People of the Whale by Linda Hogan

Source of book: Borrowed from the library

 

I think this book technically qualifies as my selection for Native American Heritage Month. I started it back in November, and finished it around a week ago, but ran out of time to write about it before the holidays. 

 

In any event, this has been a great year for Native American authors for me, with this book being the seventh of the year, spanning all of the genres. You can find my list of books by and about Native Americans here. 

 

I read this book mostly when I was away from my notepad, so I ended up finishing it without writing down any specific quotes. So, this will be a fairly short post, and mostly give my impressions of the themes. 

 

The book centers around Thomas Just, a member of a Pacific Northwest tribe (fictionalized, but based loosely on a tribe in northwestern Washington), and his two families. 

 

As a young man, Thomas marries Ruth. When she is pregnant, he joins the army and goes to Vietnam, where he has a series of traumatic experiences, which culminate in him murdering his platoon mates when they attempt to slaughter women and children in a village far from the front lines. 

 

He becomes a hero to the village, marries a local woman, and has a daughter. He is listed as killed in action because he leaves his dog tags behind. 

 

Later, his existence is discovered, and, after his wife is killed by a land mine, he is extracted by helicopter, leaving his young daughter, Lin, behind. Lin barely survives the civil war in Vietnam as an orphan, but eventually manages to grow up and use her skill in languages (including English) to work as a translator and bureaucrat. 

 

Meanwhile, Thomas returns to the US, but disappears, never reuniting with Ruth until many years later. 

 

When he does come back, it is because the tribe is planning to hunt a whale. The circumstances are complicated, but dubious. 

 

Unlike the old days, when hunts were accompanied by prayers and done in the traditional ways, this one involves modern technology, and the secret intent of the ringleader to sell the carcass to Japan and pocket the money. 

 

The reason this is complicated is that it is bound up with issues of tribal identity and masculinity, which is what attracts Thomas, before it all goes wrong. 

 

The book is firmly in the Magical Realism genre, with supernatural events, humans who can breathe underwater (in one case being born with gills), octopuses with apparent human qualities and the ability to shapeshift, and a more. 

 

That said, the setting is very much in the real world, and the issues explored are very much on point for our own time and place. 

 

I thought the book was very well written, and nuanced as to the humanity of the characters. In particular, the main trio - Thomas, Ruth, and Lin - are complex, imperfect, and sympathetic. Each is dealing with significant trauma, both personal and as members of their ethnic groups. 

 

Also recognizable is the villain, Dwight, who acts out his own insecurities about his masculinity in antisocial - but all too credible and typical ways. He is both unlikeable and yet understandable. 

 

The other characters fill in a believable world, on the border between the past and present, tribe and white majority, soldier and civilian. A world where right and wrong isn’t easy to grasp, and more often than not, no decision can be entirely “right.” There are always those who will be hurt no matter what the characters choose. 

 

Ruth in particular is a great character. She is strong and moral and compassionate, and about as good of a person you would ever hope to meet. But she also has her blind spots, and her hopes and longings that are hard for her to give up on. 

 

And, perhaps most heartbreakingly, it seems that, like far too many women, she is the one who always has to sacrifice, the one who continually pays the price for the actions of others. One of the things that most sucks about the world we live in, but it is all too true. 

 

The book can be dark at times - Vietnam was not just a military disaster, but a moral catastrophe for all involved. Nobody was the “good guy,” and the impoverished common people suffered the most, as they always do in a conflict. Evil was done by every beligerant in that war, and atrocities committed particularly against innocent women and children. 

 

This understandably damaged Thomas, who joined because his buddies did, only to find that moral people are destroyed in a war. His physical injuries and the effects of the fighting itself are secondary to the moral injury he suffered. 

 

One of the most hopeful things in this book is that Thomas is able to eventually recognize what is going on in his own head, and find a degree of healing. Just like Ruth is able to find her own form of healing, and Lin hers. 

 

I also found the book excellent in its examination of the complexity of identity. As I mentioned above, what does it mean to be a man in the context of being part of a tribe with a long history but an uncertain present and future? 

 

But also, what is the meaning of “the old ways”? The world has changed, and environmentally friendly whale hunting isn’t really possible anymore. Subsistence hunting and gathering isn’t a viable option for survival either. 

 

So what does it mean to be Native? How does one embrace one’s identity - indeed how does one find one’s identity in a new and very different world? 

 

I find this question to resonate with me. Much of my identity as a child and a young adult isn’t really available to me anymore, although for different reasons. My faith tradition is now so wedded to an evil man and to white supremacist and patriarchal political values as to be unrecognizable to me. My birth and extended families are no longer a source of pride and belonging for the same reason. I have never really fit a certain form of “manliness.” Even being an American is complicated. 

 

So what is my identity? Where do I fit? How can I tap into something authentic in my heritage and history? It’s not an easy question to answer at all. I expect it is even more complicated - if a little less fraught with the baggage of being on the side of the conquerors. 

 

Hogan doesn’t offer simple or easy answers. Healing comes only with time and a combination of one’s own work and the assistance of others. And finding a place in a changing world will never be easy. One mostly muddles through as one can. 

 

People of the Whale is very much a thoughtful book, and one that shows a deep understanding of human nature and complexity. I would definitely recommend it.