Book: ‘Seminole: A Novel of Osceola’ by Theodore Pratt – August 11th, 2017
by Rob Smith, Jr. on Aug.11, 2017, under Books
Seminole: A Novel of Osceola by Theodore Pratt
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Pratt assembles this tale of Osceola based upon much that has been recorded. He gets a lot of the non-fiction right, but his fictional parts don’t pull it all together well.
The historical accuracy of much of the book is very accurate. From the killing of Wiley Thompson to his wife Morning Dew to the Green Corn Dance. To create his book, Pratt ads Gideon Sauny to intertwine in Osceola’s life to tell Osceola’s story. However, Pratt stumbles involving dialogue of Osceola and Gideon. Painting Osceola as such a stoic creature and then throwing that all away to fit Gideon doesn’t ring true. Or I could write Pratt’s writings sound like that of a white man. The entry of Gideon into the Green Corn Dance, despite the story, is unbelievable. Then there’s a whole thing of Prat trying to wrap up the book and this sends Gideon on a ridiculous trip and another unlikely conclusion.
The writing is not as good as other Pratt books. The writing is also far below similar work by Frank Slaughter.
The settings are very well written. Pratt does an excellent job letting readers know where they are in Florida. This is a tremendous help in orienting other activity in the book.
Bottom line: I don’t recommend the book. 5 out of ten points.
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