As
I
Heard the Owl Call My Name
begins, Father Mark Brian is being sent by his bishop to minister to a
remote Indian village in the Pacific Northwest not knowing that he has
only about three years to live. There he will learn more about the
meaning of life than many people learn in a lifetime.
The way of life of the Kwakiutl Indians of Vancouver Island shares the
billing with the young vicar in this short book. It is threatened by
white people in ways intentional (such as getting Indians drunk to rob
them of their cultural treasures) and unintentional (such as taking
Indian children into white residential schools). Craven’s
accounts of customs, tribal stories, and myths, as well as of codes of
interaction, document a fading
culture.
The tone of the book is not angry, however, but sadly accepting of the
inevitability of change. The quiet example of the Kwakiutls helps Mark
to acceptance when he finally hears the owl call his name.
Craven was 69 and a first-time novelist when she wrote I Heard the Owl Call My
Name. She spent time in an
Indian village to do research, and some of the events are based on what
she observed there. I Heard the Owl
Call My
Name reached the top of the New
York Times bestseller
list. It is a good choice for both adults and older children.
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