Why read Winter in the Blood?

Book cover of Winter in the Blood

Book description

A contemporary classic from a major writer of the Native American renaissance — "Brilliant, brutal and, in my opinion, Welch's best work." —Tommy Orange, The Washington Post

During his life, James Welch came to be regarded as a master of American prose, and his first novel, Winter in the Blood,…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked Winter in the Blood as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Chris Harding Thornton

Author

The first time I finished reading this book, I felt ambushed. The description is breathtaking and the dialogue is hilarious.

So much of the book is surreal: The main character hunts for a runaway girlfriend who’s absconded with his electric razor (which is useless; it has no cord). A woman at a bar blows smoke rings without a cigarette. A guy known only as “airplane man” winds up nabbed, with a large plush bear, by the FBI—and the main character’s major epiphany is sparked by a horse fart. Then, suddenly, near the end, I cried so hard the words blurred.…

From Chris' list on The best absurd and hilarious books that rip your heart from your chest.

John Keeble

Author

Perhaps Winter In The Blood is Welch's finest novel, though I hesitate to overlook Fools Crow. Like Hurston's work, the language in Winter In The Blood is raw, simple, and to the point. In this book, Welch offers a caveat to whites when he says, "I have seen works written about Indians by whites... but only an Indian knows who he is. If he has grown up on a reservation he will naturally write about what he knows. And hopefully he will have the toughness and fairness to present his material in a way that is not manufactured by…

From John's list on The best books are where writers write what they know (and don't) thus crossing boundaries and transcending themselves.