The Dance Boots

by Linda LeGarde Grover

In this stirring collection of linked stories, Linda LeGarde Grover portrays an Ojibwe community struggling to follow traditional ways of life in the face of a relentlessly changing world.

In the title story an aunt recounts the harsh legacy of Indian boarding schools that tried to break the indigenous culture. In doing so she passes on to her niece the Ojibwe tradition of honoring elders through their stories. In “Refugees Living and Dying in the West End of Duluth,” this same niece comes of age in the 1970s against the backdrop of her forcibly dispersed family. A cycle of boarding schools, alcoholism, and violence haunts these stories even as the characters find beauty and solace in their large extended families.

With its attention to the Ojibwe language, customs, and history, this unique collection of riveting stories illuminates the very nature of storytelling. The Dance Boots narrates a century’s evolution of Native Americans making choices and compromises, often dictated by a white majority, as they try to balance survival, tribal traditions, and obligations to future generations.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Native American, Indigenous, Book Club, Adult

152 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2010

About the author

Linda LeGarde Grover is a professor emeritus of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota Duluth. She is coauthor of A Childhood in Minnesota: Exploring the Lives of Ojibwe and Immigrant Families 1880–1920 and author of a poetry chapbook, The Indian at Indian School. Her 2010 book The Dance Boots won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction as well as the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize. Her novel The Road Back to Sweetgrass is the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers 2015 fiction award recipient. Linda's poetry collection The Sky Watched: Poems of Ojibwe Lives has received the Red Mountain Press 2016 Editor's Award and the 2016 Northeastern Minnesota Book Award for Poetry. Grover’s essay collection Onigamiising: Seasons of an Ojibwe Year received the 2018 Minnesota Book Award for Memoir & Creative Nonfiction as well as the Northeastern Minnesota Book Award for Memoir, her novel In the Night of Memory the 2020 Northeastern Minnesota Book Award for fiction as well at the UPAA (Upper Peninsula Publishers & Authors Association) U.P. Notable Book Award.

Grover is an enrolled member of the Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe.

Reviews

[Mardith Louisell · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Dance Boots" is fascinating and moving. A portrait of life among the (mainly) Ojibwe tribes in Duluth and on the reservations near Duluth and in Minneapolis from the 1900s to 1970s or so, it introduces (or reintroduces) one to the world of the northern Minnesota Ojibwe in their sorrows and joys. To give an example, LeGarde Grover sets a story in a bowling alley, but instead of writing about the people who bowl fighting, falling in love, etc. (though it is also about that), she writes about the three boys/men who set up the bowling balls and includes wonderful descriptions of setting up in the context of their lives and loves. Growing up, I bowled in Duluth, and though I saw pinsetters, I didn't think about who was in the back setting up. In that example and others, often involving work, she skillfully redirects you to focus not just on love relationships but on the whole of what makes up a life, how one gets by in a, mainly, hostile world.
The specter of the Indian boarding school experience influences everything, not as the overt story but as a constant background specter, somewhat like Magda Szabo’s "The Door," in which the Hungarian regime and its effects are constant but not foregrounded. I had more of a sense of the horror of the boarding school experience than from many other accounts. I think it’s because of a certain sparseness, not in the writing style (which is not sparse – it’s faithful to speech patterns and narrated by several different people, all of whom are related), but in the way the author deals with trauma. That sparseness and lack of sentimentality distill the events down to an essence.
"Dance Boots" isn't about suffering or happiness. Under LeGarde Grover's even hand, it’s about life, actions and effects occurring in a matter-of-fact way without the internal or external psychologizing so common in books today. Not that she doesn't write lyrically when it’s called for, but her content is the day-to-day and the details that bring the relationship with oneself and one’s family alive – the food, bread, card games, horses, rooming houses, car trips on frozen terrain, a railroad handcar as an escape vehicle.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the central organizing principle of this book - a fictional reservation in northern Minnesota, literary kin to the universe Louise Erdrich has created. From that center spin a hundred different stories exploring the meaning of family, friendship, obligation, responsibility, and support in the twentieth century. Many of the stories link back to the fictional boarding school to which many of the book's characters were sent, and the effects of that period in this community's history is explored in all its complexity and ability to break your heart. There's so much here - so many observations about aging, colonialism, resiliency, and war - and I know this is a book I'll return to again and again.

[Linda Belote · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is VERY good. It reminds me a lot of Down from Basswood by Lynn Laitala, one of my all time favorites. The stories about contemporary Minnesota Ojibway are beautifully told, the people believably drawn. I was quietly, deeply captivated. It won the Flannery O'Conner award.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of linked stories concerning the current struggles of Native American communities. I loved them all but especially the story of Alice and Earl in Bingo night.

[Verena · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Dance Boots by Linda Legarde Grover is a collection of eight stories inspired by family recollections and interviews with several generations of Ojibwe people in northeast Minnesota.

The strengths and sorrows of generations of Ojibwe women and the frustrations and futility facing Ojibwe men are portrayed with sensitivity and rich detail. The white characters' interactions with the Objibwe show a combination of evil, ignorance, and good intentions.

Various characters voice their school and work experiences in stories that take place from the 1920's through the 20th century, but the writing is not chronological. It echoes the way tales would be told and repeated through many generations. The narrators' identities are a puzzle at times, but the reader is rewarded with an appreciation of the depths of a culture that refuses to be obliterated by the dominant white race.

[Marie Zhuikov · Rating 5 out of 5]

I need to disclaim that the author lived in my neighborhood growing up. Even without that, I would find her book powerful and provoking. It’s not a plot-driven enjoyable read – instead, each story paints a picture of a moment in time for the Native American characters as they struggle to survive in a world where their culture is not valued and their children are sent to boarding school. One scene was especially evocative. A group of girls are learning how to darn socks in their boarding school. The way Linda (the author) describes the peace of the room and the subtle politics and struggle going on among the girls and their instructors really got to me.

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful little book. The linked short stories didn't feel like magical realism, just realism, and it was only at the end that I became conscious of the layers of symbolism. The stories are about an Ojibwe family in the 20th century, surviving the pressures of enforced boarding school and urbanization, and retaining their identity. This is a good book to read if you admire your grandmother for grace under pressure; you will relate to this.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

These 8 short stories are somewhat related with them centering around Maggie. If I read it again, which I probably will, I would make a character chart to remember how all these characters are related. The stories take place in different years/eras and are centered around different characters, but Maggie is the constant. Many of these stories involve Indian boarding school (some briefly, some as the setting). This is fiction, but inspired by some actual events (author stated in a lecture).

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A powerful book! As a member of my book club observed: "Fiction is truer than fact." With vivid, evocative language, the author draws us into the "vast experiment in the breaking of a culture through the education of its young" that was perpetrated by the federal government against the native peoples. It is a stark, yet complex, reality that is eloquently summarized in a phrase: "the hopes broken and revived in the survival of an extended family."

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it...I'll admit I almost didn't finish it because I got so involved with one character, in the story he's a child and the next thing I read...talks about his funeral. I said, "No!" I put the book down and came back to it later, realizing much time had passed, etc. and read on. An amazing glimpse into the lives of Ojibwe families...so much I don't understand!

[Sunny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Each of these stories reveals more of complexity than many full length novels. Linda Legarde Grover populates the fictional Mozhay Point Indian Reservation with the intergenerational stories of an Ojibwe family and their community. Some folks might have a hard time tracking what is happening when but I encourage those folks to make some small notes and stick with it. I highly recommend this book.

[Elissa Hoole]

Beautifully crafted images of the family tree spreading throughout the generations, scarred by poverty and policy but surviving and strong--there is such strength in each of the stories in The Dance Boots.

[Rebecca Wish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book of interlocked short stories about Ojibwe Indians

[Ruth Kevghas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it! I love how the author is able to use the past, present and future thought process to convey the depth of Native thinking. Thank you.

[Deb M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author has created a collection of riveting stories. Paying close attention to the customs, history and the Ojibwa language. This book has a permanent place on my bookshelf! Thank you Linda.

[Vickie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Dance Boots is a beautifully written collection of short stories that are connected but could be read separately. The stories are moving--filled with emotion: sadness, hope, longing, and love. Linda LeGarde Grover has an amazing talent for writing in a way that makes her characters come alive. I loved every story in this book. My favorites were "The Dance Boots" and "Bingo Night." Grover's stories help me understand and learn something about the culture of Native Americans and their stories. The Dance Boots won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction, and deservedly so.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Linda LeGarde Grover is an assistant professor of Native American Studies at U of MN-Duluth as well as an author. The book is a very interesting collection of interwoven stories that highlight the Ojibwe culture, language and history. Well written and very interesting, enjoyed the regional background.

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

These stories get better and better as you go through the book. Intermingled stories of a Native American family, sometimes separated by generations, yet tightly connected. Finding ways to carry on and live your life caring for others despite often bitter and sometimes dire circumstances. So lovely.

[Amy Doeun · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like how the book is categorized with separate but interwoven stories. It is written in a clear and engaging still, but it leaves me hanging. It doesn't answer my main question in the book. I would love to know what really happened.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderful collection of Native stories that were a mix of heartwarming, heartbreaking, magical and very eye opening. Highly recommend!

Trigger warnings: death, forced assimilation, abuse, drugs, death of children, mention of a traumatic birth

[Chandra Boulden · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very unorganized and not the best read.

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful interlinked story-telling.  

[Heidi Bakk-Hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really well written. Loved it.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Connecting stories about a Native American family through the ages.

[Amysasik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stunning, articulate. The importance of family and, traditions.; where is home? What is home? The symbolism of land and animals; what is of value material financial relational?

[Oliver Kraatz · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a story the book wasn’t the most compelling, but what kept me going was the constant emotions I felt and questions I thought about.

The first book in a while that got me thinking hard.

[Rob Brock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last year, I read Linda LeGarde Grover's three novels set in the fictional Northern Minnesota Mozhay Point reservation: The Road Back to Sweetgrass, In the Night of Memory, and A Song Over Miskwaa Rapids. This collection of short stories, with the title story The Dance Boots, was published first and gives early glimpses into the lives of the families I grew to know in the Mozhay Point novels. These stories talk about family love and loyalty, about finding a way to care for each other on the reservation or in other places like Duluth or Minneapolis, and about the long-term trauma created by US policies that forced young indigenous children into Indian Schools. This was a solid collection of stories that provides a great companion to the author's other novels set in this world.

[Sara floerke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book club read.

As I read it I had a difficult time finding the voice of the characters. But someone at book club brought up the fact that this might be intentional by the author. This book was all about growing up in the Native Culture (foreign to me). The author isn't telling the story of a character; she is telling the story of a people. These people have stories that intertwine and are completely dependent upon each other. That's the beauty of the Native culture.

Another person from bookclub picked out all the beautifully realistic descriptions. I am richer from reading this book and discussing it in my bookclub. I would have missed some things had I read it alone

[Ronielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I struggled a bit with this collection of short stories. All the characters are connected, but it was too hard to follow their connections. There is a family tree in the front, but the way it is set up isn't very helpful. I wish it was easier to follow the family connections - or I wish the stories would have all been independent. As far as the stories themselves - I enjoyed them. Some certainly were stronger than others.

[Paige · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only real "negative" thing I can say about this book is that I wasn't always sure of how the characters were related to each other. Besides that, there were really powerful themes and although the writing style didn't always appeal to me (although sometimes it certainly did!), the mood was always distinctive. There are some great stories in here.