ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley. This post includes affiliate links that kick us a small commission — at no cost to you — if you use them to shop. If this post is useful, please use them. It helps support my work and is so appreciated!
In a way, Wisdom Corner by David Heska Wanbli Weiden feels like catching up with an old friend, while screaming down the highway in a pickup with the windows wide open.
I read Winter Counts in 2021, which seems forever ago now. But we’re back with Virgil Wounded Horse hearing where he’s gotten to — leaving behind that enforcer life, but still finding himself reeled back in when the system fails folks on the Rosebud Reservation. Wisdom Corner might be less propulsive than our first outing with Virgil, but it’s no less intense as he navigates grief while investigating the death of an elder and the political corruption ekeing its way into Tribal Leadership.
Along the way, David Heska Wanbli Weiden exposes non-Native readers to the realities and generational impacts of residential schools, inter-tribal beef and beatdowns, and some of the beautiful ceremonies and traditions preparing for passage to the spirit world.
From a plot perspective, you don’t necessarily have to read Winter Counts first, but I think it gives readers a fuller picture, and a broader perspective on Virgil, his relationships, and his community. And for me, Virgil is the draw (how this man survives on gas station coffee and beef jerky and can still deliver a beatdown, I’ll never know).
Either way, I can’t wait for our next catch up.
Wisdom Corner is available in hardcover, ebook and audiobook, narrated by Shane Ghostkeeper.
Weiden is on the first leg of his Wisdom Corner book tour, with multiple stops in Colorado, as well as Austin; Scottsdale, AZ; and,Tulsa and Norman, OK. Details and RSVP at http://davidweiden.com/events. Otherwise…
Get Wisdom Corner at Bookshop. org | Kobo | Amazon | Apple Books
