Broken

March 23, 2009
Freelance journalist Jones tells the story of Arapaho medicine man Stanford Addison, a quadriplegic and gifted horse trainer and his effect on animals: “The horses would gather around, their liquid brown eyes fixed on him. He’d roll away across the dirt. They’d put their noses down and follow him until he stopped rolling.” Jones chronicles the Addison family’s triumphs and losses on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming, a place plagued by poverty and “defined by struggle.” Along the way, Jones takes in lost souls, like “the half-melted cowboy” Moses. At a crossroads in her life, Jones—much like those she cares for—is spiritually lost, but while in Wyoming, she stumbles upon her own journey of self-discovery. With an eye for detail, Jones brings each character to life; she describes Addison as “his paralyzed, six-toothed, one-lunged Plains Indian would take a drag of his KOOL Filter King, sigh, and say something like 'I guess the thing I miss most since the accident is ski jumping.’ ” At the book’s core are the themes of healing, redefining family and home, and “finding your center.” In the end, Jones reveals the beauty, ruin—and spirituality—of life on the “rez.”