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This book is a really pleasant visit with a great guy. Tony Hillerman has rightfully won praise, awards, honors and a great reputation for his writing; this book is a chance to get to know the guy behind Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn. If you're looking for a long dissertation on the whys and wherefores of plotting a mystery novel, don't look here. But if you want to get to know Tony (and he IS Tony, not Mr. Hillerman, I'll explain below), a man who's led an interesting life -- with lots going on before he ever became an Edgar winner. Here's a guy growing up in the midst of the depression, who knows so much about Oklahoma, who had to attend college before he ever thought about classes, poverty, differences among people. He gives much credit to luck in his life, saying that he'd only thought about writing about the Navajo when he returned from serving in the war, and came across some people conducting The Enemy Way. He claims to have found jobs through luck and having come through the war thanks to luck, although no one else would call it simple luck. This guy's courage brought honors throughout the war (and permanent damage to his eye, and a leg injury) and years working in high level academic positions. As is typical, he tends to downplay what must have been very successful careers in administration and as a smart reporter. And while he also writes beautifully about his children (five of whom are adopted), he downplays what it took to support that many kids, and the decisions made to adopt several of those kids. Throughout the book, Hillerman also gives credit to his wife Marie, his brother Barney, other family and long-time friends. He talks about his efforts to write The Great American Novel (which was A Fly on the Wall, which he admits liking but knowing was not TGAN), and discusses the story we've all heard about "like the book, but take out the Indian stuff". He says it's true, but says that it was the right idea at the time, since no one was writing (or selling) books like that. Well, maybe, but someone hd to start, and we can all thank editor Joan Kahn who saw the promise in the first manuscript. I've been very fortunate throughout the years to have met many authors - folks I respect, like, admire. The first writer I ever met was Isaac Asimov -- while this was one helluva writer, he was very down-to-earth and real, and that experience was great training for meeting dozens, no wait, hundreds of writers over the next twenty-five years. I still get sweaty-palmed about meeting some writers, and when I served on the 1994 Bouchercon committee, I got a phone call from Tony Hillerman. He was our recipient for the Lifetime Achievement Award and was calling. . .to ask what he could do for us. When I met him months later, it was clear that he was Tony, not Mr. Hillerman. Interestingly, Asimov and Hillerman are both talented writers who take their work seriously, but they don't take themselves very seriously and don't quite get the fuss made over them. And yet, Hillerman works very hard at his art. You'll see the list he offers of the research he made into the Dineh - the dissertations and histories, the places he went, people he interviews. While he has admitted making one major error in naming Leaphorn, and cites another blatant error in one book, who cares? In a long history of good books, including some fine non-fiction, he's brought us knowledge and wit, history and mystery, enchantment in the Land of Enchantment. If there is anything to complain about in SELDOM DISAPPOINTED, for me it's too much about the war. It was of major importance in the author's life, it's true, but there were just too many pages about battles for my taste. No big deal. This is his book, not mine.
Reviewed by Andi Shechter, December 2001
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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