The Chief – Review

I borrowed The Chief from my Public Library.

It is interesting to have read prolific sport writer Robert Lipsyte's book right now when I am actively following and have even participated in, Idle No More—the First People's protest that began in Canada. The Chief, ends up being about American Indian heritage and reservation discord, with the feature person involved being Sonny Bear, a young prizefighter who wants to try for the heavyweight title. The story is told in first person by his friend, an aspiring writer, Martin.

The story started off rather slowly with way too much information about boxing for my taste; but I guess knowing the ins-and-outs of that sport is important. The real story seems to be Sonny accepting his heritage, and trying to do something about the discontent on his reservation in upstate New York.

The writing was smooth, although I felt the story was a bit convoluted. I'm not sure how Lipsyte would have gone about making the story more focused on the Indian situation, and without doing that it seemed The Chief was a little disjointed: boxing, Indian rights, boxing… Even the title is misleading, since that moniker never gets used. It is suggested by Hollywood people who want to make a TV movie, but it is rejected by Sonny and Martin.

In all, I found the book interesting, even with what seemed to be indecision about the book's focus.