"You can't make a white boy out of an Indian!"
Written: Sep 04 '02 (Updated Mar 12 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: wonderful writing that excels at capturing emotion and character
Cons: a very short book, ending is inconclusive
The Bottom Line: Good enough to read for enjoyment even if you arent studying the time period. Two thumbs up!
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| Greatpilgrim's Full Review: Light in the Forest |
The godlike “noble savage” living at harmony with nature. The peaceful settlers hoping to evangelize and trade with the Indians. Those are the two major perceptions – myths – about the state of things in America before the Revolutionary War. The truth is somewhere in between, and this book will offer not only a tempered viewpoint on the early colonies but also a fabulous story of human emotion and spirit.
The Light in the Forest is Conrad Richter’s tale of a teenager ripped away from the only family he has ever known and brought back to a culture that is repulsive to him. True Son was white – once upon a time – but as a young child he was adopted into the Delaware (Lenape) tribe and became a part of the family of the awe-inspiring Cuyloga, whom he looks up to as his father, mentor, and role model. True Son’s active life as an Indian constantly brings him new thrills and delights – until one day at the age of fifteen he is forced to come back to the English colonies because of a treaty that requires all captives to be given back.
Anything connected with the white men is already distasteful to him; yet True Son must now replace his warm Lenape family with his birth relatives: a weak father, a lazy hypochondriacal mother, a scolding, bossy aunt, and two uncles who despise Indians as murderous monsters. As if that wasn’t bad enough, his language, Indian garb, and friends are completely stripped from him, and True Son becomes walled up in a settlement divided by turmoil and arguments over English-Indian skirmishes. Finally he is given a chance to decide which culture he belongs to, only to find the choice too hard to bear…
If you’re looking for good historical fiction to go along with the French-and-Indian-War time period, this is an excellent choice for both adults and teens. I was surprised by the degree of insight and depth this book offered on the complex and turbulent issues surrounding this phase in American history. Richter explores the settings and characters with a firm grasp on the strong sentiments and conflicts that were taking place at the time. I especially liked how he gave us a close view of the beautiful but realistically stark life of the Indians, how he was able to paint them in a positive light without glossing over their faults. His historical context is excellent, combining vibrant human interest with true events and backdrops in America’s legacy.
But luckily for fiction spelunkers, The Light in the Forest is better than your average young adult historical fiction novel. The story is wonderfully gripping and alive with real humans who are neither stiff and “olde Englishe” nor painfully realistic and incongruously modern-sounding. You can tell it was written in the twentieth century, and it has a faint tinge of typical “hi-fi” (historical fic) description, but the writing style wraps you in a perfect setting of early American backdrops and grittily convincing human beings so you’d swear the writer was sitting in on the situations.
The most compelling aspect of the book for me was the vivid portrayal of True Son’s character and emotions. The characterization and storytelling in The Light in the Forest go hand in hand; they really are inseparable. Through True Son’s keen eyes and strongly beating heart I felt and saw the anguish and wrongs that both sides experienced; and through his intense third-personal outlook on the events in the story, I was swept up in the story and I couldn’t let go! This is a book full of powerful emotion and characters that are remarkably alive, a facet of the novel that makes it so meaningful to the reader.
Giving anything to be free
True Son’s story is a very perceptive and sensitive look at the dynamics of the relationship between the Indian tribes and English colonies in the eighteenth century. The story, short as it is (only 115 pages), jumps right into the heart of things and makes the most of words and phrases to evoke feelings and questions from the reader. When you think about, not a whole lot of action transpires in this book, yet a whole lot of thought and intensity is wrapped up in its pages and chapters. I wasn’t able to put it down, and I consumed the whole thing in an hour.
The characterization, while pretty basic on some of the minor characters, really gives you a good idea of what these people are like, and sometimes it’s not pretty! You can’t help but feel sorry for True Son as he meets his new family and realizes how pathetic they are compared with the people he’s grown up with. And you definitely will find yourself angered by the bigotry of his extended family. Of course the best character in the book is the protagonist, but his playful sidekick Half Arrow and True Son’s adoring white brother Gordie are also fantastic. I wish we got to see more of his Lenape father, Cuyloga, who seems like truly a magnificent character; most of our glimpses of him come through True Son’s reminisces during the story.
Though The Light in the Forest is written in third person (which lets the author show more insights into True Son’s personality), it’s amazingly close to the main character the way you really see things through his eyes. You could almost call it a first-person story written in third-person. The writing is simple enough that a fifth grader can read and understand it; but what intrigued me about this book is the underlying complexity and creativity of the storytelling. It’s hard to define the quality that makes it enjoyable to adults as well as younger readers, but I guess you could say it’s expressiveness and a maturity of thought. I think teenagers, if they aren’t too cool to read it, would actually get the most out of the book, since the emotions of True Son are very similar to what many teens feel themselves.
Ultimately what The Light in the Forest comes down to is a question of identity and character. The title of this review comes from a statement that True Son’s prejudicial English uncle makes. While this character is loathsomely cruel and intolerant, he had a glimpse of the truth when he said you can’t take away someone’s culture from him (though he said it in a far cruder way). That’s what this book is really all about, the attempt to make a boy who has grown up in a wild, free culture fit into the typical English mold of the time. It clearly doesn’t work, but the way True Son changes despite all his resisting provides a lot of food for thought about the philosophies and traditions of different cultures. There are many themes in this book that can be discussed or pondered, and I think that readers will find themselves enriched by it whether they take the time to analyze it or not.
Bottom line
I’d call this one among the best of young adult historical fiction out there. It’s a must read if you’re studying American History, but also a well-written, thought-provoking piece of literature that will touch its readers quite profoundly. There aren’t any nice happy endings here, since the story never concludes or tells us what happens in the end. I hear there’s a sequel, I’ll have to look into that. If it’s as good as The Light in the Forest, I’d highly recommend both of them to you.
Recommended:
Yes
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Greatpilgrim
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Member: Victoria
Location: FL
Reviews written: 272
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