Crazy Horse's Girlfriend

by Erika T. Wurth

Fiction. Native American Studies. Reissue with introduction by Isabel Quintero. Sixteen-year-old Margueritte wants out. Out of her small town, where girls get pregnant young and end up stuck, like her mom. Out of a family where her Native American mother won't leave her white, alcoholic, abusive father. Margueritte hopes if she and her cousin Jake sell enough weed, they can at least escape to Denver one day. That's when Mike comes to town. Like Margueritte, he loves to read, he's funny, and he's Indian. A coming-of-age novel about the female, urban Indian experience, CRAZY HORSE'S GIRLFRIEND is not only a gritty, unexpectedly funny, page-turning novel about a girl who just wants a little bit more--it's an instant classic.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Indigenous, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Native American, Family

187 pages, Paperback

First published August 18, 2014

About the author

Erika T. Wurth’s novel WHITE HORSE is a New York Times editors pick, a Good Morning America buzz pick, and an Indie Next, Target book of the Month, and Book of the Month Pick. She is both a Kenyon and Sewanee fellow, and Kenyon faculty. She’s published in Buzzfeed, McSweeny’s, and The Writer’s Chronicle, and is a narrative artist for the Meow Wolf Denver installation. She’s a professor of creative writing at Western Illinois University. She’s represented by Rebecca Friedman. She’s an urban Native of Apache/Chickasaw/Cherokee descent and lives in Denver with her partner, niece, step-kids and two incredibly fluffy dogs. Her novel THE HAUNTING OF ROOM 904 will be out with Flatiron books March 2025.

Reviews

[CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intense, compelling book about harsh, harsh realities that doesn't shy away from that but also not from hope and heart. Margaritte is a 16-year-old mixed race Apache, Chickasaw, and Cherokee young woman living in Idaho Springs, Colorado. She's a drug dealer working with her cousin, both her parents are physically abusive, her white dad's an alcoholic, and her apparently nice new boyfriend turns out to be a lying cokehead. Halfway through the book she gets pregnant. This sounds like a straightforward, hard story of misery, but it's never that simple. Wurth continually resists the narrative of Margaritte being a victim and imbues her with smarts and self-determination. No one here is a stereotype, everyone defies expectations, and no one is only one thing, even if they're an abuser or an asshole. This gave me lots to think about issues like adoption, teen pregnancy, poverty, colonization, queer native identity, and more. It's a book that refuses to be easy, to provide easy answers, but is ready to show you other, unexpected options.

[Tika · Rating 2 out of 5]

* I won this book via goodreads in exchange for an honest review. *

16. Native American. Drug Dealer. Pregnant. Sold!


Looking through the First Reads Giveaways is where I came across Crazy Horse's Girlfriend, and after reading just the first sentence of the synopsis, I knew I had to have it. Soo, I took a chance, entered the giveaway, crossed my fingers that I would win, and guess what? I Did! But my excitement pretty much ended there. Let's dive in to see why.

First I would like to say that I neither enjoyed, nor disliked this novel. If that makes any sense. There were parts where I was turned off and wanted to stop reading, but on the other hand, I was still slightly intrigued and wanted to see how everything panned out in the end. Let's begin with the characters.

Magaritte

Mmmm. I really didn't enjoy Magaritte as the main character. She was a bit naive, a bit of an asshole, and was often insensitive to others. With such odds being against her, I was hoping that she would shine above all, but she often did the opposite. She was an underachiever, horrible grades in school, no real interest in being better than her peers or relatives. However, I liked that about her as well. She wasn't the typical female protagonist in today's YA.

Jake

Jake was supposed to be the bad boy of the story. You know the typical," I'm the big drug dealing troubled kid, that's in and out of jail. But then again he wasn't. What I mean is, he was of course, a drug dealer, he was in out of jail . . . Alot, but he was also a really nice guy actually. I liked the relationship that he had with his cousin Magaritte even though everytime they were together troubled ensued.

Mike

The new kid on the block. Mysterious, and rich. Well atleast his parents were. An adopted kid, (like Jake) who moved to Idaho Springs for unknown reasons. (You find out towards the end.) Mike was bit of a weird character. I really liked him at first, mainly because he took a interest in Magaritte, and I was hoping a love interest would soften her up a bit, and also the fact that he was a reader. Things end up happening fast between Mike and Magaritte before she finds out what type of person he truly is.

If you notice, I only touch basis on three people, and that's because the other characters in the book felt more like extras to me. Wasted space almost. All of the characters fell flat, I couldn't connect to any other them (Magaritte, Jake and Mike included) which is why it was hard for me to truly enjoy the story.

Okay now on to the setting.

I believe the setting was the best aspect of this novel. The Author wanted a gritty surrounding, she wanted you to see the characters living in poverty, and she definitely succeeded with that. For example, when she would describe an abandoned house, it was as if you could see the old dingy furniture, the broken shards on glass on the floor, the dusty toys families left behind in urgency. It gave the story such a gloomy feeling. Whenever I was reading, I always pictured it to be a cloudy day. No sunshine just gray skies and rain.

In the end, I give this novel 2 1/2 to 3 stars. There were times were I hated certain things, such as the dialogue, where the fuck word is used excessively, along with other things, making the conversation between characters completely annoying and unbearable. But as I stated earlier, there were things that I sorta, kinda liked as well.

I refuse to tell someone to not pick up a book. I'm all about supporting authors whether I enjoy their work or not, and really do feel that this book wasn't completely horrible. The characters, dialogue, and writing could all be better. But hey, a book experience is what you make it . . . right ?

[Story Circle Book Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sixteen-year-old Margaritte is constantly planning an escape route from her miserable circumstances. A mix of Apache, Chickasaw, Cherokee, and white, she finds her Idaho Springs, Colorado, home nothing less than depressing. Beyond ennui at home, Margaritte has to deal with the daily stress of her volatile alcoholic father and a mother who can be equally explosive, while helping care for her innocent six-year-old twin sisters. She's tired of living on the cusp of poverty, as well as being surrounded by teens who have no future aspirations. High on their chart of escapism is drugs and alcohol, while many girls succumb to teenage pregnancy—a statistic that Margaritte has no intention of becoming. Ironically, Margaritte, who drinks and smokes pot, sees the wads of cash she hopes to bring in as a drug dealer and her new love, Mike Walker as the ticket out of her loathsome life. Yet the hope of a brighter future suddenly appears dismal when Margaritte learns that she's pregnant.

In her debut novel, Wurth has created a plethora of hardened teens and their means of survival in unforgiving conditions. The story's protagonist narrator is Margaritte, whose insistence on not becoming a loser truly earmarks her as an underdog, as she struggles to go against the grain of her impoverished society. The language Wurth uses, which includes Lakota terminology, is raw and visceral, reflecting just how tough these teens are, especially Margaritte.

Written in first person, Wurth's narrative is full of literary techniques that highlight themes of codependency amid Native American culture during the 1990s. Of prominence is Wurth's use of a leitwortstil (a purposeful repetition of words that usually expresses an important story motif or theme) in the phrase "for a Moment." The intentional capitalization of the letter "m" tells the reader that various characters, most often Margaritte, are deliberately observing a situation and wondering why life is like it is, as in this example between Margaritte and her mother:

Mom was grading. It seemed like she was always grading. She looked up, smiled, her dark eyes full of exhaustion. She touched the bruise on my face with the back of her fingertips and I took her hand. We watched each other like that for a Moment, and then our hands dropped and I ate my cereal.

Wurth does an excellent job describing the devastating effects of codependency in drugs, alcoholism, and relationships. Although Margaritte is equally a victim of codependency, she sees the horrific results of meth and coke addicts, and the damaging effect that alcoholism has on her father. The vicious cycle of codependency is not limited to substance abuse. Wurth focuses on codependency in relationships, such as Margaritte's mother who is in denial, fixed on the happy memories of the past, and believes that her husband is getting better when clearly he is not. Another example: Mike and Margaritte's happy beginning that turns sour. With codependency, one expects plenty of conflicts, almost like a ticking time bomb, which are bound to explode at some point. And, indeed, Wurth creates enough un-hackneyed conflicts to keep her story fresh and constantly moving.

Without specifically stating that the story takes place in the 1990s, Wurth refers to items from that time period, such as the hip-hop and rap music the teens listen to (Biggie, TuPac), TV shows ("The Electric Company"), popular book titles (Hyperion by Dan Simmons, early Stephen King novels), and items like cassette tapes and rotary dial phones.

Kudos to Wurth for producing a gripping and heart-wrenching narrative that is not only a must read for young adult and older readers, but also a wonderful addition to Native American literature.

by Anita Lock
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Erika T. Wurth's debut novel from Curbside Splendor, Crazy Horse's Girlfriend, also deals with teen pregnancy, but the circumstances couldn't be more different.

Wurth's protagonist, Magaritte, is a 16-year-old Native American whose family has escaped the poverty and despair of the reservation but is just barely getting by in Idaho Springs, Colorado. Magaritte is a bright but irreverent young girl who juggles school and a part-time job, taking care of her toddler twin sisters, keeping her wild cousin Jake out of trouble and staying out of her alcoholic father's way. To make ends meet, she helps Jake with petty drug deals.

Then she meets a boy. Mike is the new kid in school who's moved from California to the wealthy suburbs of Idaho Springs. "He took my clothes off slowly, his hand running down my hip, over my thunderbird tattoo. 'I love this thing,' he said and kissed it."

This exchange sends a warning to readers that Mike sees Magaritte not as a person so much as an exotic other, a plaything for his fantasies. Magaritte, though street savvy and justifiably wary, is still just a kid, and she falls for him in a bad way. Mike, of course, isn't as innocent as she is first made to believe, and their romance has terrible consequences for Magaritte, Jake and her entire family.

It's a plot right out of an after-school special, but in Crazy Horse's Girlfriend, there's no safety net. On TV, the hardest thing the protagonist has to do is face the consequences of her actions. Magaritte has to do that, too, and it's not easy, but her situation is complicated by the constant threat of violence—both on the streets and in her home.

Wurth paints a stirring portrait of life at the margins for a Native American teen whose dream of living a normal life is compromised by the poverty she desperately tries to escape. Crazy Horse's Girlfriend isn't just a story about Native Americans; it's an American story we cannot afford to ignore.

[Kelly]

This is a tough read. It's a gritty look at life in an impoverished small town in Colorado, with 16-year-old Margaritte figuring out who she is, who it is she wants to be, and how to make a life better than the one her parents made for her.

The writing and the pacing are imperfect here, though those are secondary to the bigger story. It's rare to see a Native main character in a YA novel and even rarer to see one who is dealing with a lot of challenges -- drugs, pregnancy, alcoholism, an abusive/alcoholic parent -- and figuring out how to "make best" with them in a way that doesn't disrespect her culture or background.

The ending was a little too neat for my own tastes, especially after such a tough go of things, but I suspect others may find it satisfying to have some of those bows tied.

[A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just remembered I read this - could have used a better editor but the main girl’s voice was super clear. It’s one of the first YA books I can recall reading that dealt with drug use and abortion, and both were presented in a v nonjudgmental way

[Kasia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book, and the writing was quite good, but I found it very frustrating. The characters could have used more development, especially the tertiary characters Jake and Julia, who I found more interesting than the protagonist. And the ending! I totally wanted to reach into the book and shake Margaritte by the time the book was over.

[Sheldon Compton]

Good Lord I'm loving the voice in this one.

[Kyle Pinkston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Margaritte is a nail-tough, quick-witted, and survival-oriented girl in Idaho Falls native American community. She lives in a home with a struggling marriage, is friends with a single mother, and her cousin is staying in and out of juvenile detention. Margaritte survives by any means she wants, dealing drugs mostly to save enough money to make a new life for herself in college. Her plans change when she meets and falls in love with Mike, and her life gets more complicated as she begins to see the consequences of her actions pile up. Juggling home life, relationships, and dreams of a life different from the one she was born into, Margaritte tries to make the best decisions to trust her mind and heart.
Many readers I know would struggle with this novel. The circumstances of my encountering this novel painted the intended audience of this story in the young adult demographic. Themes of violence, domestic and public, drug abuse, and family planning seem like they would be more “adult” topics. I would disagree with this gut reaction; the intended audience is appropriately the young adult audience. Sherman Alexie in a Wallstreet Journal Article titled “Why the Best Kids Books Are Written in Blood” defends the inclusion of difficult themes in literature meant for young adults. In the article Alexie asserts that young adults and kids are living the things happening in these novels, the people these novels are intended for will not be shocked by the themes presented. Because it is their life, and the novels are trying to paint a path for them to follow to find success through similar challenges and to help those readers of the intended audience feel validated in their experiences. Crazy Horse’s Girlfriend is a powerful experience that may be an emotional challenge to complete, but one well worth it to show the potential power literature has to offer. Captivating, emotionally compelling, and demanding of the reader. A challenging book should change you, and this one did so for me.

[Tyliegh Ellsworth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Margaritte struggles with many aspects of her life throughout this book. She is half Native American from her mother, half white from her father, works a job as a waitress that she hates, and she hates going to High School. She struggles with her identity, and she turns to dealing drugs with her cousin. Her home life is difficult because she has an alcoholic father and her mother refuses to accept that he has a problem, making it difficult for Margaritte to want to be home at all. She looks for ways to avoid being home or at school, leading her to her boyfriend who only seems to want sex and ends up cheating on her. She finds out that she is pregnant, and is fearful of being a teenage bother because she thinks that because she is Native American she is just another negative statistic of Native American people. She also struggles with her cousin being arrested, and she nearly dies after her father nearly kills her and her family while he is drunk.

There was a lot of tension throughout this book which I enjoyed. Margaritte just can't seem to catch a break, which especially sucks because she was already struggling with her personal day to day life with work, school, and home life. Her life gets more and more complicated, making it a little difficult to follow at times. The book seems to move kind of slowly at first, and then all at once she deals with her cousin being arrested, her drunk father almost killing her, and the struggle with being pregnant and trying to decide what she wants to do about the baby. The big problem with this book is that there isn't really any resolution...it's a dark novel about a girl going through some really tough things, and ends with her still dealing with those same issues. While it was enjoyable because there was so much going on that it was hard to get bored, the fact that there wasn't much resolution by the end makes me dislike it.

[Chris Allan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Idaho Springs is a small town that everyone in Colorado drives through on the way to somewhere else, since it straddles the main East-West highway in the state. Sometimes I'll stop for a bite to eat or a peek in the tourist shops, but that's about it. This book brings to life the people who live there, who are not passing through, but are fighting to live a better life and avoid the traps of addiction, early pregnancy, and hopelessness.

Yes, this is a difficult story, but not a difficult book. While a working class version of the perils of Pauline befall our 16 year old narrator, throughout there is a sense of grit and resilience that hints that through all the darkness she will prevail. Not in a Pollyanna way, but one that rings true to our current society where upward mobility has become among the lowest in the industrialized world. (Yup, look it up.)

And the addition of another Native American voice to our evolving canon (can I use that word to describe the new voices finding their way into print, even from small presses?) is a breath of fresh air, for which I'm grateful.

Surprisingly, this is the second book I've read about young Native American women in Idaho Springs. The other was Perma Red, (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...) by Debra Magpie Earling, which I also highly recommend. I don't what's in the water there that produces such magnificent female Indigenous writers, but whatever it is I hope it keeps on flowing.

[Cierra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Margritte’s is a Native American girl who lives in Calorado. Her community is filled with a lot of alcoholism, drug use, and violence. This book gives a very realistic view of what its like in the Native American community. She spends most of her time hustiling and partying, her and her cousin Jake supplement their small incomes by decieving as marajuana dealers. Margritte has a tuff time at home as her dad is an abusive alcoholic and her moher refuses to leave him. As you can tell the book is very raw and intense and I will say this book doesn't shy away from anything. She desires to leave her home life because of her father and is trying to survive highschool. Margritte is usually stuck taking care of her younger twin sister trying to keep them out of harms way. With all the drama in her life she also goes through all the teenage hormones. I would recomend this book to anybody who likes straight foward things

[Angeles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have you ever wanted to escape from a certain place that to you was horrible. To these teens it was Idaho Springs. Margaritte had an abusive white dad and her mom who didn’t want to leave him even if he was abusive to her as well. But I guess she had her reasons. Margaritte also had two younger twin sisters. Jake was her cousin and could always rely on him even if others viewed him as a troubled drug dealing kid. This book touches on real life scenarios having to do with alcoholics, dealing, and teen pregnancy. I really liked this book and I couldn’t stop reading it. It had me going through feelings of anger, sadness, empathy, and happiness. This book takes you through Margaritte’s teen life and her struggles to survive in poverty and the unemployment in that town. I think it is a really good book if you’re not afraid if reading about real-life situations and consequences.

[Lakshmi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is both depressing and a page turner. As the book description mentions, main character Margaritte is a teenage drug dealer who lives in a poverty-stricken town where there are few opportunities and lots of teen pregnancies. The descriptions of Margaritte and her desire to build a life outside of her town and the expectations those around her place on her are really moving and interesting. The book’s last chapter is particularly good and strikes a note that’s both hopeful and a little chaotic.

Potential readers should note that there’s a lot of sadness in this book (and a good deal of violence, including a scary domestic violence incident involving some of the adults in this book.)

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A debut novel about a young Native girl who is trying to make sense of everything...she doesn't like school but loves to read. She has no patience for her dad who drinks and gets abusive or for her mother who just puts up with it but loves her twin sisters. She sells drugs with her cousin, Jake, but knows that's not going to get her out of the community and the dead-end life she seems to be drifting through. She meets Mike, the new kid in town, and that starts wheels of inevitability for them all. Margueritte is smart and determined. and fierce. She faces Jake's arrest, Mike's desertion, and her own pregnancy on her own terms.

These characters' reality is grim but not hopeless. My money is on Margueritte.

[Dave Newman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant novel about what it means to work and dream and fight for both. The narrator is a five-finger death punch who drops f-bombs all over the page and still comes across as both sweet and thoughtful. I love books where characters have jobs, and the details here are profoundly accurate: the mother, a school teacher, comes home to correct papers; the daughter, a drug dealer and student, comes home to bathe her younger siblings; the dad comes home and gets drunk. This is a novel about desire, and how to negotiate that, and what you're willing to pay when you're surrounded by poverty. Somewhere in here is a baby waiting to be born. Stay where you are, kid, or come out fighting.

[Diana Biggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I almost quit reading this book at the beginning because of excessive use of the "f" word. It is a story worth reading, and the author drops the every-other-word cursing as you get into the book. I understand that there are some young people who use such language continually, probably through limited personal vocabulary, but I don't enjoy reading it or listening to it. The book is an unflinching look at family disfunction, particularly violence toward women.

[Mitchell · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was something distinctly Holden-Caulfield-esque about this book, but I couldn't tell if it was coming from the way the protagonist saw the world or the way her boyfriend saw the world. Nonetheless, Margaritte's heart and social awareness gives this story a distinctly human balance against the abstractions of one's existential crises. It was a swift read—and something that reminded me of home.

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book pitches you deep into a culture of illegal drugs, foul language, apathy and hopelessness. The novel's focus is the experiences of Native American teens in a Colorado town. In the midst of such tragedy the main character is able to pull herself up and forge a different path. Wurth is a fine storyteller and I will seek her other novels.

[Wheeler · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reads like a journal in the worst way, like it should have been cut by 100 pages. Ending is rushed and forced and sudden. A little like a commercial for one of those anti-abortion clinics that masquerade as real ones. Most of the characters feel two dimensional at best.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strong language, but powerful. Great read for my American Writers class...

[MsAprilVincent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wurth really gets into the hopelessness of poverty, thinking you’re gonna be the one to get out, and then getting dragged down by all the things you’re trying to get away from.

[Holly Stovall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Success. Deconstructs myths (LIES) that would shame teen pregnancy and drug dealers who are just trying to get by.

[in8 · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://5cense.com/20/835.htm

[Shayla Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really really enjoyed this book! It was intense and heartbreaking it was such a gift to read ❤️

[Michele Rios Petrelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poignant, funny, raw and revealing.

[Karin Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

A hard read and rings true

[Lindsay · Rating 2 out of 5]

YA lit now is just different...less "happens," yet the character's lives are shittier and I can't help but feel like the books are reflecting the reality of being young in the 2010s/2020s.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I should have liked this more. But the only response I had to most of the characters was annoyance at their stupidity laced with pity.

[Precious · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book both interesting yet disturbing ( but in a good way ). This book depicts the life of Margaritte and the hardships and struggles she's been through. O found this book captivating and quite interesting. The use of slag and at time vulgar language was a bit blurry but it was needed. Margaritte wouldn't be herself without it. Her sense of humor is indifferent but that's the beauty between the lines. I feel like Erika Wurth should have better described Margaritte to where I could visualize her, as well as the other characters a bit more. All that was repeated was that she, as well as her other friends were Indians, but it was still hard to visualize her and I love visualizing characters so that the book seems more realistic, but overall I really enjoyed this book. Wurths writing skills are amazing and if she had better depicted her characters it would have made for a five star book rating !