Mean Spirit

Synopsis

The book is set in the 1920s, at a time when rivers of oil were discovered underneath land in Oklahoma that was owned by Indians. At the same time, Grace Banket became the wealthiest individual in the territory. Her status resulted in her murder by a group of greedy white men. So the Graycloud family took over the care of her daughter. But one-by-one, they started dying, and no-one knew why. Those who cared wrote letters begging for help to Washington DC. It was only when Stace Red Hawk, a Native American government official, decided to investigate. He found intimidation, fraud and murder and then something else quite by surprise—that he had a true love for his people along with their brave past.

Theme

Mean Spirit's is the recognition that Native Americans culture relies on the survival of the natural world and can easily be corrupted by greed and obsessions to material gains.

Summary

Mean Spirit, is a murder mystery set against a past of violence and tension between Native Americans and White peoples. Hogan illustrated her story in Osage Indian Territory in Oklahoma in the 1920s. The Native communities struggle into a pool of greed, curruption, and violence when oil was discovered on allotments given to the Native Americans. The novel begins with Grace murdered and attempted to cover-up what happened, but her daughter, Nola, witnessed the murder of her mother (Grace embrassed both Native Culture and White Culture). Nola was hidden and she was in danger because she was a witness and she inherited all of her mother's oil-rich land. She is forced to move into her cousins home, the Greyclouds, for protection. Nola soon becomes eligible to marry, but White men were viewing marriage to a Native women with oil land as a business investment and deal. As other Osage continue dying under suspicious circumstances, the evidence becomes clear that rancher turned oilman, Nate Hale, is the man behind the murderous actions. Federal government did not do anything until a "Lakota Sioux working for the U.S. Bureau of Investigation" decides to investigate. As the battles between two worlds collide, Nola and others break away from the greed and start to rediscover their relationship with the land.

Acclaim for the book

Mean Spirit was selected by the Literary Guild that reported it 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."

Newsday spoke of the book as follows: "Early in this century, rivers of oil were found beneath Oklahoma land belonging to Indian people, and beautiful Grace Banket became the richest person in the Territory. But she was murdered by the greed of white men, and the Graycloud family, who cared for her daughter, began dying mysteriously. Letters sent to Washington, D.C. begging for help went unanswered, until at last a Native American government official, Stace Red Hawk, traveled west to investigate. What he found has been documented by history: rampant fraud, intimidation, and murder. But he also found something truly extraordinary--his deepest self and abiding love for his people, and their brave past."

It was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1991.

Barbara Kingsolver 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."