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The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse

by Louise Erdrich

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Series: Love Medicine (5)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
1,979648,205 (4.11)155
A story of suspect miracles, tests of faith, and the corrosive and redemptive power of secrecy. Over the years, Father Damian has seen the reservation through its most severe crises, yet he is more than a heroic priest. He has lived with and served the Ojibwa people as a man of the cloth, and also as a woman. However, where does fact end and reality begin? NPR sponsorships. Deals with miracles, crises of faith, struggles with good & evil, temptation, & the corrosive & redemptive power of secrecy. For more than a half century, Father Damien Modeste has served his beloved people, the Ojibwa, on the remote reservation of Little No Horse. Compelled to his task by a direct mystical experience, Father Damien has made enormous sacrifices, and experienced the joys of commitment as well as deep suffering. Now, nearing the end of his life, Father Damien dreads the discovery of his physical identity, for he is a woman who has lived as a man. He imagines the undoing of all that he has accomplished -- sees unions unsundered, baptisms nullified, those who confessed to him once again unforgiven. To complicate his fears, his quiet life changes when a troubled colleague comes to the reservation to investigate the life of the perplexing, difficult, possibly false saint Sister Leopolda. Father Damien alone knows the strange truth of Sister Leopolda's piety, but these facts are bound up in his own secret. In relating his history and that of Leopolda, whose wonder working is documented but inspired, he believes, by a capacity for evil rather than the love of good, Father Damien is forced to choose: Should he reveal all he knows and risk everything? Or should he manufacture a protective history? In spinning out the tale of his life, Father Damien in fact does both. His story encompasses his life as a young woman, her passions, and the pestilence, tribal hatreds, and sorrows passed from generation to generation of Ojibwa. From the fantastic truth of Father Damien's origin as a woman to the hilarious account of the absurd demise of Nanapush, his best friend on the reservation, his story ranges over the span of the century. In a masterwork that both deepens and enlarges the world of her previous novels set on the same reservation, Louise Erdrich captures the essence of a time and the spirit of a woman who felt compelled by her beliefs to serve her people as a priest. The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse is a work of an avid heart, a writer's writer, and a storytelling genius.… (more)
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» See also 155 mentions

English (62)  German (2)  All languages (64)
Showing 1-5 of 62 (next | show all)
The narrative is episodic and skips around in time, which isn’t always ideal when listening to an audiobook. Nevertheless, because it’s episodic, it’s not mandatory to follow a single narrative thread, so I could just go with the flow and appreciate it as a connection of related stories. It’s been many years since I read others of the related Love Medicine books, but even though I couldn’t remember all the characters and their backstories, which I think would have enriched my reading, this book stands on its own. It’s a moving story of community and love in all its forms. ( )
  Charon07 | Feb 20, 2024 |
Erdrich tells such beautifully interwoven stories that as soon as I start one book, I want to pull out all the others and read them more or less simultaneously. Not a criticism; I'm just resisting the urge to start back at the beginning again. ( )
  Kiramke | Jun 27, 2023 |
Liked a lot. Some of the writing was breathtakingly beautiful. The book got a bit long, though. ( )
  steve02476 | Jan 3, 2023 |
Intertwined stories of the unexpected history of the new priest who has arrived at an Ojibwe resevation in northern Minnesota and the families who live there, only tangentially related to the investigation of one of the sisters at the mission for possible sainthood.

Regular readers of Erdrich will see familiar themes emerging here, and recaps or foreshadowings of other incidents to be more fully developed in later works (specifically, 'Four Souls'). There's humor and heartbreak and inevitably puzzlement, misunderstanding, and disappointment when two cultures with exceedingly different worldviews rub up against one another in splendid isolation from either's homeworld.

As Father Damien's long life of service nears its end, the question of whether or not deep secrets ought to be revealed. The reader has been aware of some of them from the get-go, may have figured out others along the way, and will undoubtedly be surprised by some. Erdrich performs a masterful dance here, weaving between past and present, and doing it all with a lyrical understanding of the human heart. ( )
  LyndaInOregon | May 17, 2022 |
I did not finish it. It was a little too spicy for me. ( )
  Wren73 | Mar 4, 2022 |
Showing 1-5 of 62 (next | show all)
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» Add other authors (7 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Louise Erdrichprimary authorall editionscalculated
Fields, AnnaNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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Epigraph
Nindinawemaganidok

There are four layers above the earth and four layers below.  Sometime in our dreams and creations we pass through the layers, which are also space and time.  In saying the word nindinawemaganidok, or my relatives, we speak of everything that has existed in time, the known and the unknown, the unseen, the obvious, all that lived before or is living now in the worlds above and below.
--Nanapush
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The grass was white with frost on the shadowed sides of the reservation hills and ditches, but the morning air was almost warm, sweetened by a southern wind.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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A story of suspect miracles, tests of faith, and the corrosive and redemptive power of secrecy. Over the years, Father Damian has seen the reservation through its most severe crises, yet he is more than a heroic priest. He has lived with and served the Ojibwa people as a man of the cloth, and also as a woman. However, where does fact end and reality begin? NPR sponsorships. Deals with miracles, crises of faith, struggles with good & evil, temptation, & the corrosive & redemptive power of secrecy. For more than a half century, Father Damien Modeste has served his beloved people, the Ojibwa, on the remote reservation of Little No Horse. Compelled to his task by a direct mystical experience, Father Damien has made enormous sacrifices, and experienced the joys of commitment as well as deep suffering. Now, nearing the end of his life, Father Damien dreads the discovery of his physical identity, for he is a woman who has lived as a man. He imagines the undoing of all that he has accomplished -- sees unions unsundered, baptisms nullified, those who confessed to him once again unforgiven. To complicate his fears, his quiet life changes when a troubled colleague comes to the reservation to investigate the life of the perplexing, difficult, possibly false saint Sister Leopolda. Father Damien alone knows the strange truth of Sister Leopolda's piety, but these facts are bound up in his own secret. In relating his history and that of Leopolda, whose wonder working is documented but inspired, he believes, by a capacity for evil rather than the love of good, Father Damien is forced to choose: Should he reveal all he knows and risk everything? Or should he manufacture a protective history? In spinning out the tale of his life, Father Damien in fact does both. His story encompasses his life as a young woman, her passions, and the pestilence, tribal hatreds, and sorrows passed from generation to generation of Ojibwa. From the fantastic truth of Father Damien's origin as a woman to the hilarious account of the absurd demise of Nanapush, his best friend on the reservation, his story ranges over the span of the century. In a masterwork that both deepens and enlarges the world of her previous novels set on the same reservation, Louise Erdrich captures the essence of a time and the spirit of a woman who felt compelled by her beliefs to serve her people as a priest. The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse is a work of an avid heart, a writer's writer, and a storytelling genius.

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