The Round House (2012)

I read Louise Erdrich's "Love Medicine" -- her first novel -- and while I found certain scenes beautiful and memorable and thought that the writing was top drawer, I also found the whole thing so oppressively sad that I didn't think I'd read Erdrich ever again. Still, thanks to an itchy Kindle finger, I became the owner of a copy of "The Round House." I'm glad that I did.

There are parts of "The Round House" that are sad, terrifying, and flat-out heartbreaking, but they're weaved into a larger story that focuses on friendship, family, love, and resilience. It is, in a way, a deeply nostalgic novel, both for a way of life particular to the novel's setting (the nineteen eighties, an Ojibwa reservation in Minnesota) and for the intense thrills and gigantic emotions that come with early adolescence. Joe, our young main character, hasn't seen much of the world, but his observations and understanding of the way that the reservation he lives on works are fascinating and, as often as not, genuinely funny. Although he's an only child, he's seldom alone: this book is as much about him as it is about his large extended family and social circle, and the genuine love and affection that exists between them. Readers' comparisons to "To Kill a Mockingbird" are not out of place. the reader gets to see Joe, our main character, try to negotiate both typical teenage dilemmas and more human evil than one person should have to witness in his lifetime. Erdrich's prose is still a pleasure to read: it has an easy, natural flow that marks her as a true storyteller. What really shocked me, though, was this book's gritty optimism, its description of people in tough situations committed to making the best choices they're capable of. I'm glad that this one forced my to reconsider how I feel about this author. Now to check out some of Erdrich's other books. ( )

Oh how i love Louise Erdrich. Absolutely one of my very authors. One of the things that I enjoy is the threads of characters / families that run in and out and around in her novels. Having read many (but not all - YET) of her novels, I find myself intrigued by the "community" of characters. I also really love the retelling of native legends and stories. I've not read any reviews or comments here, but I'd guess that one reason reader might not like this book is due to acts committed by the main character. I find the story arc completely plausible, others may not.

The edition that I read has an interview with Erdrich in the back. She comments on young teenage boys and the tender age they are at...not a child, but not an adult and how much they love their mothers. As the mother of a young boy (5 when I read this), I found her comments very insightful.

After listening to Tommy Orange read the short story by Erdrich via The New Yorker podcast, The Years of My Birth, I couldn't wait to read the full novel that evolved out of it. It has been a very long time since I'd read Erdrich and was glad to be reintroduced - this book was amazing. ( )

At the beginning of The Round House, Joe, a 13-year old Ojibwe youth, is working in the yard with his father and waiting for his mother to return from the tribal offices where she has gone to retrieve a file. When she reaches home, she has been hurt and (no spoiler here) it turns out she has been raped. she retreats into herself and Joe and his father (who is a tribal judge) believe it has something to do with one of the cases he has judged.

In the course of learning how Joe and his friends set out to unravel who was responsible, the author includes so much more. It's part coming-of-age and the mysterious ways and thoughts of 13-year old boys (including their obsession with girls and sex). There's also some history of the Native Americans and white treaties and how unfairly Native Americans were treated and how much was lost when they were forced onto reservations. And there's information on how difficult it is to get justice as the rules change depending on where the crime takes place and by whom. In book club yesterday, we also discussed how seldom you read about a stable marriage in books these days and how devoted Joe's parents were to each other.

I haven't read much by this author but have a few more of her books on my TBR and hope to get to them soon. There's just something about how she writes... ( )

A mediocre Louise Erdrich novel is still a great read. I listened to this as an audio book, and as so often happens, I felt I would have enjoyed it more had I read it in hard copy. The narrator was not the most fluid of readers. I also found the denouement somewhat clouded, shall we say, or rather, overshadowed and unfocused, by the actual ending. But certain characters were so vivid and well drawn that I’m sure they will be with me for a while. And as always, Erdrich conveys Ojibwe culture with depth and nuance. ( )