Genre Fiction
![Oscar Hokeah - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_a_oscar_hokeah.jpg)
Calling for a Blanket Dance
A moving and deeply engaging debut novel about a young Native American man finding strength in his familial identity, from a stellar new voice in fiction.
Told in a series of voices, Calling for a Blanket Dance takes us into the life of Ever Geimausaddle through the multigenerational perspectives of his family as they face myriad obstacles. His father's injury at the hands of corrupt police, his mother's struggle to hold on to her job and care for her husband, the constant resettlement of the family, and the legacy of centuries of injustice all intensify Ever's bottled-up rage. Meanwhile, all of Ever's relatives have ideas about who he is and who he should be. His Cherokee grandmother urges the family to move across Oklahoma to find security; his grandfather hopes to reunite him with his heritage through traditional gourd dances; his Kiowa cousin reminds him that he's connected to an ancestral past. And once an adult, Ever must take the strength given to him by his relatives to save not only himself but also the next generation of family.
How will this young man visualize a place for himself when the world hasn't given him a place to start with? Honest, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting, Calling for a Blanket Dance is the story of how Ever Geimausaddle found his way to home.
Told in a series of voices, Calling for a Blanket Dance takes us into the life of Ever Geimausaddle through the multigenerational perspectives of his family as they face myriad obstacles. His father's injury at the hands of corrupt police, his mother's struggle to hold on to her job and care for her husband, the constant resettlement of the family, and the legacy of centuries of injustice all intensify Ever's bottled-up rage. Meanwhile, all of Ever's relatives have ideas about who he is and who he should be. His Cherokee grandmother urges the family to move across Oklahoma to find security; his grandfather hopes to reunite him with his heritage through traditional gourd dances; his Kiowa cousin reminds him that he's connected to an ancestral past. And once an adult, Ever must take the strength given to him by his relatives to save not only himself but also the next generation of family.
How will this young man visualize a place for himself when the world hasn't given him a place to start with? Honest, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting, Calling for a Blanket Dance is the story of how Ever Geimausaddle found his way to home.
Editorial Reviews
"With intricate prose and unflinching vernacular, Oscar Hokeah chronicles a family and a community. We learn trials and aspirations for each generation, and witness what is woven into complicated arrival. We need these characters and their testimonies. But more than that, we crave –I crave-this kind of honest storytelling. These rhythms. These dances. This beauty. This welcoming to a place where the people speak and are unafraid."
-Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, author of The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois
"Hokeah skillfully recreates the years leading up to and following Ever's birth, capturing the traumas and complexities that shaped him into who he is and may determine who he becomes."
-TIME
"Quaking with age-old righteous anger but nevertheless luminescent with hope."
-ELLE
"This miraculous story presents a collective imagining not only of who its main character is, but who everyone else anticipated and dreamed he could become. It is a must-read."
- BuzzFeed
"Drawing on a wealth of Indigenous tradition, Hokeah has produced in his debut a novel that underscores the quiet strength that arises when a family is true to its identity and the too common tragedy that results when identity is suppressed."
-The Millions
"An auspicious debut . . . Recalling both Tommy Orange and Gabriel Garcia Marquez in its narrative structure . . . A book to deeply invest in."
-Chicago Review of Books
"Remarkable."
-Shondaland
"Told from a variety of voices, this story is one of love, loss, growth, tradition and evolution. Not to be missed."
-Ms. Magazine
"[A] captivating debut . . . with striking insight into human nature and beautiful prose, this heralds an exciting new voice."
-Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Hokeah's debut will feel familiar to fans of Louise Erdrich and Tommy Orange . . . A novel that builds in richness and intricacy . . . Another noteworthy debut in what feels like an ongoing renaissance of Indigenous peoples' literature, both reflecting this lineage and introducing an exciting, fresh new voice to the choir."
-...
-Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, author of The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois
"Hokeah skillfully recreates the years leading up to and following Ever's birth, capturing the traumas and complexities that shaped him into who he is and may determine who he becomes."
-TIME
"Quaking with age-old righteous anger but nevertheless luminescent with hope."
-ELLE
"This miraculous story presents a collective imagining not only of who its main character is, but who everyone else anticipated and dreamed he could become. It is a must-read."
- BuzzFeed
"Drawing on a wealth of Indigenous tradition, Hokeah has produced in his debut a novel that underscores the quiet strength that arises when a family is true to its identity and the too common tragedy that results when identity is suppressed."
-The Millions
"An auspicious debut . . . Recalling both Tommy Orange and Gabriel Garcia Marquez in its narrative structure . . . A book to deeply invest in."
-Chicago Review of Books
"Remarkable."
-Shondaland
"Told from a variety of voices, this story is one of love, loss, growth, tradition and evolution. Not to be missed."
-Ms. Magazine
"[A] captivating debut . . . with striking insight into human nature and beautiful prose, this heralds an exciting new voice."
-Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Hokeah's debut will feel familiar to fans of Louise Erdrich and Tommy Orange . . . A novel that builds in richness and intricacy . . . Another noteworthy debut in what feels like an ongoing renaissance of Indigenous peoples' literature, both reflecting this lineage and introducing an exciting, fresh new voice to the choir."
-...
