Word: yoing
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...Hanta Yo, Hill...
...HANTA YO'S value, then, does not lie in its greatness as a novel. Rather, it is important because of its authenticity, subject matter and message. But in choosing to write a novel about the Sioux, Hill has perpetrated the Plains Indian myth. She has not shown Americans the real, native American, the Indians who were the same in 1750 as they were in 1410. Instead she has only given Americans what they have idolized since they helped create him: the scalp-wielding, horse-riding savage...
...their histories, despite their common sufferings, comparable. Unlike Roots, Hanta Yo does not span centuries in American history. It covers an 85 year period, a time when the Sioux increased while other tribes diminished and disappeared...
...Hanta Yo fast-moving. Just over 800 pages long, Hill's epic is hardly suspensful. Rather, it is sagalike, but the reality is Siouian. The ethnography can be tedious if the reader is not interested. On the other hand, for readers who are familiar with American Indian history, Hanta Yo is just another well-written novel that does not work as well as it should...
...addition to these minor flaws, Hanta Yo is disappointing for another reason. Hill tries for something that she cannot achieve; by starting off well she promises more than she can deliver. The Mahto men: as philosophers, fathers, warriors, hunters, and leaders: face questions that all humans face: is my son's bad behavior my fault? As leader of the people, should the people follow me or should I follow them? Is there a God? But her protangonist's quest--self-control and the meaning of existence--she never fully answers...