:: note :: . . . Porcupines and China Dolls by Robert Arthur Alexie has been haunting me these past days . . . no book since Thomas King's Green Grass, Running Water has had such an engrossing effect . . . King's book became my christmas present of a couple years back . . . some how Alexie's book will not be given to anyone . . . recommended perhaps but not given . . . the writing is terse, direct, graphic and powerful in a voice full & throaty which rips into the heart and at the same time generates warmth & healing much the way the voice of Tom Jackson does in his singing . . . layers of silence behind the words are exposed in bold and simple textures . . . The Dream World & the legends, beliefs and history . . . The Awakening from a typical night of lost souls & famous last words & deep dark secrets into disclosure . . . The Real World returning home & the missed opportunities & the secrets, lies, truth & new beginnings . . . these are code words for a rite of passage (of initiation) . . . there is an initiator & nothing happens "just because" . . . there was a silence "a million pocupines crying in the dark" . . . now "Its time" . . .

"The old wolf had been sitting on the ridge watching. When the drums started, he stood as though something was calling to him. Whatever it was, he didn't stop to ponder its origin. He went on instinct. He circled, then slowly came into the herd from the north. The herd moved up over the ridge and into the sunlight"(Alexie. Porcupines and China Dolls p 223)