"Dances with Wolves" by Michael Blake

Anais' Annotations

After having spent much of my life not being interested in the film version, I decided to take some time during the winter break to read “Dances with Wolves” (1988). Michael Blake’s novel is better known for its film adaptation, a popular culture icon starring Kevin Costner. Despite its cultural lingering in the halls of cinema fame, I found Blake’s story left a lot to be desired. 

The basics of the plot sound solid: post-Civil War, a United States soldier is sent to an abandoned military base where his isolation ultimately leads to involvement with a local Indigenous tribe. It is less the premise and more the execution that causes problems. 

Frankly, this book is so dang boring. I  thought I was never going to finish it. The writing is dry, and the author has the work start so far before anything relevant occurs that I was beginning to wonder what the point was. There are some good areas where backstory is built into the narrative, but for the most part, it is  plain descriptions of basic actions, prairie landscapes and conversation. 

This could be helped by the main point-of-view character, John, who is shockingly bland. I neither like nor dislike John because he has almost no real presence throughout the book.

He could easily be traded out for a different narrator, and nothing would change. In trying to make John’s struggles with depression come through to readers, the author ultimately left him devoid of personality, which translates in the reading. I found he was impossible to connect with on any level, especially because readers rarely get to see John have much of a reaction to anything. 

Alongside the novel’s obvious story issues, it is also highly controversial– with good reason. Blake has been criticized for his unrealistic depiction of Indigenous Peoples, especially their culture and values, as well as for his hyper-fictitious historical work. For this reader, the author’s treatment of Indigenous characters is a serious problem that overshadowed my entire reading of the work. 

“Dances with Wolves” narrates Indigenous characters as being primitive and uncivilized, dramatizing cultural differences to make these characters appear stupid. He often uses the perspective of John, the book’s primary narrator and only significant white  character, to portray Indigenous men as bloodthirsty savages and women as helpless maidens. Worse than poor character building, these descriptions build on centuries of misrepresenting Indigenous Peoples of America. It killed the vibe of this work for me. 

Like its action-packed film adaptation, this book is full of violence, something that may be triggering for readers. Additionally, I would caution readers about the abuse of animals, as it is a recurring theme within the work. 

 If you are interested in Blake’s “Dances with Wolves,” my advice would be to watch the film version. The book left such a bad taste in my mouth that while I have not  seen the movieyet, I know it cannot be as boring as this story. I give this book a 4.5 out of 10 with no plans to read it again.