''Mean Spirit'' is a murder mystery based on the

Osage murders The Osage Indian murders was a serial killing event that took place in Osage County, Oklahoma, United States, during the 1910s–1930s. Newspapers described the increasing number of unsolved murders and deaths among young adults of the Osage Nati ...

that took place in Osage Indian Territory in Oklahoma in the 1920s. It is the first novel by

Chickasaw The Chickasaw ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, United States. Their traditional territory was in northern Mississippi, northwestern and northern Alabama, western Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky. Their language is ...

author Linda Hogan and was a finalist for the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

for Fiction in 1991.

Plot

In 1920s Oklahoma, the discovery of oil in the Osage Indian Territory has made the native inhabitants rich. But good fortune brings tragedy as well; not only are the Osage losing touch with their culture and traditional way of life, but they have become targets of whites who marry into the tribe. More and more wealthy Osage begin dying of mysterious illnesses or accidents. The novel focuses on an Osage girl, Nola Blanket, who witnesses her mother's murder by unknown men. Nola is taken in by her cousins, the Greyclouds, who attempt to protect her. As Greycloud family members and other Osage continue dying under suspicious circumstances, justice is elusive. Law enforcement and judicial officials collude to cover up deaths and stymie investigations. Stace Red Hawk, a Lakota Sioux agent with the nascent U.S. Bureau of Investigation comes to Oklahoma to investigate. As the battles between the two worlds mount, Nola and others break away from the greed and start to rediscover their relationship with the land.

Reception

''Mean Spirit'' was selected by the

Literary Guild The Literary Guild of America is a mail order book sales club, book club selling low-cost editions of selected current books to its members. Established in 1927 to compete with the Book of the Month Club, it is currently owned by Bookspan. It was a ...

as being "extraordinary...If you take up no other novel this year, or next, this one will suffice to hold, to disturb, to enlighten and to inspire you." It was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1991.

Barbara Kingsolver Barbara Ellen Kingsolver (born April 8, 1955) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, essayist, and poet. Her widely known works include '' The Poisonwood Bible'', the tale of a missionary family in the Congo, and '' Animal, Vegetable, Mira ...

in the ''LA Times'' found it "relentlessly sad" yet full of realistic, complex characters; she praised Hogan: "She's created empathy. She carves a vast tragedy down to a size and shape that will fit into a human heart."

References

Sources

* * {{cite journal, last1=Casteel, first1=Alix, title=Dark Wealth in Linda Hogan's Mean Spirit, journal=Studies in American Indian Literatures, volume=6, issue=3, pages=49–68, publisher=University of Nebraska Press, jstor=20736796, year=1994 * Warrior, Robert Allen, and Dennis Mcauliffe. Vol. 11, no. 1, 1995, pp. 52–55., doi:10.2307/1409043. Accessed 10 May 2019. Books set in the Osage Nation 1990 American novels Novels set in the 1920s Novels set in Oklahoma 1990 debut novels Atheneum Books books Books set during the Osage Murders

Plot

Reception

See also

References

Sources