Richly textured and as good as books get

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James Welch, the Blackfeet-Gros Ventre author of Fools Crow, Winter in the Blood and Killing Custer, has once again produced a richly textured novel with vivid locales, nuanced characters and a fast-paced narrative. Like any good novelist, the Montana-based Welch uses the story of one man to illustrate the story of an entire society, in this case, a society undergoing massive and inevitable change.

The Heartsong of Charging Elk-which is based on a true story -tells the story of Charging Elk, an Oglala Lakota who resists being settled at the Pine Ridge reservation, preferring instead to stay on the open prairie.

When Buffalo Bill comes to South Dakota in 1889 to recruit young men for his Wild West show, Charging Elk is selected because he embodies the strength and assuredness of a warrior - qualities the reservation Lakotas have lost. Charging Elk leaves America and travels to Europe, but as he lies in a hospital in France, the Wild West show travels on, leaving him behind to fend for himself.

Charging Elk's experiences as a refugee allow Welch to explore three major themes: the notion of exile, the reinvention of self and the idea of cultural identity. He begins by describing the differences between Aboriginal and European cultures -the things that confuse Charging Elk at first, such as language, institutions and religious celebrations- but he soon draws readers into a complex examination of culture that goes far beyond simple comparisons.

Welch challenges readers to break down familiar stereotypes (Aboriginal good, European bad; country good, city bad) and reach for a more complex understanding of what makes up a life and, further, where true culture lives.

Ultimately, Charging Elk discovers that geography does not define a culture. He is Lakota no matter where he lives, as long as he lives a life of spiritual reflection and remembers who he is. (When Charging Elk finally meets up with some Lakota, on another Wild West tour, years after he first arrived in Europe, he discovers people who are not like him at all. This novel is also an indictment of reservation life, with its commodity food, sedentary lifestyle and dependence on gambling and cigarettes.)

Welch's main point is this: Home is where we are, inside of ourselves. Despite his European dress, language and other superficial signs of "difference," Charging Elk remains Lakota because of who he is in his heart. Perhaps he is the only true Lakota left in the world, given that he has not fallen prey to the changes wrought by reservation life and residential schools. His exile has ensured his perpetual Lakota-ness, which has itself ensured his perpetual difference.

The Heartsong of Charging Elk is skillfully written: the characters all carefully drawn, the changing locations vividly rendered, the narrative both suspenseful and believable. There are no missteps or wrong turns.

Welch's new novel is a masterpiece of layered storytelling and a thoughtful excursion into one man's journey from here to there and back again.

This book is really as good as it gets.

The Heartsong of Charging Elk

By James Welch

352 pages, $35 (hc)

Doubleday