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Editorial Reviews
In Native American tradition, a warrior gained honor and glory by "counting coup" -- touching his enemy in battle and living to tell the tale. This is a modern story of...
COUNTING COUP
In this extraordinary work of journalism, Larry Colton journeys into the world of Montana's Crow Indians and follows the struggles of a talented, moody, charismatic young woman named Sharon LaForge, a gifted basketball player and a descendant of one of George Armstrong Custer's Indian scouts. But "Counting Coup" is far more than just a sports story or a portrait of youth. It is a sobering exposé of a part of our society long since cut out of the American dream.
Along the banks of the Little Big Horn, Indians and whites live in age-old conflict and young Indians grow up without role models or dreams. Here Sharon carries the hopes and frustrations of her people on her shoulders as she battles her opponents on and off the court. Colton delves into Sharon's life and shows us the realities of the reservation, the shattered families, the bitter tribal politics, and a people's struggle against a belief that all their children -- even the most intelligent and talented -- are destined for heartbreak. Against this backdrop stands Sharon, a fiery, undaunted competitor with the skill to dominate a high school game and earn a college scholarship. Yet getting to college seems beyond Sharon's vision, obscured by the daily challenge of getting through the season -- physically and ps
COUNTING COUP
In this extraordinary work of journalism, Larry Colton journeys into the world of Montana's Crow Indians and follows the struggles of a talented, moody, charismatic young woman named Sharon LaForge, a gifted basketball player and a descendant of one of George Armstrong Custer's Indian scouts. But "Counting Coup" is far more than just a sports story or a portrait of youth. It is a sobering exposé of a part of our society long since cut out of the American dream.
Along the banks of the Little Big Horn, Indians and whites live in age-old conflict and young Indians grow up without role models or dreams. Here Sharon carries the hopes and frustrations of her people on her shoulders as she battles her opponents on and off the court. Colton delves into Sharon's life and shows us the realities of the reservation, the shattered families, the bitter tribal politics, and a people's struggle against a belief that all their children -- even the most intelligent and talented -- are destined for heartbreak. Against this backdrop stands Sharon, a fiery, undaunted competitor with the skill to dominate a high school game and earn a college scholarship. Yet getting to college seems beyond Sharon's vision, obscured by the daily challenge of getting through the season -- physically and ps
Related Reviews
Basketball and life on the Little Big Horn
Larry Colton travels into Montana's Crow country in pursuit of a story of how young men on the reservation (the rez) are using basketball as a way to regain hope and honor. A chance sighting of a graceful and instinctive female player in a pickup game changes all that. After seeing Sharon LaForge, Colton switches the focus of his quest and becomes a shadow of the Hardin High Lady Bulldogs, in their quest to make it to the Montana high school championships. He is allowed unlmited access to the team, their practices, invited into some of their homes, tutored by some of the locals in the ways of the rez, and the delicate relationships between whites and Indians. This is a glimpse into a world I have not known much about. With unemployment, alcoholism, physical abuse as the norm, it is easy to see how a community can pin its hopes for redemption and validation on the slim shouldres of high school girls....and Sharon's family is expecting victory to redeem them from tragedy and scandal. Counting Coup is at its heart a great sports story, it reminded me of the documentary Hoop Dreams. It gives an honest and compassionate look at high school athletics, those who play, those who coach, those who watch and all those who pin their dreams on victory. It also is the story of a young girl trying to find her place in her world, and the dreams claimed and lost along the way.
A Cautionary Tale That Will Break Your Heart
This book is a multi-layered tale that will take you on a roller coaster of an emotional ride. If anyone is looking for evidence that racism continues to have a profound impact on the way that we relate to one another as human beings, look no further than this tremendous book.
Larry Colton spent 15 months with members of the Crow Indian tribe in Montana. He followed the fortunes of the Hardin High School girls' basketball team, a team comprising an almost equal number of white and Indian players. Despite the immense talent of Sharon LaForge, an Indian, it is clear that the deck is stacked against her being recruited to play Division I basketball. But, Colton makes clear that this is not a simple case of prejudice that prevents Sharon from succeeding, it is an environment where she is worshipped as the savior of her family and team on one hand, but constantly held to lower standards by the school. Not surprisingly, while she shines on the basketball court, off the court she's completely lost and unable to find her way.
Colton works hard to admit his own prejudices as a white person. He questions whether he is trying to impose Eurocentric standards on an independent, proud culture, but he also asks himself whether some of the beliefs of the Crow culture don't in the end defeat its people. They are tough questions, and really, there is no answer. There were times when I found Colton presumptuous, but I asked myself whether I wouldn't have wound up in the same position--he knows that there is another life outside of the reservation, a life where it is possible to become someone else. He comes to care deeply for Sharon and wants what he thinks is best for her, but what he feels would be best for her is to get her off the reservation and out into the rest of America. Who's to say if that is really the best choice for her? And, when she does make the choices that she makes, what are we, the readers, to make of them?
The fact that Sharon is never approached by a college coach is really quite unbelievable. The only conclusion that one can draw is that coaches are unable to take a chance on an Indian basketball player. Why?
This book will stay with me. It forced me to acknowledge that I know next to nothing about life on the reservation and nothing about what challenges face the women there.
The grinding poverty of the reservation also has a horrible effect on the relationships between men and women, and the horrifying aspect is that these young teenaged women are making the same poor choices that their mothers and grandmothers made before them.
Finally, this book should be required reading for any potential college athlete who doesn't understand the connection between academics and athletics. 'Nuff said.
This book would make a great selection of a book club. I find myself wanting to discuss this book with someone else who has read it.
Larry Colton tries hard to remain objective and detached in writing his account of life on the rez, and of Sharon LaForge's attempts to transcend it by excelling at basketball. He fails miserably in his attempt--getting caught up in Sharon's struggle, telling us about his own life, injecting his opinions about how the coach should be coaching--and the book is infinitely better for it. An objective, detached account would not have been nearly as effective and affecting. We really come to care about Sharon, as Colton did, and root for her, and are crushed when things don't work out in the heartwarming way we've come to expect from innumerable sports movies. You don't have to love basketball, or even like it particularly, to love this book. It's as well written and dramatic as the best of novels, but it's far more memorable than most novels because it's true.
No political correctness here, no trumpeting idealism, no hard-breathing expose of the flaws of the reservation Indians or the whites who live around and among them. Larry Colton gives us only reality, a reality that condemns racism on both sides but shows the hurdles that the residents of Hardin put in front of themselves. His real-life characters don't do what any of his readers might expect them to do or want them to do; they do what they do. In Sharon and her girls basketball team's quest for the Montana state title, Larry Colton finds and reports all the elements of high drama: tragedy, betrayal, passion, defeat and hope. And, he finds them in a world and a people unknown to almost all of us. You'll hang onto your seat waiting for the outcome of the basketball games, but far more you'll hang on waiting to see how the members of his cast succeed or fail in their lives.
I was a sophomore at Hardin High School when Sharon LaForge was the star of our girls' basketball team. This book opened her world to me, a world that was closed to me as a younger white girl. I experienced the agony of that season as a member of the Pep Band, but now I can have a small understanding of the agony of the team itself. Mr. Colton has written a very honest account of life on and near the Crow Indian Reservation. He clearly described things that many in my hometown would rather ignore. I highly recommend this book to anyone curious about Crow Indian culture or life in small town.
Jed Davis AD/Girls' Basketball Coach jlori81@gte.net
This is an exciting, on-the-edge-of-your-seat book that takes you into two worlds that few Americans know much about, American Indian reservation culture and girls' high school basketball. These two worlds become intertwined as author Larry Colton tracks the life of a Crow Indian high school senior, Sharon LaForge, as she and her Hardin, Montana teammates struggle as individuals and as a team to reach the state championship. This true story is excellent because it documents the problems that face reservation Indians in their struggle to survive prejudice, poverty and vice while maintaining dignity in a white-dominated and highly prejudiced world. But it also takes you into the heart of the phenomenon of girls' high school basketball-- the drive for excellence, the ever changing relationships among girls and between girls and coach, the rivalries, the mood swings and the pressures from families and boyfriends. The book is told as a story which takes place over a season. The author explores each character in detail so you feel like you really get to know each one of them. There are also photos of the basketball team and Sharon LaForge. In addition to being an exciting story, the author tells the story with quite a bit of humor. And his perspectives on the meaning of events and people's lives are insightful and sensitive. I am a high school girls' basketball coach. I also coach young girls in basketball. Larry Colton has captured the experience and takes you into a world of sport, Indian and rural America that most of us are unaware of. The book is highly recommended.
Couldn't get it out of my head.
This book kept me up for three straight nights to read it, then another three nights thinking about it. Larry Colton not only tells a great story, but gives a chilling account of life on the Crow Indian reservation. The night I finished the book was the most emotionally and mentallly taxed I ever was after reading a book. Your hopes and dreams for Sharon (and all of the girls, really) lifted and dropped me so many times. This book is very similar to "Friday Night Lights," but much more emotional.
This is one of the best books that I have read, I am also from a reservation and when Larry Colton started to describe what he saw on the Crow reservation I felt that he was on my reservation decribing it. Everything that Sharon goes through has happened to a lot of people that I know. Everyone has the same dreams that Sharon had: get of the rez and create a better life for your children and yourself then your parents had. But in reality you know that there is very little chance for you to get of the rez and succeed. Like he said there are a lot of factors holding you back. And if you are one of the few to get off, people, your own people are jealious of you and call you an apple or say that you think that you are better than them because you are so called "educated." So that is why people don't go back to the rez and help their people. Larry Colton described almost any reservation in this country, at least the ones I have been to, perfectly. He gained the tribes trust and that is a hard thing to do, when you are taught to hate the whites and not trust them. I would reccomend this book to anyone.
I am from Crow Agency and attended school in Hardin with Sharon. She is older than i but none the less I am familiar with everything in the book. I want every one to know that while this book is writtin well and has a correct portrayal of life as a Native american athlete. There was a price to pay for all the (good reading). Once the book was published and put on the shelves & everyone Sharon was related to or knew was able to read it. She paid the price for sharing her story. Those she had mentioned in the story were furious with her and made her pay dearly. It was and still is a scandel in it self. I will leave it at that but I wonder now was it worth it for Sharon? Her life will not be the same again beacause this man (Larry Colten) rocked Crow Agency and no one will soon forget.
In the tradition of Madeleine Blais (IN THESE GIRLS, HOPE IS A MUSCLE) and H.G. Bissinger (FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS), Larry Colton spends a season living in Hardin, Montana, studying the lives of the girls' basketball team and the members of the Crow Indian tribe who are members. In particular, he focuses on the team's leading player, senior Sharon Laforge, whose talent seems to insure that she will escape the generational poverty and cycle of alcoholism that plague her family and other members of the tribe. As we learn, however, talent guarantees nothing.
As the Hardin High Lady Bulldogs head for the state playoffs, Colton spends more and more time with the members of the team, and with Sharon Laforge and her family in particular. He watches with increasing concern as she battles with an alcoholic mother, a permissive aunt and grandmother, and as she becomes more and more involved with an emotionally distant, physically abusive boyfriend.
Colton's account of his season with the team and their families creates an indelible image of life on the reservation with its infighting and politics, tragedies and traditions. I found myself rooting for Sharon Laforge and hoping desperately that she would use her talents to escape what seemed like an inevitably bleak future. The cycle of poverty, abuse, and family control are powerful opponents however, and there is little hope that Laforge will lead a life much different than her elders.
The story of the team's season, with its suspensfully written scenes of the basketball action, will keep readers hooked to the page, as will the ongoing dramas on the reservation and the tension between whites and tribal members. I understood much more thoroughly the cycle of abuse, poverty, and alcoholism after reading this book. I learned a great deal about dreams and about hope, too.
As a basketball player in high school and fan of the Indian reservation book "Reservation Blues", my parents thought this would be a wonderful gift to add to my collection. They couldn't have been more correct. This was a book which kept me up for hours at night, even on little sleep, as I sat riveted to this small team at Hardin High, where Sharon, Tiffany, Anita, Stacie (the delightful ditzy and funny girl in light of so much sadness) Amy, DyAnna, Owena, Rhea, Christina and the unforgettable Coach Mac (portrayed so very realistically as a coach and woman without a social life off the court) are followed by Colton. He doesn't just go to games and do boring interviews, he absolutely becomes part of the team -- partaking in the "sweat" ritual, gaining the trust of Sharon, going on rides on the Bulldog I to away games, and observing not only this basketball season but the lives of the girls, documenting the struggles of whites versus Indians, Indians versus themselves, and -- the part which I found most enjoyable -- the relationships and friendships between the players, on and off the court. I was so riveted by this book, and by the end, I wanted to journey up to Montana myself. An ABSOLUTE must-read.
Counting Coup is a five star book. It is for all ages and is the best book I have ever read. If you want to read about a Indian Girl who has sturuggles in her life, but has enouph sstrangth and passion to play her sport, her love, and her passion basketball. This young high school girl has the most emotional and physical problems have ever herd of, to know that this story is based on a true girl, it brings tears to my eyes. Every teenager can relate to this book and that is what makes it so good and so special.
Counting Coup is an intesting book that shares racial and family struggles between indians and whites. The authour was a major league baseball pitcher who got in a bar fight and injured his arm forcing him to retire.He goes to Montana to scout a boys basketball team, but ends up following around a girls high school team.
Throughout the book he notices many problems with some of the girls both on the court and at home. He gathered great information and wrote the book well. His information was from family,friends,and the coachall of which he got to know through the book. By the end of the book he was accepted into a indian tribe and years later he wrote this book.
Throughout the book he notices many problems with some of the girls both on the court and at home. He gathered great information and wrote the book well. His information was from family,friends,and the coachall of which he got to know through the book. By the end of the book he was accepted into a indian tribe and years later he wrote this book.
The book Counting Coup is about an author who travels to the Crow Reservation and is doing a book about boys basketball but when he sees a young lady nsmed Sharon Laforge in a trophy case at the school his attention is drawn to her. Then he starts to go to her practices anf games. Sharon is a Crow native and she is the basketball star of her family, her family has a alcohol problem especially her mother, how has no part in Sharon.s life.
I loved the book it is a really great book and it tells readers about the life a basketball ans the rez.
I loved the book it is a really great book and it tells readers about the life a basketball ans the rez.
This was a fabulous, poinant book about life, love and basketball. The callous, thoughtless racism that is depicted on the parts of the Indians and the Whites is enlightning as it sheds light on the fact that ignorant people come in all shades and colors. I would highly recommend this book to anyone and my wife and I have enjoyed it several times each. I'm hoping for a follow-up to see how her life has been in the past 10 years.
On several levels COUNTING COUP is a compelling read, well-written & both dreadfully sad & astonishingly exhilarating. No wonder Coach Mac was bent over most of the time in agony & hoarse from yelling.
Larry Colton was in Montana originally to check out the winning boys' high school basketball teams, most members of which were Reservation youths. What he discovered instead was Sharon LaForge. Colton follows a year in the life of her Lady Bulldog team & this basketball warrior in particular...Homecoming Queen Candidate, a young woman inexorably entangled with a rudderless young man, & all the trials & tribulations teenagers, & American Native teenagers in particular, are heir to. Colton's admiration for this athlete, her skill, spirit, tenacity & endurance comes shining through, & you end up rooting for Sharon LaForge even as your level of dread & frustration rises, until you must ask the question: "Exactly what is success?"
COUNTING COUP is definitely for anyone interested in basketball, team sports, teenagers under stress & life on the Rez as seen through "white eyes."
Great Sports Story combined with Western Culture
The book is a great sports story but also a great description of the Montana culture and how Indians are treated in the American West. Having grown up in Eastern Montana, I can fully appreciate the World that exists in the Hardin Area. I found the book to be tremendous from both sports and culture standpoints. The author's descriptions of the Western towns are all very vivid and bring the towns and their residents to live. His description of Colstrip with the Montana Power coal mines, housing areas and company gym were accurate and moving. The book combines the great drama of sports storys like Indiana basketball and Titans football with what it is like to grow up in a place Hardin. He is able to bring the young ladies on the team to life and expose his lucky readers to what it is like to live in a mixed Indian/White culture. His work should be required reading for anyone who wants to understand the Native American culture in the American West. A great, great book.
Season on the brink: Compelling, yet frustrating true story
Writer/journalist Larry Colton went to the Crow Indian reservation in southern Montana to write a magazine story on high-school basketball and discovered something else altogether: the life-and-death struggle of a native American culture struggling to survive in a world of poverty, alcolholism, racism and shattered family values.
The story is familiar to anyone who has spent time on the reservation or peeked behind the curtain of today's native Indian society beyond that presented by Hollywood or weekend tourist pow-wows.
Colton's first-person account revolves around a 17-year-old girl basketball player who stars on the court, but off it skips school, smokes pot and has unprotected sex with a 20-something loser who couldn't care less about her -- or anything else, for that matter.
Sharon LaForge is a reluctant anti-hero, who takes the reader on a roller-coaster ride split between periods of pulling for her to succeed and hating her for wasting every opportunity that miraculously manages to come her way.
Every time the reader wants to give up, turn their back and walk away from Sharon as a lost cause, she does something to pull them back on her side -- all of this transpiring, ironically enough, within the shadows of the monument marking Custer's Last Stand at the Little Big Horn.
This book won the Frankfurt eBook Award for Best Nonfiction Book and the Alex Award in 2001 and earned praise from the New York Times Book Review, Library Journal, Parade magazine, and Keith Olbermann, among others.
You can't go wrong here. Strongly recommended.
The story is familiar to anyone who has spent time on the reservation or peeked behind the curtain of today's native Indian society beyond that presented by Hollywood or weekend tourist pow-wows.
Colton's first-person account revolves around a 17-year-old girl basketball player who stars on the court, but off it skips school, smokes pot and has unprotected sex with a 20-something loser who couldn't care less about her -- or anything else, for that matter.
Sharon LaForge is a reluctant anti-hero, who takes the reader on a roller-coaster ride split between periods of pulling for her to succeed and hating her for wasting every opportunity that miraculously manages to come her way.
Every time the reader wants to give up, turn their back and walk away from Sharon as a lost cause, she does something to pull them back on her side -- all of this transpiring, ironically enough, within the shadows of the monument marking Custer's Last Stand at the Little Big Horn.
This book won the Frankfurt eBook Award for Best Nonfiction Book and the Alex Award in 2001 and earned praise from the New York Times Book Review, Library Journal, Parade magazine, and Keith Olbermann, among others.
You can't go wrong here. Strongly recommended.
Real Life Between Whites and Indians
I couldn't believe how well Larry Colton was able to fully explains how it is between Whites and Indians. This story is being played out in every indian community, the only thing that changes is the faces and names. Once I started the book I couldn't put it down until I had know what happened to everyone in the book. I felt like I knew everyone, because of how well the people were described. I can't wait to lend my book to my family and especially my Uncle who is a coach on the Navajo Rez. This is not only a GREAT book, but it would be a GREAT MOVIE! Someone somewhere needs to make this a MOVIE!
I work with Native American students in Montana, and found this book to be a wasted opportunity. I can see why it is so difficult to establish trusting relationships with my Native American patients and students. Trust and friendship are important gifts in rural and Native American communities; it is my impression that both were used, abused and wasted on the author. He befriended this group of people and was honest only in the fact that he was writing a book about basketball, I don't see anywhere that he adhered to any of the basic principles of privacy or the "right to self-determination" before publishing "HIS" story.
I will not discourage people from reading this book, however they must keep in mind that the author did not focus on what makes a winning team, or many of the positive aspects of the people involved. He focused on individuals and why these individuals were destine to fail. Further more, he spends far to much time supporting negative racial attitudes that many of us struggle daily to overcome.
I will not discourage people from reading this book, however they must keep in mind that the author did not focus on what makes a winning team, or many of the positive aspects of the people involved. He focused on individuals and why these individuals were destine to fail. Further more, he spends far to much time supporting negative racial attitudes that many of us struggle daily to overcome.
I've recently read two books on rez life: Ian Frasier's "On the Rez," and this -- better -- book by Larry Colton. "Counting Coup" is ostensibly about senior Sharon LaForge and the Hardin Lady Bulldogs basketball team. But it's real strength is in Colton's depiction of the lives lived off the playing floor on the Crow Reservation. Some parts, I believe, have to be fabricated. His description of Sharon's "Mother from Hell" Karna Fallsdown knocking down shots in a bar while her daughter is playing in the state championships might be accurate, but the author couldn't have been there. But "facts" are somewhat fluid in Indian Country, and Colton's pretty much on target. He sure nailed Hardin, Montana, for what it is. Reading the book, you get to know the characters and you get to care about them. My personal favorite was Stacey "Spacey" Greenwalt, whose quick wit provides much-needed sparks of humor in what is mostly a depressing tale. There's drama, certainly, in the sports reporting of the games. I just wanted the highs of the wins on the basketball court to be accompanied by some highs in the post-game parts of the book. But the rez life highs your read about are drug-induced. That's depressing, but for the most part true. I had hoped Colton would have a SuAnne Big Crow-like story to report, as is told in "On the Rez." (She was also a high school basketball player, a hero and a legend on the Pine Ridge reservation.) But real heroes are hard to find. I'm sure Frasier and Colton take flak from Indians for being middle-aged white guys trying to relate life in Indian country. Some Indians don't even grab the concept of the freedom of the press. They believe "permission" should be granted before a story is told. Clara Nomee, the (former) Crow Tribe chairman, certainly doesn't think the First Amendment applies in her part of America, and Coulton has to go undercover at one point to attend a Crow council meeting. We need more good Indian writers to put these white guys in their place, writers with the guts to tell truthfully and objectively the stories about contemporary reservation life. I'll buy those books. For the record, I spent a year in Hardin in the early 1990s as editor of the weekly newspaper there, and later worked as journalist covering the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota for Indian Country Today newspaper. I'm a middle-aged white guy.
This reviewer normally would not read a non-fiction work about sports, but my spouse used to coach girl's basketball and persuaded me to do so. It turned into quite a surprise as this work drives the lane with its in depth look at the divisions in society. Author Larry Colton went to Little Big Horn to follow a local high school boys team, but quickly honed in on a female superstar, Sharon Laforge.
The Crow see Sharon as a symbol that will break the cycle of their children living miserable lives. That pressure of tribal hope almost obscures Sharon's simple dream of wanting to be the first member of her tribe to attain an athletic scholarship. The season is a strong run towards the state title, but the book showcases the racial chasm between the Native Americans and whites even as the team tries to become one to achieve the goal of winning. COUNTING COUP: A TRUE STORY OF BASKETBALL AND HONOR ON THE LITTLE BIG HORN is slam dunk look at high school women's sports on a reservation that is more than just a minor chronicle or journal. Though a sports book, this account is actually an insightful look at a segment of life that serves as a microcosm of our larger society.
Harriet Klausner
Raw telling of a tough story. Captivating, heartwarming, heart stopping; leaves the reader in awe of the young women portrayed in the book; their struggles and triumphs gritty and real. It's a page turner.
Larry Colton is a journalist, wanting to write a story on a high school basketball team. He ends up in Hardin, Montana. Hardin is a town made up of whites and Indians that live on a reservation. Colton begins to follow the girls team around with the permission of Coach Mac. He tells not just about basketball but the players' home lives. He learns about their struggles and the poverty most of the kids live in. Colton shows great insight into this town's love for basketball and their need for something more.
The characters in Counting Coup could be stories by themselves. What made the book good was that Colton didn't dwell on one person or issue too long, so it helped the book flow. Reading this book would be a good read for anyone who enjoys women's basketball and seeing people overcome life's obstacles.
The characters in Counting Coup could be stories by themselves. What made the book good was that Colton didn't dwell on one person or issue too long, so it helped the book flow. Reading this book would be a good read for anyone who enjoys women's basketball and seeing people overcome life's obstacles.
Counting Coup: Defining All Odds.
The book Counting Coup is about a reporter Larry Colton that comes to a small town in Montana to write a book about the boys basketball team. When he gets to Hardin High School He saw a girl playing basketball Sharon Laforge and knew right away that's his story was in the girl's team.
This book is for any age, race, or gender. If you appreciate basketball and people getting their problems this will be a fast read for you.
This book is for any age, race, or gender. If you appreciate basketball and people getting their problems this will be a fast read for you.
This book was enjoyable to read. There was not a moment when I wasn't interested in what the author was going to say next. The author, (Larry Colton) took a trip to an indian reservation where he became slightly obsessed with following a women's basketball team and more importantly a certain member of that team, Sharon LaForge.
All in all I found this story easy to relate to, and not easy to predict.I enjoyed it immensely.
All in all I found this story easy to relate to, and not easy to predict.I enjoyed it immensely.
After reading this book, I feel that I have a new understanding of what life on a rez could be like. Of course I understand that this story is most likely an example of 1% of rez life. But of what I have learned, I am very intrigued. This book was very detailed and was easy to follow. I could understand everything easily and I was kept very interested. The story of Sharon and her life... which includes so much; Her drunken mother, her chances at a basketball scholarship and a college education, as well as her trouble making friends and the constant injuries she incured. I liked this book alot and I recommend it to anyone who would enjoy reading a book on an extremely talented young girl, basketball or life on the rez. 4 STARS!!!
The story takes place on an Indian Reservation in Montana. It's a true story about a talented young woman who plays basketball very well. The odds are against her in every way. Her mother's a drunk, she's an Indian (most Indians don't go to college) and she's not real motivated. The author Larry Colton, describes everything very well, from the troubles of the team, to the struggles of the girls personal lives. He lived there for a year and wrote about the young woman, Sharon. The book made me laugh, it made me cry, but most of all it touched my heart. Counting Coup showed me a new culture and way of living. I never knew so much about Indians until I read this book. It dealt with the struggles of youth, boyfriends, friends, parents, and getting into college. Most people I believe can relate to this story and I highly recommend this book.
What a trip! What insight! What a learning experience!
Larry Colton's year on the Crow Indian Rez with the Lady Bulldogs of Hardin, Montana HS was more than a basketball read. For sure, I followed 'x's' and 'o's'..but what I got was a side-long glance at life on the rez. Colton has a way that put you in the Nike's and moccasins of these teen Crow girls and their non-indian buds. It's all there: the hope, the hopelessness, the alcoholism, the squalor, the game..and life after basketball. I savored every page. It was a delight that I looked forward to each day. When it ended...I wanted more.
Reminiscent of "Season on the Brink", this book presents a world that I'm not familiar with but, in a way, am completely familiar with. The most interesting thing is how bias and prejudice and the debilitating aspects of "the dole" are universal. In my world, it's black and white. Here, it's red and white.
Hats off to a guy who has the courage to leave out the political correctness and just "tell it like it is". There are no simple good guys and bad guys here. There's just folks living there lives dealing with some really big problems. One nagging question since I read this a few months back: Why did the author sit on this book for several years without finishing/publishing?
Counting Coup... the inner meaning
According to a review at Amazon.com "Counting Coup is a wonderful story about the life of the Crow Indians." Another review at Amazon.com states that "this book is so awesome!" These are only a couple of examples of the praise Counting Coup has received. I totally agree with the comments, too. Counting Coup is a fantastic book, which shows readers how Native Americans really live. The Native Americans are shown to be just the opposite of the Native Americans that are portrayed on television westerns. Native Americans have a much more complex personality. They face many of the same problems that exist in mainstream America, possibly more.
Colton points out that Native American athletes have far more distractions and challenges they have to overcome then their white counterparts. Not only are these teenagers dealing with the normal pressures of high school such as fitting in, trying to get into a good college, and trying to find a balance between academics and athletics, they are also dealing with divorce, domestic abuse, drug abuse, and alcoholism. After reading about these athletes, our life doesn't seem as hard because when you think about it. Our lives don't come close to the pressures they face as a minority in their own country.
Colton does a fantastic job in describing their culture. He doesn't try to cover up the bad things that happen on the reservation. He exposes them, and shows us what Native American life is really like. His story parlays the struggles of life on the reservation and how female athletes escaped these troubles through basketball. He also shows us the troubles of all teenagers, not only Native Americans. Counting Coup is an excellent book about what Native American life and a teenager's life is all about.
Colton points out that Native American athletes have far more distractions and challenges they have to overcome then their white counterparts. Not only are these teenagers dealing with the normal pressures of high school such as fitting in, trying to get into a good college, and trying to find a balance between academics and athletics, they are also dealing with divorce, domestic abuse, drug abuse, and alcoholism. After reading about these athletes, our life doesn't seem as hard because when you think about it. Our lives don't come close to the pressures they face as a minority in their own country.
Colton does a fantastic job in describing their culture. He doesn't try to cover up the bad things that happen on the reservation. He exposes them, and shows us what Native American life is really like. His story parlays the struggles of life on the reservation and how female athletes escaped these troubles through basketball. He also shows us the troubles of all teenagers, not only Native Americans. Counting Coup is an excellent book about what Native American life and a teenager's life is all about.
This book grabs the reader and makes you ask, what's happened since? The author has crafted the facts in such a way that the reader is immersed in the situation and the lives of the individuals on and around the reservation at the Little Big Horn. You find yourselve hoping against all odds for some of the kids to beat the odds. Some do. Some don't. A fine book that stays with you.
As a child in the 50s & 60s, I spent my summers visiting family in Hardin. My Aunt was a bartender at the Mint, and my cousins were half CROW. Mom and Dad had many arguments during these summer vacations from Colorado to Daddy's family's home in Hardin. It was all about drinking. Years before Mom had "gotten him away from there" as she would say, so he wouldn't loose everything and amount to nothing. My family were German, Scot settlers who had homesteaded in the Madison in the early part of the century.Anyway, my Aunt Myrna was a woman who didn't drink, but bartended in this tough town for nearly 50 years.She was respected and beloved by all her customers, many who were Crow. Part of life in Hardin was mutual respect for the other cultures, you felt not a majority but part of a town where cultures mixed well, each making fun of the other or protecting each other like it was a good way to be living. Sure, the underbelly was alcoholism. But everynow and then a cowboy like my Dad could would move away and find a different lifestyle, an Indian would go to college and come back and teach school and set an example. Am I talking about the 50's and 60's when there was still hope? When kid's attitudes weren't quite as ugly? Well, probably. It's a damn good book. It's interesting to read names and places that I know so well. It made me sad and lonely and I loved it. Thank you to the author for the humor and the real deal.What a good read.
I guess people like Larry Colton got to make a living
Mr. Colton: 1) don't assume all native americans are alcoholics 2) don't assume were all on welfare or get federal assistance 3) don't assume we all live in dirty neighborhoods 4) don't assume we all play basketball
Some of us have gone out in this world an proved that we can be successful in government,medical or whatever career we chose. My advice to Mr. Colton is not to judge the rest of us by one individual storyline. Rez life is what you make of it! it can be a good or bad place, just like any orther place.
journalistic detachment with an irresponsible agenda
This book is poorly written. It also smacks of an individual wanting to be a part of something that he can never understand. Larry Colton came to the Crow Rez as an outsider, and will always be an outsider, regardless of who "adopted" him into the tribe. Spending fifteen months in a community doesn't give someone the expertise that it would take to create a sensitive and accurate portrayal of the complexities of modern Crow-white relations or the Crow fixation on high school sports. As a Crow woman from the same generation as Sharon, who grew up with her, though certainly not a close friend, I found this book to be disturbing, unrealistic, and inaccurate. Larry Colton took advantage of the trust bestowed upon him and tore apart a community. He didn't have permission from everyone in the book to tell their stories, and often presented common gossip as "journalism". Colton takes a skewed view of Crow society. His views on fatherhood and the role of the male in contemporary Crow society are melodramatic and unfair at best. I found this book to be a very depressing piece of reading and didn't relate much to it other than knowing the individuals portrayed, even though I grew up with similar issues. I urge everyone not to buy into Colton's facade of journalistic detachment, and boycott this book. He saw only what he wanted to see when he came to our community, and used individuals to further his own career. I think he's an opportunist on Indian culture, like so many other white authors, but more dangerous because he disguises his true goal in attempting to present a "fair" account. I find the book irresponsible.
I wrote an email to the author, Larry Colton, to ask him for an autograph since he was a former Philadelphia Phillie pitcher. He asked if I had read any of his books to which I honestly answered, "No." I then purchased a copy of Counting Coup and although the idea of an American Indian female high school basketball player is not typical of my reading selections, couldn't put the book down. Great read, inspiring story and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested in the human condition. P.S. I never did send out anything for an autograph (which he agreed to do) I was happy with the read.
This book was an appalling violation of the trust that was placed in him by the Crow community. Colton clearly missed the lecture on journalistic ethics - he time and time again quotes his subjects without their approval - explicitly so, and with no sensitivity whatsoever to the consequences for them in that tightly knit community. The publication of this book had terrible repercussions for the young woman featured. Colton also was oblivious to basic Crow cultural protocols regarding gift-giving and reciprocity; This was a best selling title, because the Crow community opened up to him - he took all they had to give, and gave nothing back at all, just walked away with his royalties and reviews, acting like a typical greedy ugly American tourist. It would have been very appropriate for him to gift a Crow girl's basketball scholarship at Little Big Horn College or Montana State University, as a thank you for what was given him, but he did nothing of the kind. I found his book to be despicable yellow journalism, misrepresenting what he found in the most lurid way, without bothering to look deeper and sort out the underlying reasons why that community might be having some of the difficulties it experiences. Colton is loathesome and should be really ashamed of himself.
Larry Coulton, a minor league athelete with a few personal failures in his past, encountered a talented basketball player when and where he least expected it--on the Crow Reservation, and on the girls' basketball team, and in a tiny town with huge problems. Sharon LaForge captured his imagination, and he decided to follow the Hardin Lady Bulldogs as they fought for the Montana State championship.
His ensuing portrait of Sharon, her teammates, friends and family, is nothing short of miraculous. You feel utterly immersed in their world. Sharon emerges as a flawed young woman of frightening talent, a deep sense of honor, and the weight of the entire Crow past crushing her slim shoulders. Never have I wanted so badly to reach back through the miles and years to hug a child, and tell her everything's going to get better, if only she can persevere.
It simply can't get any worse. Racism (including vicious Crow racism) is everywhere, holding her back--or rather, tripping her up. Alcohol and drugs permeate the culture (don't you DARE call me a stereotyper. I live on a Reservation for over 25 years, and have seen it.) Her grandparents shower her with affirmation and pressure, everything her emotionally crippled parents can't, but no bedtime or supervision or realism or skills for planning the future. The dark secret in tribal relationships, misogyny and a complete repression of women--is menacingly omnipresent, and Sharon soon starts seeing a monster disguised as a two-bit punk with no future--and no intention of letting Sharon have one, either.
So why read this book, which had me in tears for a good half of it? Because of Sharon, the hard diamond that is Sharon--her grace and tongue-tied silences, her potential and fate, her ravaged skinny body and her fury on the court--for everything vital and essential about Womankind. Coulton's portrait is so nuanced and fair, scathing and heartbroken, that I think he might just be the best sports writer in America. I hate sports. But I'll read anything he writes.
His ensuing portrait of Sharon, her teammates, friends and family, is nothing short of miraculous. You feel utterly immersed in their world. Sharon emerges as a flawed young woman of frightening talent, a deep sense of honor, and the weight of the entire Crow past crushing her slim shoulders. Never have I wanted so badly to reach back through the miles and years to hug a child, and tell her everything's going to get better, if only she can persevere.
It simply can't get any worse. Racism (including vicious Crow racism) is everywhere, holding her back--or rather, tripping her up. Alcohol and drugs permeate the culture (don't you DARE call me a stereotyper. I live on a Reservation for over 25 years, and have seen it.) Her grandparents shower her with affirmation and pressure, everything her emotionally crippled parents can't, but no bedtime or supervision or realism or skills for planning the future. The dark secret in tribal relationships, misogyny and a complete repression of women--is menacingly omnipresent, and Sharon soon starts seeing a monster disguised as a two-bit punk with no future--and no intention of letting Sharon have one, either.
So why read this book, which had me in tears for a good half of it? Because of Sharon, the hard diamond that is Sharon--her grace and tongue-tied silences, her potential and fate, her ravaged skinny body and her fury on the court--for everything vital and essential about Womankind. Coulton's portrait is so nuanced and fair, scathing and heartbroken, that I think he might just be the best sports writer in America. I hate sports. But I'll read anything he writes.
A tale of success and failure (and basketball)
The major storyline of Counting Coup is that a very talented high school basketball star makes bad decisions and doesn't reach her potential. Her conflict is internal, but we see the results of it in her actions. But that doesn't explain what the book is really about, because what could be a dull morality tale is transformed by Larry Colton's voice and presence.
Colton's original version of the book was completely different. It focused entirely on Sharon LaForge, the Crow Indian girl who this book follows. When Colton turned the book in to his publisher, however, it was rejected. Colton rewrote the entire book, adding himself.
Fortunately, Colton is an entertaining presence with a dry, self-deprecating wit. He continually positions himself as an outsider, which allows him to be the stand-in for readers in this unfamiliar world--small town Montana and Indian reservation. And, because Colton is an ex-professional athlete whose own life imploded after he was cut from the Philadelphia Phillies (as Colton writes, "I played for the Phillies on a Tuesday"), he also has the authority to observe a young athlete making all the wrong decisions. The saving grace of this book is Colton making himself vulnerable.
His presence and first-person commentary changed the nature of the book so much that not only did it get published, it was nominated for the Pultizer Prize.
There are some problems, of course, with Counting Coup. Colton is very charming, but he could step back out of the way a bit more. Also, as in Friday Night Lights,Friday Night Lights writing about minors poses some ethical questions about privacy that I'm not sure how to answer. Does Colton expose too much? Perhaps, on behalf of the story. But it's easy to forgive him because the story is so good.
Colton's original version of the book was completely different. It focused entirely on Sharon LaForge, the Crow Indian girl who this book follows. When Colton turned the book in to his publisher, however, it was rejected. Colton rewrote the entire book, adding himself.
Fortunately, Colton is an entertaining presence with a dry, self-deprecating wit. He continually positions himself as an outsider, which allows him to be the stand-in for readers in this unfamiliar world--small town Montana and Indian reservation. And, because Colton is an ex-professional athlete whose own life imploded after he was cut from the Philadelphia Phillies (as Colton writes, "I played for the Phillies on a Tuesday"), he also has the authority to observe a young athlete making all the wrong decisions. The saving grace of this book is Colton making himself vulnerable.
His presence and first-person commentary changed the nature of the book so much that not only did it get published, it was nominated for the Pultizer Prize.
There are some problems, of course, with Counting Coup. Colton is very charming, but he could step back out of the way a bit more. Also, as in Friday Night Lights,Friday Night Lights writing about minors poses some ethical questions about privacy that I'm not sure how to answer. Does Colton expose too much? Perhaps, on behalf of the story. But it's easy to forgive him because the story is so good.
This book paints a vivid picture of life of a Native American teen. The author addresses many of the cultural issues present while weaving in a season with a girls' basketball team. He delves a little deeper than many sports books and explores how this cultural issues are mirrored in the world of sports. An excellent choice for anyone looking for a good story, or anyone interested in the mixture of society and sport.
This book tells the true story of the attempt of one person to escape the Crow Reservation and its many malaises through basketball. The book is well-written and portrays life on the reservation as it really is. The story is heart-breaking but a very good read and lets those of us who never see the problems of reservations get a glimmpse of them. I highly recommend it.
Being a Montanan and residing near the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, I was stunned by the accuracy of the portrayal of life on the reservation and basketball in rural Montana but also the kindness with which the truth was told.
I would recommend this for anyone who wants a sense of real Indian life on the reservation in Montana.
I would recommend this for anyone who wants a sense of real Indian life on the reservation in Montana.
Life and Basketball on the Rez
Being from Montana made this book interesting from the start. But it still didn't make any differnce after the first page. This book had me up untill all hours of the morning turning the pages. It teaches you what real life on the rez is like...whites, and indians. A few traditions added in, it shows it all. This book teaches you the pressures that go along with high school basketball, and the pain they go through to make everyone happy, and what they sacrifice, or don't sacrifice for their team. Definatly a must read for anyone!
Having to read this book for summer reading assignment for school, I was skeptical at first. But I soon found that I had nothing to worry. This is an excellent book that takes a look basket but also life on the reservation. I would recommend this book to a basketball fan and even people who are not.
It is amazing the way life can go sometimes and how tougher it can make us by putting us trough all different kinds of challenges, temptations...
The book Counting Coup trough its interesting subject has that as the main idea and that is the reason why I like the book so much. It is easy to read, yet with a powerful and instructive massage. Not only I had fun while reading the book but I also came to learn and understand some important things about life.
This book shows how no matter how down in life we can get, we should always try not to waste time on blaming what already happened but to look ahead of us. Just like the main character of the book Sharon does. She has gone trough a lot in her life and she has to learn the hard way. Those hard times are like an obstacle in her life but she doesn't allow it to hinder her. She conquers that obstacle. She preserves. She moves on. That is something majority of people is not capable of doing.
There is a lot more hidden in this book then just an interesting story about the Indian girl who wants to play basketball. This book could give a person the strength and inspiration to overcome the down times to make it in life.
Counting Coup shows how sometimes we just have to roll with the punches, suffer our losses and hope for the best. We have to learn to deal with unpleasant things and let them go, eventually moving on. That is what this book has tought me and I hope whoever reads it will get to learn the same.
The book Counting Coup trough its interesting subject has that as the main idea and that is the reason why I like the book so much. It is easy to read, yet with a powerful and instructive massage. Not only I had fun while reading the book but I also came to learn and understand some important things about life.
This book shows how no matter how down in life we can get, we should always try not to waste time on blaming what already happened but to look ahead of us. Just like the main character of the book Sharon does. She has gone trough a lot in her life and she has to learn the hard way. Those hard times are like an obstacle in her life but she doesn't allow it to hinder her. She conquers that obstacle. She preserves. She moves on. That is something majority of people is not capable of doing.
There is a lot more hidden in this book then just an interesting story about the Indian girl who wants to play basketball. This book could give a person the strength and inspiration to overcome the down times to make it in life.
Counting Coup shows how sometimes we just have to roll with the punches, suffer our losses and hope for the best. We have to learn to deal with unpleasant things and let them go, eventually moving on. That is what this book has tought me and I hope whoever reads it will get to learn the same.
This book is a good book in the fact that it shows the struggles of a young teenager growing up in a difficult environment. She goes through some tough times as she struggles to coupe with the environment she has grown up around. The aurhtor has written this book to make you feel as if you were seeing things as Sharon see's them. The aurthor has done well with going into detail about the story and how involved each character gets and why. It seems to leave you in suspense throughout the story to see if Sharon will do as the others do or come out on top and show everyone that she can succeed. All in all this book has some very good points with it to show how people can go through different hardships and still come out on top because of their outlook on life; regardless of their upbringing.
This book really makes me think about things that really make people change or try to change to go on in life. There is so many reasons why Sharon tried to change her ways but she attained she new she was the best girl, or person in town. Sharon shared so many thoughts and truth about her family throughout the book. Strong feelings, thounghts, anger,and specially synpathy to others and herself.I think the characters in this book were not real and true to themselves, well I guess real life situations were but they were some selfish people. Sharon has tried her best to on in life the best possible way she could even though reality does hurt sometimes. This book for me has really open my eyes to some ways that I know is gonna help me later in life. Honestly..
Counting Coup was a well narrrated, interesting story that i really enjoyed reading. The story was about a young girl and her teammates rollercoaster ride to the State Finals. What interesting the most about this book thought was that it wasnt just about basketball itself. The author Larry Colton went into the this little town as a complete stranger in search of a story. But in return he got back a whole lot more. He gained the towns trust and not only the town, but the coach's, team's, and family's trust as well. They took him into there house and made him part of their family. After gaining their trust he was able to create a more detailed story getting some inside scoup with in the families lives in the half White, half Indian community. The main character, Sharon was a very strong young girl who lived a rough life. She went through a lot of bad things and made some porr choices at times. But she battled through life and made it, she survived.
Counting coup a book of life. This was a book that I feel should be recommeded to all high school students. Just for the simple fact that it was about low class society, and hope to make it out. When I mean making it out. I mean getting a better life than what they a living. Also when I read the book it gave me a sense of hope and i'm already in college. So basically I feel if a person is just about to give on life. I would tell that person to they need to read counting coup. Next the author does a great on following the teenager. also I really respect him for putting so much time into his work
Counting Coup was a fantastic story, written by Larry Colton, about fifteen months of his life that he stayed on an indian reservation. While Colton is on the reservation, he follows the local girls basketball team for their entire season, and the girls every intent is to win the championship. Because Colton is a white man he, at times, is not welcome and or is faced with very difficult decsions. He also grows fond of one particular player on the team, Sharon LaForge, the teams star player. This is an excellent inspirational story of poverty, drug and alcohol abuse, and teamwork. Colton does an excellent job of making the audience feel the settings and give us the bakground information on each character for us to follow the story better. I highly recommend this book for ages fifteen and up.
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