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Overview
With the 1991 publication of her first novel, Sweet Eyes, Jonis Agee emerged as one of the strongest voices of the American heartland. Now, in Strange Angels, Agee has created a deeply moving tale of love and passion that evokes the Nebraska sandhills and explores the power of familial and cultural myths. When Heywood Bennett, the patriarch of a Nebraska ranching family, dies, his three children are certain that now they will be free. But Heywood's will attempts to force them to become the family he had never been able to forge during his lifetime. Unwillingly, the siblings' destinies are thrown together: Arthur, outraged at being denied his place as the family's sole legitimate heir, tries to destroy his bastard brother, Cody. Kya, the free-spirited sister both brothers adore, searches for her mother and her Lakota heritage. And Cody, who has cowboyed on the ranch since the age of fourteen, falls in love with Latta Jaboy, the older widow next door. Set in the Nebraska sandhills, a world filled with cowboys, honky-tonk bars, small towns, and huge stretches of rolling prairie, Strange Angels confirms Agee as "a gifted poet of that dark lushness in the heart of the American landscape." In creating this world whose inhabitants are tested by the forces of nature, hard work, and the conflicts of the human heart, Jonis Agee shows once again that she is a writer of uncompromising courage and passion.Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
Formulaic plotting and cliched characters mar this otherwise often captivating tale of the contemporary West set in the sandhills of Nebraska. Upon the death of Heywood Bennett, patriarch of a wealthy ranching family, his three offspring--each by a different mother--jointly inherit his holdings. The eldest son, Arthur, is embittered by having to share the fortune. Kya, Heywood's reckless, independent daughter by a Lakota woman, wants to be free of family responsibilities. Kept unaware of his father's identity until he was a teenager, Cody is a tough, handsome rancher who wants to make sure his adored half-sister receives her due share of the estate; meanwhile, he falls in love with an older woman, a widow. A complex net of loyalties and rivalries within both family and community ensnares each of these siblings as they grapple with their father's legacy. Agee ( Sweet Eyes ) writes knowingly of ranching life, the Indian nations and the modern realities of reservations, especially the corporate and governmental encroachments on them. Though she brings a heartfelt lyricism to her evocation of the vanishing West, her tale of the Bennett family tends toward the maudlin. The plot takes predictable turns to rather trite resolutions and the characters rarely transcend the familiar western stereotypes. (Sept.)Book Details
Published
August 1, 2000
Publisher
Penguin Books
Pages
416
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780140291865