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| Writers of literary nonfiction may choose to be objectively observant witnesses to their story, or they may opt to enlist as participants. In Counting Coup, Larry Colton attempts to do both, with mixed success. A freelance sportswriter, Colton heads to the Crow Reservation in Montana to discover why the Indian community’s passion for basketball does not lead its star athletes to high school graduation, college scholarships and job skills, as he believes it does in other communities across America. But Colton is sidetracked from his original story by Sharon LaForge, a basketball star whose desire to win the state championship is not as strong as the humiliation she feels when her alcoholic mother attends her games. Colton delves deeply into Sharon’s life, gradually becoming “something between an honorary seventeen-year-old and an invisible man invited to witness the lives of these people close up, often as if I am not there.” He follows the high school senior to places it is hard to imagine that even a sports writer would be allowed to go, such as the back seat of Sharon’s car, or her best friend’s bedroom as the two awaken from a sleep-over. Unfortunately, Colton’s continuously shifting focus quickly becomes distracting. Further, the book’s “happy Hollywood ending” feels tacked-on and misguided. Counting Coup could end with the team’s loss at the state tournament, but it doesn’t. Instead, Colton waits four years to revisit his story, finding the storybook ending he seeks in Sharon’s graduation from Little Big Horn Community College. Of course, for the rest of the team, life continues on the receiving end of a blind pass. – Reviewed by Nancy Webber |
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