The Night Birds

By Thomas Maltman

"We all set our sights on the Great American Novel. . . . [Thomas Maltman] comes impressively close to laying his hands on the grail." —The Boston Globe

The intertwining story of three generations of German immigrants to the Midwest—their clashes with slaveholders, the Dakota uprising and its aftermath—is seen through the eyes of young Asa Senger, named for an uncle killed by an Indian friend. It is the unexpected appearance of Asa’s aunt Hazel, institutionalized since shortly after the mass hangings of thirty-eight Dakota warriors in Mankato in 1862, that reveals to him that the past is as close as his own heartbeat.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Aug 1, 2007
• ISBN: 9781569477687

Reviews for The Night Birds

[maryreinert · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Multi-generational story of a German family torn apart by the violence of the 1800's: slavery, Indian wars, and Mother nature that can be equally as brutal. Told in two time frames, the 1850's and the 1870's with each story tightly intertwined. Leaving Missouri after the father prints an anti-slavery article, the father and children and stepchildren head for the Minnesota frontier. The Dakota Indians are not unfriendly neighbors but fear, distrust, and misunderstandings plague everyday life until the Great Sioux War of 1962 tears everything apart.The story centers on Hazel, a young girl, whose father has taught her of the "old ways" of healing and her effect on the family. Friendly with the Indians, Hazel is later captured and becomes the wife of a young Indian brave. After the Great War, Hazel becomes reunited with part of her extended family. The story is told from the viewpoint of Asa,a young man whose life is affected by Hazel's years later. rt4The writing in this novel is beautiful although brutal in the description of daily life on the unplowed frontier. Nature is not merely a background but an active force throughout the story. The characters of children, young mothers, soldiers, old Dakota Indians, and farmers are so clearly drawn. Life was unbelievably hard and cruel, but the human spirit although at times broken and equally as cruel can maintain a spark of belief and hope in something better. A remarkable novel of the frontier.

[mrpascua · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This novel bounces between two generations in the 1800's in the Midwest (Minnesota is the Midwest isn't it?) The backdrop is around the time of the Dakota Sioux uprising in the late 1800's and the largest mass execution in US history. The story follows the struggles of the Senger family, and the Dakota tribe across the river from the family farm. The character, Asa Senger is a lonely 14-year-old boy. His father's sister Hazel comes to his parents' Minnesota home from an asylum. Asa learns through his aunt's stories all about his family's past, their German background and their divisions over slavery, Indian relations and other issues of times. He also learns about a relationship between Hazel and the Dakotan warrior Wanikiya that becomes closer even as violence escalates in the world around them. Asa in the end accepts his own complex heritage as an adult. This book would be a good addition to the high school LMC as an adult book that would make good reading for YA as well.

[keneumey · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A breathtaking, beautifully written and exceedingly violent historical novel about the Sioux Uprising of 1862.

The story traces three generations of a German immigrant family that settles across the river from a band of Dakota Sioux in Minnesota. Told from the points of view of both the settlers and the Dakota, it explores the shifting relationships between neighbors driven apart by their cultures and war.

Maltman’s writing is so evocative that I was enthralled from the first chapter, describing a disgusting plague of crunchy locusts, to the final pages revealing family secrets kept for a generation. Not for the faint-hearted, both animals and people are brutalized.

I will say that I figured out the big family secret in the second chapter, but I'm willing to forgive that, because I enjoyed the journey so much.

Also, even though there were sympathetic Dakota characters, I felt that they were portrayed as much more savage and brutal than the white characters. I would have liked to see some more balance.