Pocahontas

Having first read this novel years ago and recently rereading it, I have come to certain conclusions. Though I sympathise with the writer's reasons for writing this novel, I believe she has allowed ancestorworship and her own imagination to go beyond the available facts. Starting with the fact that when Pocahontas met Captain Smith she was all of TWELVE years old. I doubt other than puppy love or perhaps some sort of first crush, the young lady's alleged romance with the captain has any substance. Some other scenes are equally questionable. Extremely well researched but I found the authress applying european terms to natives very difficult to fit things together. Refuring to warriors as Soldiers was difficult considering what Soldiers were in Europe. Then there is the use of 'swords' to describe native weapons. You have to remember that when the British came to these lands, the natives were basicly stone age level in their technology and society. They were about equal to Cave People. This made reading through somewhat difficult at times. Once these things were past, I was able to enjoy reading the novel.

I have read this novel twice already, and find it captivating every time I open it. I have visited the Jamestown museum in Virginia, and find this account to be incredibly descriptive in the lives and cultures of both the English settlers and the Native Americans at the time. I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in the story of Pocahontas, as I feel that it seamlessly integrates the many different versions of this story. Good Job Susan!

It's a story full of descriptions, that, short of the more intimate details of the characters and their thoughts/feelings, are very accurate. Not only are the natural beauties of Virginia, the descriptions of the less-known Powhatan tribes, traditions, cultures and beliefs given full body by Donnell's imaginative writing and research, the venture's first aims in settling in Jamestown can be understood by the modern reader because of the artful, personal way it was presented. This is also a story, a novel of a girl who grows up with responsibilities and power play at twelve years old, of New English politics, of a world where Pocahontas is a 3-D figure here that every female leader in this world can identify with. It's a profound book.

This book brings to life the early efforts to colonize Virginia. The facts about key characters such as Sir Samuel Argall and Lord De La Waar are correctly portrayed eventhough they have almost been lost to history. A must read book if interested in moving from Disney's Pocahontas and Captain John Smith's exagerated accounts. Like the author, my family tree goes back to Pocahontas and the Bollings. It is refreshing to read the facts in an enjoyable fashion. Although we will never know her true feelings and emotions, Ms. Donnell writings are plausable. The only unrealitiy is Pocahontas' apparent ease to achieve bilingual english/ native language proficiency.