Crazy Weather

by Charles McNichols

In four days of "glory-hunting" with an Indian comrade, South Boy, who is white, realizes that he must choose between two cultures. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0670245585
• ISBN13: 9780670245581
• Release Date: April 1978
• Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
• Length: 195 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

An undiscovered classic

This little-known book is, IMHO, one of the greatest books ever written. Reading it as a boy, I was puzzled by how it made everything seem so real in so few words - everything in it seems to have a life off-camera that we had just glimpsed part of.

Informative, and a good story too

Having recently moved to Mohave County in Arizona (not far from the Colorado River), I was interested in reading "Crazy Weather" to get a little of the "flavor" of the area, and to learn something about the Mojave Indian culture as well. The book lived up to my hopes in both of those respects, but what surprised me was how absorbed I became in the story itself. On one level, it's a simple adventure story involving South Boy (who's actually white but was partially raised by Mojaves and was given that name by them) and his best friend Havec (a Mojave) as they travel up the Colorado River into Piute territory --- and in some places it almost reminded me of Huck Finn travelling along the Mississippi with the runaway slave, Jim, and meeting an assortment of characters along the way. On another level, though, it's really about the challenges of truly understanding another culture and way of thinking --- and in the end the pull of their respective societies is too strong and the two friends inevitably have to part and follow their separate destinies.The author seems quite knowledgable about Mojave culture and history, as I've confirmed from subsequent readings on the subject. If you're interested in the American Southwest, the Colorado River, native American cultures, or just a good story, I think you'll enjoy this book.

Good forever

McNichols crisp writing, detailed knowledge of Mojave Indian and Colorado Desert ranching, and realistic plot make this a genuinely timeless work., My tattered copy was given to me 45 years ago by the writer Madge Harrah. Every half decade or so I dig it out and read it again. It taught me to write and, in a way, was a model for my North Of Nowhere. Bravo Charles!

Deep Like The River

South Boy goes with his friend Havek on a Mojave name-quest. It sounds simple -- but under the surface is a breath-taking wealth of experience, mythology and understanding of the many personalities in one person, or one horse, or one culture. Every sentence of this book is laden with knowledge of its time and place. Even the mention of the "little yellow catfish," about which no more is said than that they "make good eating," reflects the fact that in this period the US Government seeded the Colorado river with the Yellow Catfish, a transplant from Texas. This is the key to the book -- that everything is in flux, as two cultures melt together, and new ways try to live with old ways. The ending seems to be a conclusion -- until you realize that it's only one more step to escape from final decisions. The book begins a long way before the first sentence -- and would finish a long way after the last. Dreams and visions reverberate through the telling, and Great Things are done.

Boy finds his path after four day quest in Mojave country.

This book first appeared in 1944 and has been reissued by the University of Nebraska Press. Supposedly a book for adolescents, it is far more that that. It is the story of a search for one's identity and an introduction the the culture of the Mojave. Internal evidence places the story in about the last quarter of the nineteenth century. The location is around the lower part of the Colorado River. The nearest city seems to be Needles, California. The book is of interest to adolescents, but perhaps even more to those interested in the lives of the desert dwellers in that part of the world. About the story: in four days of scorching heat, South Boy and his Mojave friend, Havek, set out on a quest to do a "Great Thing". Great Things are done, but they leave South Boy even more uncertain as to who he really is, caught as he is between the Mojave and white cultures. Along the way the reader learns a great deal about Mojave culture and rituals and meets some fascinating desert dwellers, both Indian and white. There is almost a dream-like quality to the story as we feel the heat of the Crazy Weather and move through the customs of the desert tribes. When rain finally breaks the heat, South Boy acts as the man he has become and understands the path he is to take. You may not like the outcome, but the quest itself is haunting.