I have given this 5 stars but it was really very sad, with a redeeming ending....The "friendship" is between Pokey, Creek (half-brothers raised by Grandma) & Shasta.... Creek & Shasta come home to the rez from college because of the termination. Creek to claim his pay-off and Shasta to write a story about what "termination" will mean to the tribe & tribal tradition. When Creek & most of the tribe buy new cars and go on a drinking binge with their pay-off money...Pokey & Shasta renew their friendship and Shasta gets her story from Pokey & Grandma.

It is the fictionalized version about the actual "termination" of the Klamath/Chiloquin Indian Reservation & federal recognition of Tribal Status, which I read because a customer of mine told me it was about someone I knew.

The feds wanted the land...previously all the lumbar rights were owned by the Chiloquin Tribe in Oregon (where I have visited & made friends)....by the time the feds had finished the Natives became "regular" citizens, lost all titles to their land, lost all federal tribal benefits, lost all lumbar rights, their one time pay-out (most of whom never saw a penny of it due to lawyers, bankers & government bureaucracy) was wasted on booze & cars, and the rez died.

It's a well written story; some of the characters are miserable, most have redeeming qualities, some get what is coming to them, and others get lost in their own lives.

The ending is true to the life of (now passed) Chief Edison Chiloquin, who never "sold out" but fought the feds and won. It was so cool to recognize the grocery store, tribal land, and original traditional village I was fortunate to have visited. When I read the book I could actually see the town as it stands and the land Chief Edison worked so hard to save...I even remember him telling me about the sacred fire and his story. It's like "I Was There"!
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