Cheyenne Madonna

by Eddie Chuculate

Overview

A young Native American struggling with the two constants in his life—alcohol and art—in this prize-winning short story collection.

Eddie Chuculate’s collection of linked short stories follows Jordan Coolwater from bored child to thoughtful teenager, struggling artist, escaped convict, and finally, father. Gritty, funny, and deeply perceptive, Cheyenne Madonna offers an unsentimental portrait of America, of its dispossessed, its outlaws, and its visionaries.

The first story in this debut collection, “Galveston Bay, 1826,” won an O. Henry Prize, and the second, “Yo Yo,” received a Pushcart Prize Special Mention. Admirers of the short stories of Jim Harrison and Annie Proulx will appreciate Chuculate’s steady, confident prose rooted in American realism.

“Every sentence is unexpected, yet infallible.” —Ursula K. LeGuin

“Eddie Chuculate emerges as an important new talent in his generation of storytellers. He’s a kind of journalist of the soul as he investigates the broken-hearted nation of Indian men.” —Joy Harjo, United States Poet Laureate

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781574232202
Publisher:	David R. Godine, Publisher
Publication date:	08/27/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	155
File size:	553 KB

About the Author

Eddie Chuculate is Creek and Cherokee Indian from Muskogee, Oklahoma. He has a degree in creative writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts and is the second Native American to have held the Wallace Stegner fellowship at Stanford.

Editorial Reviews

In seven interconnected stories Native American author Chuculate pursues the painful self-discovery of a half-Cherokee youth trying to distance himself from his family's chronic drinking, impoverishment, and racism. In "YoYo," Jordon, the dreamy protagonist of most of the stories, finds his myopic world abruptly pried open by the appearance of an older, and dazzlingly fast, black girl named YoYo. In "A Famous Indian Artist," Jordon describes the disintegration of his admiration for his uncle, Johnson Freebird, the only relative he has who has lived a creative life. In "Dear Shorty," Jordon depicts his alcoholic father, Shorty, in shockingly unsparing and unsentimental terms; after first following disastrously in his footsteps, Jordon achieves stature as an artist, yet continues to try to connect with his father, even after it's too late. Chuculate writes forthright prose in a somber key, examining without judgment the lives of Native American characters like Old Bull, a Cheyenne who, in "Galveston Bay, 1826," the collection's one stand-alone story, ventures out to see the ocean for the first time, only to get savaged by a hurricane. Memory and will converge here to powerful effect. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Cheyenne Madonna

“Eddie Chuculate emerges as an important new talent in his generation of storytellers. He’s a kind of journalist of the soul as he investigates the broken-hearted nation of Indian men. The epicenter of action is the tenuous meeting place between boyhood and manhood, between fierce need and desire. Chuculate relates a world that is exactly what it is, with no romantic savage junk, and no temporary spiritual life preservers. In the midst of despair there’s a shrine of meaning that surfaces, like the miracle of sunrise after an all-night party.”—Joy Harjo, United States Poet Laureate

“Where are we, among these coyote mirages, this endless herd of antelope? What is this beautiful place? Is it the land of magical realism? Not exactly. It’s a bit north of that. The tone of Chuculate’s narration is serene and buoyant, a rare mood at present. Mozart might be a useful model to think of. Every sentence is unexpected, yet infallible. The ultimate aim of the short story, like the arrow, is to end exactly where it should. In art, the satisfaction of hitting the bull’s-eye is not a simple one. It goes deep.”—Ursula K. Le Guin, National Book Award and Hugo Award winner

“Chuculate presents a profound disconnect between the mythology of Indian art and the present-day reality of Indian artists, who rarely get to be artists without the cultural qualifier. He also lays bare the effects of wide-spread multi-generational addiction without making excuses for the way his characters treat each other. There are no saints in here, and no demons, either. Cheyenne Madonna is a fantastic debut.”—The Santa Fe New Mexican

“An amazing, moving debut—rich, thoughtful, eloquent and honest.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Chuculate writes forthright prose in a somber key, examining without judgment the lives of Native American characters like Old Bull, a Cheyenne who, in ‘Galveston Bay, 1826,’ the collection’s one stand-alone story, ventures out to see the ocean for the first time, only to get savaged by a hurricane. Memory and will converge here to powerful effect.”—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

Seven linked stories dip in and out of the life of a Native American, a talented artist when he's not drinking.

Chuculate's debut starts out well. For some historical/cultural perspective, he shows us four Cheyennes, thrilled by their discovery of the Gulf of Mexico."Galveston Bay, 1826" is punchy and resonant. The next story ("YoYo"), set in 1970s Oklahoma, introduces the future artist, Jordan Coolwater. He's in seventh grade, living in a small town with his impoverished grandparents. They have new neighbors, well-to-do black professionals. Their daughter YoYo is a sassy track star. She and Jordan hit it off. Class, race, prejudice, puberty—Chuculate finesses it all beautifully. Then come superficial character sketches of two uncles. Uncle Tony ("Winter, 1979") is a vicious racist; Johnson L. Freebird ("A Famous Indian Artist") is a hard-drinking blowhard. Neither story finds its rhythm. The longest story in this slim collection is "Dear Shorty," a rambling account of Jordan's relationship with his father. Shorty is a far-gone alcoholic, a barber before he got the shakes and his wife left him. Jordan's now a young man, with a joshing, nonjudgmental attitude toward Shorty. Ironically, their only bond is the bottle: "You can trace the progression of alcoholism in my family like a flying arrow and I'm the bull's-eye." A story that should have kept a tight focus on father and son veers off into Jordan's troubles with the law and his escape from an Indian Detention Center. The focus in "Under the Red Star of Mars" is on Jordan's future wife, Lisa Old Bull, about to ditch her abusive black boyfriend. Jordan, who's selling everything at his breakthrough show, is a welcome contrast. In the title story, they're married, but their baby is stillborn; Lisa leaves him and, in an ominous echo of Shorty's affliction, the "tremors" stop Jordan painting and sculpting.

The inherent drama of an artist and his hereditary demons is muffled in this poorly organized work.

Kirkus Reviews