X Indian Chronicles: The Book of Mausape

Thomas M. Yeahpau

This is the story of Mausape and his friends Brando, Hoss, and Maddog, X Indians. Although they are Indians by birth, with each passing year and experience, their culture slips away. The reader follows the lives of these young men where anything can happen. It is just as likely that one of the boys will have a love affair with his guardian angel as one of the boys going to a grocery store to buy beer.

 

The hyperrealism of the Indian experience meets the magical realism of Yeahpau’s writing, leaving the reader confused as to what is the true reality Yeahpau is trying to describe. I would not recommend this book for anyone younger than a sophomore. There is an unnecessary amount of foul language and sexually explicit scenes. Even as a college student, I was uncomfortable reading this novel. Even though this novel is supposed to describe the life of an X Indian, I felt the characters (Mausape, Brando, Hoss, Maddog, etc.) more closely followed the African American gangster stereotype. I feel that there are more appropriate novels that describe the Native American experience.