The Education of Little Tree
By: Forrest Carter / Narrated By: Johnny Heller
Length: 6 hrs and 21 mins
Dude! You’re kidding me: Written by a White Supremacist?!? OUCH!
Don’t get me wrong; I kinda sorta liked The Education of Little Tree as it struck me as a backwoods, hardworking, coming of age story. Like Where the Red Fern Grows only without all the raccoons being killed. What’s not to like about that?
But it was a bit Meh-ish. It jumped around a lot and had the feel of a set of short stories pulled together, but it was sweet and charming and ya just can’t read it (Or listen to it: Johnny Heller rocks!) and come away from it NOT loving Granpa and Granma, Little Tree’s Cherokee grandparents who take him in after he becomes an orphan. They’re written so that their gentle natures and wise ways shine through and give Little Tree a truly worthwhile upbringing. I esPECially liked Granpa’s discussions of the nature of foxes and of how he’d set dogs on them only to track them, not to kill. Little Tree was taught respect, and the whole book just shrieks: All Inclusiveness! Environmentalism! Love and respect thy neighbor! and Turn the other cheek!
So it was kinda a total shock to read the negative reviews which had me very much digging into the author and the author’s background. It turns out that this Forrest Carter cowboy author extraordinaire from Texas was actually Asa Earl Carter, spewer of words such as “mongrelization” and hater of world Jewry… from Alabama. A man who once wrote the most inflammatory words for George Wallace’s most inflammatory speech on Segregation now! Segregation tomorrow! Segregation forever!
Wow…
So, like, my husband doesn’t have a problem with any of this, and he cautioned me to judge the book on its own merits, that it’s such a gentle book with such a gentle and loving message. And it’s true that the end of the book, with the death of Little Tree’s last dog and the emergence into a new and less loving way of life, had me in tears. But my dear husband’s not a writer; I canNOT read the words without peaking behind the curtain. I happen to think the character of an author colors the end result.
But perhaps that’s just me, and I’m being a harsh and judgmental idiot? I guess all I’m saying is: Listen to this book as a definite work of fiction. Enjoy it for its gentleness and its humor and its emphasis on real wisdom.
But for gosh sake! Don’t bow down to the author.
Did I mention that Johnny Heller rocks…?
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