The story of a child who was born on her family's voyage to America from Ireland. Living in the plains near Gettysburg her family is taken captive, and later killed by Shawnee. Her life is spared and given to the Seneca Indians to live. She lives with two Seneca sisters as a replacement for the loss of their brother. At first her instinct is to live devoid of any emotion or relationship. She struggles with staying with these people or running away to rejoin English settlers. She knows she will be rejected by the English because of her native ways. An American doctor is the author of her accounts at the end of her days. Interesting to hear of the Native American ways in the area where I grew up, but also her determination to hold on to her English language while she learns the language of the Seneca. She was a very strong woman and her story illustrates how difficult it was for settlers and Native Americans to coexist in our country.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 3, 2018
It was a really good book! Needed a few things for it to be 5 stars, but it was fantastic! A little on the mature side, but still a great book
July 17, 2018
Deborah Larsen tells the story of Mary Jemison who at the age of 16, in Pennsylvania, was taken in a Shawnee raid. Her family was killed but she was taken as a replacement for a young Indian who had been killed; she was adopted into that family and renamed Two Falling-Voices. From the shock of the raid and being taken she was mute and numb for a long time. Eventually she realized she had learned the language and ways of her new family and has forgotten how to read English. She makes choices to remain. Her story was recorded near the end of her life. Deborah Larsen has used that account to tell Two Falling-Voices's story in beautiful and poetic prose.
June 28, 2009
This is a quick and compelling read. Larsen uses the real life of white captive Mary Jemison to explore human brutality, love, and loss. I kept wanting more and didn't always believe what I was reading. How did Mary's sons turn out to be so bad? How did she pick up on the Seneca language so quickly? What happened to the women in her Seneca family. Larsen intersperses a first person narrative throughout the book. Maybe if she had left that out or given the whole book to Mary's voice, I would have been able to believe a little more.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 22, 2012
This book was based on a true story of Mary Jemison. The book had potential to be a great book, but lacked where one could develop the story more. At times it was rushed other times things could have been eliminated, like some of the stories told. Character development is needed to really feel in to the book. I kept comparing this book to "Follow the River" which was a great book. All in all, the book read fast and I'm glad I read this account of her story.
August 25, 2012
I'm sick of buying books touted as amazing and lyrical only to find they are mundane. I'm not wasting my time finishing this book. I know there are better books out there. This book is not lyrical. I've read truly musical prose. Rather, this writing is over-ambitious and feels as though it tries too hard to be profound or transcendental. I don't think a pioneer woman would have the education to think/feel this way.
August 13, 2012
I've had this book for a while but thought it looked sort of heavy and ominous, so hadn't read it. To my surprise, it was engaging and readable. I've read several books about Mary Jemison, and this provided a new perspective that I enjoyed.
October 2, 2021
This is an excellent book for its depiction of Mary’s life and the writing is very stylized. You feel like you’re in a dream sequence. I loved it overall, and the ending was beautiful.
Mary is legend in Western NY, and if you were raised there you were brought up with the stories of how she was captured and chose to stay with her captors/adopters the rest of her life and lived into her 80’s. She navigates a life as a young white settler in PA, and then traded and adopted within one of the most prominent tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy, as a Seneca. The period is post-French and Indian War and during the Revolution and expansion of the US.
It is an amazing story of survival, full of tragedy and early American history. The actual torture tale of the American Lieutenants at Big Tree is incorporated and the tree still exists in Geneseo, NY. This also veers from local knowledge but it captures the torture scene regardless.
In its acknowledgments she mentions little of the few other resources that depict Mary’s life, only the Seaver interview. I wish there was more from the Seneca tribe. That Seaver interview as valuable as it is, holds a lens and perspective of a white man of his time. According to local lore, she was barely able to speak English by the time she was interviewed, as an elderly woman living on the edge of the gorges of the Genesee River. I have never heard her be depicted with red hair either. Old oral stories said she had blond hair that was unique to Natives and was what saved her life in PA, and set her apart and spared—because they thought it resembled corn silk. In the book, she has red hair and spoke English well—authors freedom I suppose. And who knows what is “truth”?
Her land tract that she negotiated to own is a result of one the biggest (and last) land treaties between the white settlers pushing West and Iroquois Confederacy. This was a disappointment in the book and barely highlights the involvement SHE had in the negotiating, especially as a female between the Natives and the white settlers. Her negotiated 55k acre tract (10k in the book) is now Letchworth State Park, NY. A statue was erected and her remains were ceremoniously moved back from the Seneca reservation are now in the park (on her original land), along with the building that the last Indian council had gathered and a cabin she built to live out the rest of her days. Her statue depicts her trekking with baby Thomas on her back.
The descriptions of the Genesee
Valley I kept waiting for. Letchworth is Nick-named the “Grand Canyon of the East” for a reason but you don’t gather that from this writing. The surrounding gorges, breathtaking scenery and river were why it was so valuable to the Seneca.
This is the only historical fiction book about the life and capture of Mary Jemison that is written for adults. I’ve waited 2 years for this book to arrive on my “hold” list at our public library in Colorado. And it arrived within days of visiting her memorial near where I grew up in NY. I just read that she died Sept 19, and all this while I was at her memorial in Letchworth park. A coincidence?
She is a legend and this book captures the raw beauty of her tale.
Mary is legend in Western NY, and if you were raised there you were brought up with the stories of how she was captured and chose to stay with her captors/adopters the rest of her life and lived into her 80’s. She navigates a life as a young white settler in PA, and then traded and adopted within one of the most prominent tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy, as a Seneca. The period is post-French and Indian War and during the Revolution and expansion of the US.
It is an amazing story of survival, full of tragedy and early American history. The actual torture tale of the American Lieutenants at Big Tree is incorporated and the tree still exists in Geneseo, NY. This also veers from local knowledge but it captures the torture scene regardless.
In its acknowledgments she mentions little of the few other resources that depict Mary’s life, only the Seaver interview. I wish there was more from the Seneca tribe. That Seaver interview as valuable as it is, holds a lens and perspective of a white man of his time. According to local lore, she was barely able to speak English by the time she was interviewed, as an elderly woman living on the edge of the gorges of the Genesee River. I have never heard her be depicted with red hair either. Old oral stories said she had blond hair that was unique to Natives and was what saved her life in PA, and set her apart and spared—because they thought it resembled corn silk. In the book, she has red hair and spoke English well—authors freedom I suppose. And who knows what is “truth”?
Her land tract that she negotiated to own is a result of one the biggest (and last) land treaties between the white settlers pushing West and Iroquois Confederacy. This was a disappointment in the book and barely highlights the involvement SHE had in the negotiating, especially as a female between the Natives and the white settlers. Her negotiated 55k acre tract (10k in the book) is now Letchworth State Park, NY. A statue was erected and her remains were ceremoniously moved back from the Seneca reservation are now in the park (on her original land), along with the building that the last Indian council had gathered and a cabin she built to live out the rest of her days. Her statue depicts her trekking with baby Thomas on her back.
The descriptions of the Genesee
Valley I kept waiting for. Letchworth is Nick-named the “Grand Canyon of the East” for a reason but you don’t gather that from this writing. The surrounding gorges, breathtaking scenery and river were why it was so valuable to the Seneca.
This is the only historical fiction book about the life and capture of Mary Jemison that is written for adults. I’ve waited 2 years for this book to arrive on my “hold” list at our public library in Colorado. And it arrived within days of visiting her memorial near where I grew up in NY. I just read that she died Sept 19, and all this while I was at her memorial in Letchworth park. A coincidence?
She is a legend and this book captures the raw beauty of her tale.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 4, 2023
Fiction, based on a true story, about a girl who is taken captive by a Shawnee raiding party in 1758 in Pennsylvania. Mary is meant to replace the brother of two sisters who was killed by whites; she becomes Two-Falling-Voices. The story is told in alternating third and first person, and it's an easy read, but a dense and beautiful one. Larsen quotes from the King James Bible, the words Mary's white parents knew by heart, but the writing itself is plain and poetic. Two-Falling-Voices tells her story -- marriages and six children, owning land, moving between settlements, losing three sons to violence between them -- and then concedes to allow a white historian to record it. This account is The Life of Mary Jemison and the inspiration for the novel. My favorite part of the story is how Mary describes her one of the biggest changes in her world-shifting:
"It was a fact: she could no longer read nor write. So she would have to do something different to satisfy her heart. She would have to find new ways. Grieving for reading and writing was like doing the previous thing, the thing that could no longer be done. Old it was, and impossible.
She could cut herself free of a yearning that could waste her, she would scrape it off with the nearest thing to hand, say, a beaver-tooth tool.
There. The previous thing was shed now, had dropped away, was lost and gone. Let it be lost. Her heart would move on. For she loved the world.
She loved the open air and the contrasts of its temperatures; earth dry and sodden, loamy and rock-like; fire and its warmth and scorch; water, cleansing and flooding. The closer she came to these things the more she realized that words were not the same as the real wild onion, the actual rabbit fur, the coiled fern frond, the lightning."
This idea of inhabiting the real things and not using the symbols for them is very interesting to me. I've never thought about language that way, but I see it's true. This is my favorite passage from the book. I enjoyed this novel very much, and it's made me think of historical fiction in another way, as a true-based tale centered on an individual experience. I also love the last few pages where Mary remembers her father cutting a ladder in the snow. Beautiful book.
"It was a fact: she could no longer read nor write. So she would have to do something different to satisfy her heart. She would have to find new ways. Grieving for reading and writing was like doing the previous thing, the thing that could no longer be done. Old it was, and impossible.
She could cut herself free of a yearning that could waste her, she would scrape it off with the nearest thing to hand, say, a beaver-tooth tool.
There. The previous thing was shed now, had dropped away, was lost and gone. Let it be lost. Her heart would move on. For she loved the world.
She loved the open air and the contrasts of its temperatures; earth dry and sodden, loamy and rock-like; fire and its warmth and scorch; water, cleansing and flooding. The closer she came to these things the more she realized that words were not the same as the real wild onion, the actual rabbit fur, the coiled fern frond, the lightning."
This idea of inhabiting the real things and not using the symbols for them is very interesting to me. I've never thought about language that way, but I see it's true. This is my favorite passage from the book. I enjoyed this novel very much, and it's made me think of historical fiction in another way, as a true-based tale centered on an individual experience. I also love the last few pages where Mary remembers her father cutting a ladder in the snow. Beautiful book.
January 27, 2019
2.5 Stars
In 1758, sixteen year old Mary Jemison is taken by a Shawnee raiding party. Her parents and sisters are scalped and left for dead. Mary is taken in by Seneca women and renamed Two Falling Voices. She Over time, she becomes accustomed to her new situation, developing bonds with her Seneca sisters, Branch and Slight-Wind. Branch is often frustrated with Mary / Two Falling Voices' melancholy, interprets it as ingratitude.
After many months, there is a shift in Mary's thinking. She begins to think in both English and the Seneca language. She begins teaching Slight-Wind some English. Eventually Mary makes the choice to marry into the tribe, taking Seneca warrior Sheninjee as her husband. He's a good guy, wanting an equal partnership type of relationship with her rather than taking the role of a dominant husband. He helps Mary with the gardening and even learns English. Still, there's maybe a thread of jealousy in his mind, since when he takes off to go pelt trading he makes comments about her not looking at white men too long LOL
Based on a true story (a statue of the real Mary just 15 miles from the author's home), the writing style here is nicely done, but something about the narrator's voice felt too distanced for my liking. I also wasn't expecting such heavy biblical overtones, but maybe that's not historically inaccurate to go that route? I'm not sure. From a reader's perspective, it struck me as heavy-handed.
In 1758, sixteen year old Mary Jemison is taken by a Shawnee raiding party. Her parents and sisters are scalped and left for dead. Mary is taken in by Seneca women and renamed Two Falling Voices. She Over time, she becomes accustomed to her new situation, developing bonds with her Seneca sisters, Branch and Slight-Wind. Branch is often frustrated with Mary / Two Falling Voices' melancholy, interprets it as ingratitude.
After many months, there is a shift in Mary's thinking. She begins to think in both English and the Seneca language. She begins teaching Slight-Wind some English. Eventually Mary makes the choice to marry into the tribe, taking Seneca warrior Sheninjee as her husband. He's a good guy, wanting an equal partnership type of relationship with her rather than taking the role of a dominant husband. He helps Mary with the gardening and even learns English. Still, there's maybe a thread of jealousy in his mind, since when he takes off to go pelt trading he makes comments about her not looking at white men too long LOL
Based on a true story (a statue of the real Mary just 15 miles from the author's home), the writing style here is nicely done, but something about the narrator's voice felt too distanced for my liking. I also wasn't expecting such heavy biblical overtones, but maybe that's not historically inaccurate to go that route? I'm not sure. From a reader's perspective, it struck me as heavy-handed.
June 16, 2022
Based on the true story of a girl named Mary Jemison, who in 1758 at the age of 16 was abducted by a Shawnee raiding party.
The last words her mother ever told her was to not cry and to carry her family within her heart with her “English and Scriptures.” As Mary is adopted by two Seneca sisters, she slowly starts to feel as if she belongs. The language of the Indians creeps into her subconscious, how they live and speak become familiar and feel like home. She marries a Delaware warrior, raises a family and even accomplishes her dream of owning her own land. Through it all, though Mary may have become an Indian and conformed to her new life, she never forgot who she was. She carried her family everywhere she went and reflected on the scriptures-just as her mother asked her to.
An interesting read, where the storyline flits from being written in the “first person” to the “third.” Mary is incredibly brave and resilient. How she reflects on her life and the choices that were made, makes the reader realize just how strong she sincerely was. I especially liked the relationship that she built with her adopted family and how even when she was free to leave, she didn’t. Not an absolute favorite but a solid, good read.
The last words her mother ever told her was to not cry and to carry her family within her heart with her “English and Scriptures.” As Mary is adopted by two Seneca sisters, she slowly starts to feel as if she belongs. The language of the Indians creeps into her subconscious, how they live and speak become familiar and feel like home. She marries a Delaware warrior, raises a family and even accomplishes her dream of owning her own land. Through it all, though Mary may have become an Indian and conformed to her new life, she never forgot who she was. She carried her family everywhere she went and reflected on the scriptures-just as her mother asked her to.
An interesting read, where the storyline flits from being written in the “first person” to the “third.” Mary is incredibly brave and resilient. How she reflects on her life and the choices that were made, makes the reader realize just how strong she sincerely was. I especially liked the relationship that she built with her adopted family and how even when she was free to leave, she didn’t. Not an absolute favorite but a solid, good read.
February 4, 2018
This book stunned me. It was beautifully written, and I felt as though I was walking side by side with Mary. There is no blaming in this book, on the part of the whites or the Indians. Torture is torture. Even when confronted with the idea that her dear husband has been a man of war, she is disgusted by it.
Mary's identity is questioned throughout this book, and she does not subscribe to either of her 'race.' She is both. She is Two Falling Voice, a Seneca and a white woman. She does not flat out rebuke her white family, nor does she worship the ground her Indian family walks on. Like I said, she is a stubborn in between.
My only complaint is that the book is too short. There must be parts of this woman's life we never got to see. I wanted more by the end. I wanted to be romanced, to be part of child birth and the joys of motherhood, I wanted to behold grandchildren and laugh knowingly at the confusion of White settlers.
I loved this book all and all. And thank God, because if I read one more mediocre book I was gonna give up on my reading goal.
Mary's identity is questioned throughout this book, and she does not subscribe to either of her 'race.' She is both. She is Two Falling Voice, a Seneca and a white woman. She does not flat out rebuke her white family, nor does she worship the ground her Indian family walks on. Like I said, she is a stubborn in between.
My only complaint is that the book is too short. There must be parts of this woman's life we never got to see. I wanted more by the end. I wanted to be romanced, to be part of child birth and the joys of motherhood, I wanted to behold grandchildren and laugh knowingly at the confusion of White settlers.
I loved this book all and all. And thank God, because if I read one more mediocre book I was gonna give up on my reading goal.
June 11, 2020
“She would go deep into the earth from the beginning and do what she could and learn what she could and hand that back to others. Feed them, speak to them” -p. 133
“Only I can decide when to turn my head and when not to turn from these things” -p. 138
“Under the words are real roots and impending leaves. Under the wounds are sinews and bones. In the body and out of the body but not of the body, the spirit circles and expands, refuses and allows. And sometimes in spite of itself the spirit laughs out loud and sometimes in spite of itself it groans; but always, even in bonds, even if muffled, it presides” p. 174
“I can’t help you get what you don’t ask for” -p. 176
“I see this time now as if it were the present” -p. 180
“But my freed spirit was partly formed by flint and a certain tomahawk...they were the kindling by means of which my spirit flared up and burned in the world” -p. 185
“And I felt that all that lay outside was ours and that the way it lay was ready” -p. 212
“Only I can decide when to turn my head and when not to turn from these things” -p. 138
“Under the words are real roots and impending leaves. Under the wounds are sinews and bones. In the body and out of the body but not of the body, the spirit circles and expands, refuses and allows. And sometimes in spite of itself the spirit laughs out loud and sometimes in spite of itself it groans; but always, even in bonds, even if muffled, it presides” p. 174
“I can’t help you get what you don’t ask for” -p. 176
“I see this time now as if it were the present” -p. 180
“But my freed spirit was partly formed by flint and a certain tomahawk...they were the kindling by means of which my spirit flared up and burned in the world” -p. 185
“And I felt that all that lay outside was ours and that the way it lay was ready” -p. 212
May 28, 2018
3.5/5 stars
Poetic and rife with lovely imagery. Sometimes I got a little confused with the murkier parts, but that could just be because I’m stupid. Nonetheless, it’s an interesting look at a fascinating figure in American history, and it’s particularly fitting that I read it during our current American administration. I wish I’d been able to get more of a feel for Mary as a person. She felt more distant, and I would’ve liked a deeper, more personal portrayal. Maybe the author wanted Mary distant on purpose, I don’t know. I just know that I, personally, would’ve liked to be welcomed into Mary’s mind a bit more.
Overall, a good, very quick read, and I’d recommend it to anyone who particularly likes this era of American history or the story of Mary Jemison in particular.
Poetic and rife with lovely imagery. Sometimes I got a little confused with the murkier parts, but that could just be because I’m stupid. Nonetheless, it’s an interesting look at a fascinating figure in American history, and it’s particularly fitting that I read it during our current American administration. I wish I’d been able to get more of a feel for Mary as a person. She felt more distant, and I would’ve liked a deeper, more personal portrayal. Maybe the author wanted Mary distant on purpose, I don’t know. I just know that I, personally, would’ve liked to be welcomed into Mary’s mind a bit more.
Overall, a good, very quick read, and I’d recommend it to anyone who particularly likes this era of American history or the story of Mary Jemison in particular.
January 21, 2019
Spoilers: What an interesting story. To be captured by Native Americans and used as a replacement sibling to a couple of Seneca sisters. The transformation of Mary from white to Indian was remarkable. The way it was told through narration was not boring. The author weaves a narrator telling what events happened and then the "voice" of Mary recalling details from the events to help the reader understand what she was thinking at times. Mary's first husband was a gentle soul and the second much more dramatic. I enjoyed how Mary was intertwining her childhood faith with her new family's beliefs. A sort of Christianity/Spirit world hybrid. She stayed a Native American until her death which shows that even circumstances can have a great impact on our decisions, nature vs. nurture.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 5, 2021
I don't know how to analyze this book's politic. It feels like a subject position that doesn't exist in an "own voices" type of way. It's common for brown and indigenous children to be stolen and placed with white families, and more folklore that white Christian children were stolen and adopted by indigenous people. Is it brave to take on such a fraught, allegorical story, especially one that ends with the white girl refusing to return to white society? Despite my misgivings, I enjoyed the language. I was transported by the ways she notices the world when it slows down, as well as the characterization of her adopted family as generous and compassionate. I wonder what about this specific history brought out those observations, especially of the ptsd of the little girl.
September 10, 2023
“Hiokatoo hated the telling of anything that was not true” (Larsen, 119). While I’ll admit that I judge books by their covers, this is an example of my instincts failing me. Something about this book leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I started reading this before I realized it’s historical fiction about real people, and I’ve never understood the appeal of blurring the lines between truth and fabrication. I’m unsure if the reader was supposed to sympathize with “the white,” because it feels like reading the reverse race version of Disney’s Pocahontas. The staccato of the writing was bland, but the book may be for young adults. This was a quick read and made me want to learn more about Mary Jemison.
January 25, 2024
Beautifully written but a dissatisfying story. The details of Mary’s life were predictable and uninteresting. And there was almost no character development - I knew as much about Mary on page 1 as I did at the conclusion of the novel.
I also have to wonder about the historical accuracy of the book. There was a reference to “Joseph Smith and his followers” - and 3 wives - being held during a Revolutionary War campaign. The description seems to imply the founder of the LDS church, but his father would have been a child during the Revolutionary War. I’d like to think it’s not the major historical mistake that it appears to be but I don’t know of any notable Joseph Smith from this time period.
I also have to wonder about the historical accuracy of the book. There was a reference to “Joseph Smith and his followers” - and 3 wives - being held during a Revolutionary War campaign. The description seems to imply the founder of the LDS church, but his father would have been a child during the Revolutionary War. I’d like to think it’s not the major historical mistake that it appears to be but I don’t know of any notable Joseph Smith from this time period.
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