Samson Hunts Alone left the Crow reservation fifteen years ago, reinventing himself as blond-haired insurance salesman Samson Greene in Santa Barbara. His carefully constructed urban life collapses when Coyote, the Ancient Trickster of Native American myth, manifests in the physical world to "help" him. Coyote is a chaos agent wearing a mismatch of polyester and fur, obsessed with fast food and crude television. As the deity systematically destroys Samson’s professional reputation and romantic prospects, he forces the salesman to return to Montana to confront his discarded heritage and a past crime involving a corrupt government agent.
Readers who enjoy irreverent satire and absurdist takes on mythology will find this story fits their sensibilities. It appeals to those interested in the friction between modern corporate culture and traditional indigenous folklore. The narrative avoids sentimentality, using slapstick and dark comedy to examine cultural displacement and the difficulty of escaping one's roots. A reader finishes the book with a perspective on how mythological archetypes might survive and behave in a contemporary, consumerist landscape, paired with a cynical take on the process of personal reinvention.
Escapist; an easy read.
Best for readers like The Curious Generalist. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1993
- Language
- EN
