Finished another book in my list of recommendations from you all. I finished “The Last of the Mohicans” last night. It’s not my favorite book by any stretch of the imagination, but I am glad that I read it. The story opens with two sisters trying to get to their father, a colonel in the British Army. He is at Fort William Henry in the northeast. They are being led by Major Heyward and their Indian guide ends up deserting them. Enter Hawkeye, a white man that lives in the wilderness, and his two Indian companions, Uncas and Chingachgook. Uncas is the last of the Mohicans. The story follows the journey of the men trying to get the sisters to their dad and the violent encounters they have with an enemy tribe, the Hurons. For a modern reader, there’s the potential for lots of gripes and complaints about the constant description of the landscape and the different objects in nature. In our 21st century minds, we have little patience for all that. It is a problem with our modern minds that we only want the constant movement towards the climax and never the moments where the author tries to draw us into the setting. I’ll admit, it’s hard to get used to, but I think there is something to be appreciated there.The many names for the same tribe can be difficult to get used to, as well, and I found myself a bit confused at times. Overall, though, it does show the dynamics of the frontier before the United States was formed. Tribes warred with each other, they allied with Europeans, and some of them hated the “pale-faced” ones and some didn’t. I think Cooper does a good job of not completely idealizing the Europeans and not completely demonizing the Natives. He shows a good balance, in my opinion.
This book isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but I would recommend it, as I think it tells a good story.
