Thirteen Moons

Frazier, Charles

As a very old man, Will Cooper narrates his own story, beginning with his days as an orphaned, literate "bound boy" who is dispatched to run a trading post at the edge of the Cherokee Nation. Thrust into a frontier society where everything is uncertain, he places his allegiance on the side of the embattled Cherokees, and his love in the elusive hands of a young woman he won in a card game.

Comments from Groups

A beautiful story. The exquisite language used was much enjoyed and appreciated; you felt like you were there.Very interesting reading about early Indian lifestyle and how they were forcibly moved to reservations. Ngarimu Bay 001

Great read - beautiful language,imagery, metaphors. Many of us were a little 'hazy' about American history and found parallels in other places about displacement of people. Auckland 055

Largely positive, although some people got bogged down in the middle, but still enjoyed it. Waihi 001

We all loved this book and felt we had learned a lot from it. Dunedin 005

Pages
422

Year
2006

Reviews

NELS 050

26-09-2023

Although this read was hard to get into, those who finished it enjoyed the writing style and touch of history - so much so that they researched more around indigenous people.

WELL 036

26-09-2023

Sadly only half the group read this book, but those that did enjoyed the descriptive passages.

WELL 156

26-09-2023

The group was split over this book. Some really enjoyed it while others thought it populist and light.

CHCH 010

26-09-2023

A lively discussion about the Cherokee Indians and their treatment by the government. We learnt something about American history in the 19th century.

DUNED 012

26-09-2023

Good discussion - varied comments on this book, mostly enjoyed.

HAVE 005

26-09-2023

Charles Frazier a good writer, but halfway through the book he lost his way! Good editing might have helped.

OHOPE 002

26-09-2023

An interesting book covering a part of American history the group knew little of.

TAUR 018

26-09-2023

We felt that none of the characters were fully developed. We were all interested in the Indian history and would have liked to hear more of their lives. We all enjoyed reading the book and found some of the description beautifully written.

CART 001

26-09-2023

A bit tedious - went on and on. Writing style hard but beautiful descriptions. Interesting but a struggle at times. The print was very small - hard for older eyes!! No speech marks, only dashes. Very brave young boy.

TURA 002

26-09-2023

Most of us struggled with this book, mostly because the font made it difficult to read at night when we do most of our reading, rather than the writing and plot.

TAUR 005

21-09-2023

Our group found this book very "educational" in that most of us knew very little about this aspect of American history. We enjoyed the style of writing, admiring the author's ability to sum up an idea in a memorable phrase. An excellent read which challenged our perceptions of the era the novel was set in.

UPHU 007

21-09-2023

The group found this a difficult book. I personally loved it. The descriptions and writing are beautiful. We felt some sort of map in the book would have helped us sort out the many movements of the Indians, and Will himself.

PALMN 029

15-06-2020

Loved by some, but many gave up on it. Interesting time period and people but the story was very meandering.