Helpful Score: 2
I usually enjoy Erdrich books, but this one fell short for me. Maybe too many characters with barely any emotion. There were short areas of the book I didn't understand because I couldn't figure where they fit into the storyline. The book just stops and nothing very importent happens. Disappointed.
Landreaux Iron is out hunting when he shoots and finds that he has killed his neighbor's 5 year old son, Dusty. Devastated, he lets Peter and Nola Ravich know that he has killed their son and his own son's (LaRose) playmate.
In thinking about his heritage, he talks with his wife, Emmaline, and they decide that LaRose should be given to the Ravich's in payment for the accident. It is hard for both families, but that is done.
LaRose now has two families and seems to fit into both. He really misses his birth mother, but falls in love with the Ravich family also.
There is an individual, Romeo, who has a grudge against Landreaux from many years ago and he is trying to bring him to a quick decline and is searching for any way to make that happen. Romeo is a lost soul; stealing drugs, stealing paperwork, etc.
There is a lot of Indian tradition incorporated into this novel and it is a pleasure to be taken there. This is definitely well-written and I need to warn you to keep tissues handy.
In thinking about his heritage, he talks with his wife, Emmaline, and they decide that LaRose should be given to the Ravich's in payment for the accident. It is hard for both families, but that is done.
LaRose now has two families and seems to fit into both. He really misses his birth mother, but falls in love with the Ravich family also.
There is an individual, Romeo, who has a grudge against Landreaux from many years ago and he is trying to bring him to a quick decline and is searching for any way to make that happen. Romeo is a lost soul; stealing drugs, stealing paperwork, etc.
There is a lot of Indian tradition incorporated into this novel and it is a pleasure to be taken there. This is definitely well-written and I need to warn you to keep tissues handy.
Wow, I have both so many thoughts and no (easily accessible) thoughts.
This story is both beautiful and tragic. It has redemption and unachieved goals/dreams. It has an amazing artistry of the Ojibwe culture - and yet also addresses that cultural loss associated with modernization, historical trauma and oppression.
There are aspects of this book that read as "young adult" and capture family planning and reproductive health (in a great way), and there is substance use, and there is mental health. There are elders and the young ones. There is death, and death, and more death. There is also the spiritual realm, afterlife and rebirth.
There are grudges and forgiveness, and dishonesty and honesty. Some things come full circle in this book and some don't.
Through all the rivers Erdrich creates with this story there is . . . LaRose.
(I dunno what keeps me from 5 stars, maybe lack of finality to all/or some major story lines for me?
But it's definitely a 4.5/5 stars for me)
This story is both beautiful and tragic. It has redemption and unachieved goals/dreams. It has an amazing artistry of the Ojibwe culture - and yet also addresses that cultural loss associated with modernization, historical trauma and oppression.
There are aspects of this book that read as "young adult" and capture family planning and reproductive health (in a great way), and there is substance use, and there is mental health. There are elders and the young ones. There is death, and death, and more death. There is also the spiritual realm, afterlife and rebirth.
There are grudges and forgiveness, and dishonesty and honesty. Some things come full circle in this book and some don't.
Through all the rivers Erdrich creates with this story there is . . . LaRose.
(I dunno what keeps me from 5 stars, maybe lack of finality to all/or some major story lines for me?
But it's definitely a 4.5/5 stars for me)
