Badlands is a love story set in the awe-inspiring landscape of the Wounded Knee Reservation in South Dakota. The narrator, a young Englishwoman, discovers her own history of abuse, as she plunges into the poignant destinies of the Lakota people. She forms a passionate bond with an adolescent Sioux girl and her charismatic father, Blackfoot. An intoxicating love emerges between them that transcends politics and destiny.
“Badlands is a very strong, very intelligent.” —Joyce Carol Oates, Writer
Melinda Camber Porter reads from Badlands:
"A narrative with a weighty sensuality that carries the reader forward in a kind of drunken, dreamlike state." - The New York Times (23 June 1996)
“Badlands is a very strong, very intelligent and very intriguing novel.” - Joyce Carol Oates
"Badlands is an extraordinary book. Its imagery makes one think of William Blake. Better than a novel, it reads like a fierce poem." - Louis Malle
“In Badlands, Melinda Camber Porter has focused her English intelligence on America and rendered it as an uneasy dream of sex and death and abandonment, a mirage with the power of possession.” -- Joan Didion
"Badlands is an achievement." - Peter Matthiessen
"A deeply affecting story of revelation and its repercussions." - Booklist (15 March, 1996)
"More than an extraordinary love story, Badlands delves beneath the surface of contemporary America to illuminate the deep-seated dreams of its people - native, newcomer, and immigrant. - Publishers Group West
"Badlands is a rich slow, challenging read, with scenes of disturbing sexuality juxtaposed with scenes of lyrical beauty. A story not for everyone, but for those who wish to flex their reading muscles while plunging into the most beautiful, most terrible part of America, highly recommended." - Elana Clark, PhD, Wake Forest University
“What a read. I flew through Badlands [new photo edition by Melinda Camber Porter], I was sucked in from the first moment into this world, this America that is and is not America as we know it. The photographs added something tangible to the read, which I did not expect. I went in knowing very little about what this book was about, and I am glad for that. I would recommend this to anyone and everyone.” - Jasmine Walker, University of Michigan
Kirkus Reviews 1 February, 1996.
Post and Courier 4 August, 1996.
Publisher's Weekly 11 March, 1996.
Rocky Mountain News 21 April, 1996.
Post-Bulletin [Rochester MN]: 7 September, 1996.
