Winter Counts

Have you visited Rosebud or another reservation? How does Weiden’s depiction of life on the reservation match up with your observations?

Drugs are a scourge on the reservation and in many rural areas where people die “deaths of despair.” What did you think about federal agents pushing Nathan to wear a wire? Is this a legitimate tool for law enforcement or a step too far? How else could the drug problems on the reservation be addressed?

Do you think vigilante activities are justified when law enforcement fails to act? Do you admire or disapprove of Virgil Wounded Horse? Did your opinion change over the course of the novel?

Have you read any of the Longmire books or watched the series on television? How would you compare Virgil to Henry, the Cheyenne vigilante who is friends with Sheriff Longmire?

What did you think about Marie giving up her chance to go to medical school? What would you have done in her place?

Chef Lack and Marie are passionate about incorporating indigenous foods into cooking. Have you ever sampled any indigenous foods? Do you think this trend could become more than just a passing fad? What obstacles does it face?

Weiden uses this story to inform us about Lakota culture and ceremonies. Was there anything that surprised you? What did you think of this as a device for transmitting cultural information? How about as a way of highlighting the problems facing those living on reservations?

The courts have ruled that the Black Hills were seized illegally from the Sioux, but the tribes refused to accept the money (now $1-billion-plus), saying they want the land back. What do you think of this strategy?

In trying to explain why he doesn’t move somewhere to get a job, Virgil says “the rez was in my mind.” How do you interpret that?

Weiden refers to the “moccasin telegraph” and the “moccasin Internet.” Do you think the use of “moccasin” in reference to Native Americans is demeaning?

Virgil says reservation politics “are a cesspool of nepotism and favoritism, and grudges and feuds run deep,” yet when Marie uncovers fraud, she doesn’t want to report it.  What would it take to change things or is that even possible?

Did you find the ending satisfying? What did you like about it or what would you change?

There are a quite a few cheesy tourist attractions in the Black Hills and Virgil has fond memories of one of them, Cosmos Mystery House. What’s the cheesiest tourist trap you’ve personally visited?