Dalva

Harrison as a novelist continues to grow deeper and more beautiful; the distance between his latest novel and the one before it, the riveting Sundog (Booklist 80:1378 Je 1 84), is immense. The diamond-in-the-rough elegance of his style and his superb mesh of sarcastic humor and almost blushing sensitivity when it comes to creating characters have never been more beguiling than in this exquisitely carved portrait of the life and loves of 45-year-old Dalva, who is in search of the child she gave away for adoption immediately after his birth. She finds her son at novel's end, and in the process Harrison evokes with loving detail both Dalva's ancestry in the late-nineteenth-century west and the fortitude to stand by her actions and attitudes that is her familial legacy. BH. [CIP] 87-24442

A cast of fascinating characters populates the Nebraska farmland where Harrison's fine new novel is set. First among these is Dalva Northridge, a passionate and unconventional woman who, at 45, begins searching for the illegitimate son she bore 30 years earlier. While flashbacks explore Dalva's teenage romance with her son's father, a half-Sioux youth, the story is carried forward through Dalva's current relationships with her wealthy family and with Michael, a history professor. The middle portion of the book, narrated by the alcoholic and debauched Michael, brings a shift in mood. Michael, who is living at the Northridge family ranch while researching journals left by Dalva's great-grandfather, proceeds toward his own incapacitation at a Rabelaisian pitch. Woven through Michael's narrative are excerpts from the journals, which have a great relevance to the history of Nebraska's Native Americans. Harrison (Sundog) offers almost an embarrassment of riches here. Digressing stories of a large number of characterswhile they add to the rich texture of the novelsometimes deflect attention from Dalva herself. That is a small caveat, however, about this lyrical and atmospheric book, which is entertaining, moving and memorable. (March) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Dalva has traveled the world doing a variety of jobs, alternately haunted and driven by men: a half-breed Sioux, her half-brother, whose child she bore, and gave up for adoption, at 16; an obsessed great-grandfather, who came to Nebraska as a missionary; an alcoholic college professor who uses her as a crutch as he blunders toward tenure. The reconciliation of the various elements in her life is precipitated by a return to her Midwestern roots, where she acknowledges her family's eccentricities and her own wasted years. In the process a vivid panorama of Nebraska history is revealed through her own poignant memories and the tormented journals of her great-grandfather. A compelling novel, essential for fiction collections.Thomas L. Kilpatrick, Southern Illinois Univ. at Carbondale Lib. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Harrison (Sundog, Warlock, etc.) has only mixed success here with a female character, but otherwise taps deep and true with this portrait of a family on the Nebraska plains. Dalva Northridge, narrator of the book's first and final sections, is a moneyed superwoman--calm genius in the kitchen, sexual, beautiful and competent. She grew up free on the spacious family farm under the enlightened care of her smart, widowed mother Naomi and her part-Sioux grandfather. At 15, she made love to the half-Sioux cowboy, Duane, whom her grandfather had taken in, and got pregnant. When Duane disappeared, her grandfather let on that her love was really her own half-brother. Dalva gave up the child for adoption but nursed a sad longing for Duane (the nightmare terrain of their brief reunion is the emotional centerpiece of the novel). Decades later, Dalva's back home, this time with her sometime-lover Michael, an overweight and alcoholic historian whose abject begging has convinced her to grant him access to her missionary great-grandfather's journals. Michael, narrator of the book's middle section, has some near-uproarious adventures with the locals (a spree at the lazy Daze Tavern and a silly speech at a Rotary Club lunch). He also traces, through the Northridge patriarch's lyrical journals, this gentle man's post-Civl War wanderings through the territories--befriending Sioux warriors, blurring his Christian faith, experimenting with Indian mysticism and nearly losing his mind. Placid Dalva is an unreal (if appealing) character: she swallows her considerable pain, and even her breakdowns are gracious and shot through with connections to nature. As for Michael, he's an amusing caricature of the helpless academic and a neat foil for the vivid journals. Strong landscapes, hilariously sketched walk-on characters and antic detail give richness and humor to a novel that flirts with being a romantic paean to the prairie and the Sioux. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Dalva has traveled the world doing a variety of jobs, alternately haunted and driven by men: a half-breed Sioux, her half-brother, whose child she bore, and gave up for adoption, at 16; an obsessed great-grandfather, who came to Nebraska as a missionary; an alcoholic college professor who uses her as a crutch as he blunders toward tenure. The reconciliation of the various elements in her life is precipitated by a return to her Midwestern roots, where she acknowledges her family's eccentricities and her own wasted years. In the process a vivid panorama of Nebraska history is revealed through her own poignant memories and the tormented journals of her great-grandfather. A compelling novel, essential for fiction collections.Thomas L. Kilpatrick, Southern Illinois Univ. at Carbondale Lib. Copyright 1988 Cahners Business Information.

A cast of fascinating characters populates the Nebraska farmland where Harrison's fine new novel is set. First among these is Dalva Northridge, a passionate and unconventional woman who, at 45, begins searching for the illegitimate son she bore 30 years earlier. While flashbacks explore Dalva's teenage romance with her son's father, a half-Sioux youth, the story is carried forward through Dalva's current relationships with her wealthy family and with Michael, a history professor. The middle portion of the book, narrated by the alcoholic and debauched Michael, brings a shift in mood. Michael, who is living at the Northridge family ranch while researching journals left by Dalva's great-grandfather, proceeds toward his own incapacitation at a Rabelaisian pitch. Woven through Michael's narrative are excerpts from the journals, which have a great relevance to the history of Nebraska's Native Americans. Harrison (Sundog) offers almost an embarrassment of riches here. Digressing stories of a large number of characterswhile they add to the rich texture of the novelsometimes deflect attention from Dalva herself. That is a small caveat, however, about this lyrical and atmospheric book, which is entertaining, moving and memorable. (March) Copyright 1988 Cahners Business Information.