Quotes:
"We are extraordinarily lucky to have this new collection of Susan
Power's inimitable writings: gorgeous, deeply imagined, and
breathtaking in their wisdom. The short stories are rich in tragedy and
fury, joy and surprise, clarity and piercing honesty. The personal
histories offer us a fascinating glimpse into Power's remarkable
bicultural heritage as well as a reflection on the interplay between
her writing and her life.”—Lan Samantha Chang, author of
Hunger
"Susan
Power understands how historic truth threads the maze of the
imagination. Roofwalker is a book of wild humor and compassion”—Louise
Erdrich
“Her voice is authentic and lyrical and, perhaps most
admirably for writing of its kind, it is also restrained. . . . It is also
to Power's credit that she does not seek to represent Indian reality as
a perfect past ruined only by the arrival of whites—that she allows
the culture its flaws, the people their sins.”—Chicago Tribune
“A
masterful storyteller, Susan Power . . . combines fiction and nonfiction to honor the spirits of both
imaginary and real figures who live mostly away from the reservation
yet palpably feel its influence and see its ghosts in their daily
lives.”—The Chuckanut Reader
“The
stories and essays in Roofwalker portray women and men negotiating an
impossible path between Native American culture and a transplanted
urban life in Chicago. Susan Power, awarded the Hemingway
Foundation/PEN Award for the 1994 novel The Grass Dancer, is a product
of such extremes, and her experience dominates this masterly mix of
fiction and non-fiction.”—Chicago Sun Times
“The fiction and essays here feel inextricably
linked, not forced together; among the things they share is Power's
inventive, clear-eyed prose.”—New York Times Book Review
“Part fiction, part autobiography, these stories show
what it's like to live between two worlds. . . . This collection of
moving, well-written tales is recommended for literary fiction
collections.”—Library Journal
“In
Roofwalker, Power writes with stunning clarity and grace, creating a
mesmerizing landscape of characters in a series of short pieces. . . . A
masterful blending of memory and imagination.”—Birchbark Review
“In the title story from
this collection, the Roofwalker is a spirit that eats dreams, and when
he finds one he really likes he makes them come true. A young girl in
Chicago learns about the Roofwalker from her visiting Dakota
grandmother. Her father has left the family and her mother is
struggling. The grandmother comes to ground the young girl and to
remind her of her place in this world. The intergenerational pattern of
learning and transmitting cultural knowledge from traditional homelands
to urban settings is repeated in a number of variations in these
splendid narratives. Power (Standing Rock Yanktonnai Dakota) has woven
these 12 stories together with wonderfully lyric language and
contemporary experience informed by Sioux culture and history. The
narratives have common threads and images such as abandonment,
birthing, storytelling, beading, spirits, recovery and survival. Power
intertwines poetry and letters with exquisite prose. She introduces
political issues, even tragedy, with humor and grace."—Multicultural
Review
“Roofwalker . . . displays the steady hand of a
skilled writer with a lot on her mind. . . . Her well-honed, clear prose
reflects her considerable skill. Power capably evokes an atmosphere
saturated with meditative, quiet tension."—Tim Carnahan, MN Artists
