Quiet Mountain Essays
Copyright©,2004
The Basket Maker by Kate Niles; GreyCore Press, 2004; $22.95
A Book Review
by
Julie Mars
THE BASKET MAKER is an excellent read. The story is compelling and presents
well-drawn characters about whom we can really care. The regional setting in the
southwest is vivid and irresistible. The threads that are woven back and forth between the
Nixon-era time of the story and the history of the people who lived earlier in the region
intensify an already rich and intriguing plot. Finally, the issues that arise out of the story
render it important and unforgettable.
THE BASKET MAKER centers around two children, both in great pain, who find each
other as people in pain often do. One is a boy who is a burn victim and one is a girl who is
being abused. The contrast between the care received by the burn victim, whose injuries
of course are obvious, and the care received by the abused girl, is startling. Even those
closest to her, including her mother and her younger brother, manage to look away just
enough so as not to have to act. After all, by withdrawing when we are still only in the
suspicion stage, we can avoid the responsibility that comes with certainty.
When help comes for the young girl in this story, it is from characters on the periphery of
her life. But in order for each of them to look, see, and ultimately act, they will first have
to decide whether or not they are ready come to terms with their own demons. Niles'
insights into the psychology of motivation are dead on here. The conflicts endured by
these characters--a neighbor, the mother of the burn victim, and the spirit of an Indian
Chief--lead to subplots that are fascinating in and of themselves.
Notes on Kate Niles, author of the "Basket Maker"...
Ms. Niles holds an M.A. in Anthropology (Archeology), from the University of New Mexico,
and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Vermont College. An incest survivor herself, Ms.
Niles is more likely to tell audiences how to stay alert to problems in their own community
and about healing through nature, than she is to talk about the abuse experience itself.
Contributor's Notes...
Ms. Mars is the author of The Secret Keepers. Her new book A Month of Sundays:
Searching for The Spirit and My Sister, also published by GreyCore Press, will be
available in Spring 2005. "A Month of Sundays..." is the thoughtful culmination of a
far-ranging spiritual journey taken after the illness and death of Ms. Mars' sister, for
whom she was primary caregiver.
