Surprise!

 

Terry here, with an interesting question this week: What is the most surprising book you’ve read in the last few years? 

 I read so much that I thought it would be hard to choose. In thinking about this question, I wondered whether it means the most surprisingly good book or the most surprisingly bad book. Whether it means I was surprised that a writer I considered pedestrian came up with a gem of a book—or vice versa, if someone who I thought of as a stunningly good writer laid an egg. 

I decided on a different tack. A writer I was unfamiliar with who surprised me. I went to my trusty Reading lists, which thank goodness I started keeping a few years ago. I didn’t have to work hard to find what I consider the most surprising book I’ve read in a while. Most surprising for several reasons. 

 The book is Dance of the Returned, by Devon A. Mihesuah.

Briefly, it’s about American Indian time travel. Leroy Red Bear Ears is the instigator of the portal to the past for this Choctaw tribe. The book is beautiful and poetic. The reason it surprised me is that I don’t generally go in for paranormal books. I like sci-fi and time travel, but woo-woo turns me off. And this book is seriously woo-woo. But I loved it. Which goes to prove how good writing can sweep away a reader’s hesitation. 

 I would never have read the book if I hadn’t been invited to moderate a panel at Tucson Festival of Books last year. The panel was a strange one in that the books written by the three writers on the panel had almost nothing in common. One was a techno-thriller, one a police procedural, and this American Indian time travel book. What they had in common, though, was an ability to write great characters in chilling situations. The time travel in "Dance" was fraught with a hint of danger that was largely felt rather than apparent. 

 Mihesuah is a member of the Choctaw tribe and a serious writer. She mostly writes non-fiction about American Indian culture. But a few years ago she got the urge to write fiction centered on the non-fiction work she’d done. I don’t know if she discovered her poetry or knew it was there all along, but her words are lyrical, the descriptions lush, and the story grounded. It think the latter is why the story worked so well. Even though you know that mystical time travel is happening, it feels real and substantial. 

I highly recommend it if you're looking for something a little out of your zone.