Paperback, 176 pages
English language
Published Feb. 8, 1973 by Penguin.
A young Native American, Abel has come home from a foreign war to find himself caught between two worlds. The first is the world of his father's, wedding him to the rhythm of the seasons, the harsh beauty of the land, and the ancient rites and traditions of his people. But the other world -- modern, industrial America -- pulls at Abel, demanding his loyalty, claiming his soul, goading him into a destructive, compulsive cycle of dissipation and disgust. And the young man, torn in two, descends into hell.
I read this in graduate school for a course in Native American literature. From looking at my journal from back then, I see I did not particularly like it. I wrote back then that the plot did not seem to move along. It seems like I was reading a series of vignettes without any unity.
