While the Locust Slept: A Memoir (Native Voices) - Hardcover

Razor, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0873514017 ISBN 13: 9780873514019

Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press,U.S., 2001

Synopsis

First-time author Peter Razor recalls his early years as a ward of the State of Minnesota. Deftly disclosing his story through flashbacks and relying on research from his own case files, Razor pieces together the shattered fragments of his boyhood into a memoir that reads as compellingly as a novel.
Abandoned as an infant in 1930 at the State Public School in Owatonna, Minnesota, Razor is raised by abusive workers who think of him as nothing more than "a dirty Injun" and endures years of beatings "with a broom or radiator brush - whatever was handy." One night, while he is asleep, one of the matrons attacks him with a hammer. In the wake of this savage beating, he finally receives a brief interlude of compassionate care in the hospital. As a teenager, he makes two failed attempts to run away from the orphanage.
He is labeled a troublemaker and indentured as a hired hand to a farm family. For a moment, it appears he may escape the grasp of abuse, but instead it is a deeper descent into darkness. The farmer beats him, clothes him in rags, and treats him like a slave, often working him to exhaustion without enough food. Remarkably, Razor struggles to attend high school and begins to dream of another life, but first he must endure the darkest and most vicious attack yet.

About this title

Synopsis

In stark, haunting prose, first-time author Peter Razor recalls his early years as a ward of the State of Minnesota. Told in flashbacks and relying on research from his own case files, Razor manages to piece together the shattered fragments of his boyhood into a memoir that reads as compellingly as a novel. Abandoned as an infant at the State Public School in Owatonna, Razor spent his childhood at the hands of abusive workers who thought of him as nothing more than 'a dirty Injun'. He endures years of beatings 'with a broom or radiator brush -- whatever was handy' until, one night while he is asleep, one of the matrons attacks him with a hammer. Fearing for his life, he makes two failed attempts to run away from the orphanage. Quickly labelled a trouble-maker, he is later indentured as a hired hand to a farm family. The farmer beats him, clothes him in rags, and treats him like a slave, often working him to exhaustion without food or water. Remarkably, Razor struggles to attend high school and begins to dream of another life, but first he must endure the darkest and most vicious attack yet...

Edition details

• Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press,U.S.
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0873514017
• ISBN 13: 9780873514019
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 200