Old School IndianOld School Indian

"Abe Jacobs is Kanien'kehá:ka from Ahkwesáhsne--that's People of the Flint, from Where the Partridge Drums--or, if you ask a white dude, a Mohawk Indian from the Saint Regis Tribe. Whichever way you cut it--and Dominick Deer Woods, our irreverent, wisecracking narrator, cuts it six ways to Sunday--at eighteen Abe left the reservation where he was raised and never looked back. Now forty-three, Abe is suffering from a rare disease--one his doctors in Miami believe will kill him. Running from his diagnosis and a failing marriage, Abe returns to the Rez, where he's convinced to undergo a healing at the hands of his Great Uncle Budge. But this ain't Sweet Home Ahkwesáhsne, as Dominick might say, and Budge--a wry recovered alcoholic prone to wearing band t-shirts featuring pot-bellied naked dudes--isn't the least bit precious about his gift. Which is good, because his time off Rez has made Abe a thorough skeptic. However, to heal Abe will have to undertake a revelatory journey, confronting the parts of himself he's hidden ever since he left home and learning to cultivate hope, even at his darkest hour."--