Thirteen Moons and More

In speaking of translating between Cherokee and English, the narrator, Will Cooper, in telling his story in the book Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier, makes this observation:

"... our two languages are not particularly suited to being rendered into each other. And so if you try to do it literally, you end up with a lot of foolishness. On our side of the translation, you get O Great White Father. Many moons ago. Forked tongue. Fire water. Utterances like those of articulate and very pompous children. I'm not sure what you get in the other direction. I assume we sound equally foolish. All translations miss something. Some miss almost everything. Irony. Indirection. Complex metaphors. Straight-faced humor. Damped-down anger. The human touch."

This book misses none of these things. The quality of writing and storytelling that earned such high praise for Cold Mountain is in this book as well. The way I "read" it is by listening to it on CD read by the actor Will Patton, as good a voice for the Will of the story as I think anyone could find.

It is the story of a man remembering his life nearing its end. As an orphan bound to a merchant as his trading post keeper when he was only 12 or 13, the boy turns out to be a natural businessman. He allies himself with the Cherokee Indians in the mountains of Georgia, particularly a chief named Bear. Will helps them from being moved to reservations in the West by insensitive politicians from Andrew Jackson on.

The trading post owner to whom Will is bound falls on bad times and sells his stores and their inventory to Will (who had by that time saved some money from his store keeping), as well as giving him freedom from the contract his uncle signed in binding him over to this man. Floating in and out of the story is the love of his life, Clare, whom he never permanently connects with. Will compiles many descriptors for his resume: gambler, white chief, owner of vast tracts of land, politician, Confederate colonel, entrepreneur, lawyer. How he comes by these is what this book is about.

What makes it special is the quality of writing. Sometimes an author does a good job of describing events and people. Sometimes an author brings people alive and makes you feel you know them or want to know them. Like Ivan Doig, that is Frazier's special gift: the ability to turn a phrase, to take you to that time and place, to embed the story in you so you remember it long from now. The audio version is wonderful, but whether you read or listen, I hope you'll be moved by my description to find out for yourself why this is a great book.

—John Woods, June 29, 2007