A COMING-OF-MIDDLE-AGE NOVEL ABOUT AN AHKWESÁHSNE MAN’S RELUCTANT RETURN HOME AND WHAT IT TAKES TO HEAL.
When Abe Jacobs is faced with an unthinkable diagnosis, he follows his fragile hope for a cure to the Mohawk Rez where he grew up. In his family’s hands, Abe just might find hope.
Abe Jacobs is Kanien’kehá:ka from Ahkwesáhsne— or, as white people say, a Mohawk Indian from the Saint Regis Tribe. At eighteen Abe left the reservation where he was raised and never looked back. Now forty-three, Abe is suffering from a rare disease—one his doctors in Miami believe will kill him. Running from his diagnosis and a failing marriage, Abe returns to the Rez, where he’s persuaded to undergo a healing at the hands of his Great Uncle “Budge” Billings. But Budge – a wry recovered alcoholic prone to wearing punk band t-shirts – isn’t all that convincing. And Abe’s time off the Rez has made him a thorough skeptic.
To heal, Abe will undertake a revelatory journey, confronting the parts of himself he’s hidden since he left home and learning to cultivate hope, even facing death.
Delivered with crackling wit, Old School Indian is a striking exploration of the power and secrets of family, the capacity for healing and catharsis, and the ripple effects of history and culture.
A glossary of terms
Sometimes context helps.
1
Kanienʼkéha is the language – “Language of the Flint Place.”
10
Kanien’kehá:ka are the people – “People of the Flint.”
40
“Indian” is a misnomer, of course. So is New York. So is America. So is Canada. You want to know why “Indian” is in the title, you’ve got to take the ride.
80
Ónhka means “who?” I used it to name a character who isn’t supposed to be there.
120
Abe says zombies from Night of the Living Dead call for brains. Budge refers to consuming brains as going all Dawn of the Dead. Rather than focusing on brains, George Romero’s zombies (and by extension, most every zombie which has followed) ate whatever living flesh they could grab. Tom Savini’s 1985 cult classic Return of the living Dead went largely unseen on its release, but the zombie in the trailer growling “more brains” was enough to create the brain-eating zombie trope all on its own. Isn’t that something?
130
My mother was born and raised in Akwesasne, I’m an enrolled member of the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, and much of my family still lives there. In the book I’ve used the spelling “Ahkwesáhsne,” a spelling I’ve encountered online and in some maps but have rarely seen in person, because visiting the reservation can’t offer the same perspective as someone who was born and raised there. Likewise “Hotinonshon:ni” for Haudenosaunee, a bit of distance because Old School Indian is primarily a work of fiction. This is the Akwesasne of my imagination. For everything I got right, thank my family. For everything I got wrong, blame me.
About the author
Aaron John Curtis
is an enrolled member of the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, which he’ll tell you is the white name for the American side of Akwesasne. Aaron has judged for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize, the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance prizes, the 2019 Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction, and the 2021 National Book Award for Nonfiction. Since 2004, Aaron has been Quartermaster at Books & Books, Miami’s largest independent bookstore. He lives in Miami.
What readers say
★★★★★
“A piercing, warm, and witty book that bears witness to the protest of existing and to the right to remake and reimagine our own myths.”
—Lena Waithe, Rishi Rajani, and Naomi Funabashi, Hillman Grad Books
★★★★★
“Aaron John Curtis gives us honest storytelling shaped by humor, sincerity, and heartbreak. Old School Indian is a novel that reminds us of an essential truth: when one person heals the entire community can feel it.”—Oscar Hokeah, PEN/Hemingway award-winning author of Calling for a Blanket Dance
★★★★★
“Old School Indian is a sharp, witty exploration of family, identity, and returning home, delivered with a memorable comedic voice. It’ll make you laugh, tug at your heart, and, most importantly, leave you thinking long after the final page.”—Andrew Boryga, author of Victim
★★★★★
“This is my favorite kind of storytelling: chock-full of humor and grief, packed with intriguing family lore, and written with a tremendous amount of heart. Old School Indian is exceptional.” —Kristen Arnett,
New York Times bestselling author of Mostly Dead Things
★★★★★
“With amazing dexterity, Aaron John Curtis’s moving debut novel Old School Indian combines raucous humor with respect for ancestral traditions, revealing that home is not only where a heart resides. Home is a place in our spirits, in our histories, in our memories—home is a longing that never leaves us.” —Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, New York Times bestselling author of The Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois
★★★★★
“A gorgeous exploration of the restorative bonds of kin, the wages of history, and the stories that break and remake us.” —Ana Menéndez,
Pushcart Prize–winning author of The Apartment
★★★★★
“Brave, funny and irreverent. Curtis’ debut novel holds the power to open eyes to who Indigenous people truly are.” —Chelsea T. Hicks,
author of A Calm and Normal Heart and NBF 5 Under 35 Honoree
★★★★★
“A moving story of self-discovery that journeys through the crucibles of sickness, history, identity, family, and loss—all told by one of the most inventive, funny, brash narrators you’ll ever find. A beautiful, dazzling debut.” —Nathan Hill, New York Times bestselling author of Wellness and The Nix
★★★★★
“Bold, smart, and big-hearted, Old School Indian tells a new kind of story about ancient wounds. A wonderful, potent read.” —Diana Abu-Jaber,
author of Fencing with the King
★★★★★
“By examining the colonization of a body and a people, Old School Indian addresses our festering wound of a need to heal, challenging us to use memory as a remedy and our purpose as a cure. An instant classic.” —Mateo Askaripour, New York Times bestselling author of Black Buck and This Great Hemisphere
★★★★★
“With its profound exploration of identity, language, and cultural survival, Old School Indian commands attention. Through the vivid and deeply human lives of a Mohawk family, Curtis weaves a narrative that insists we listen closely and engage deeply.” —Morgan Talty, national bestselling author of Night of the Living Rez and Fire Exit
★★★★★
Most recent blog post
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The Most Important Post I’ve Ever Written
Back in the early 90s, my friend Kimberly told me one of my favorite jokes of all time. Simple, clean, and satisfying, it goes like this:
Aaron John Curtis 