The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse

This complex and atmospheric narrative recounts the unlikely career of Agnes DeWitt, a passionately religious woman who cannot find her place as a nun. Through a series of tragedies and coincidences, she disguises herself as a recently deceased priest and takes up his posting at a remote reservation.

There, Father Damien, nee Agnes, finds her faith strengthened by the complexities of the human experience. Bearing witness to untold cruelty, and unimaginable resilience across the many decades of her life, she must face her final test in the person of Father Jude, a priest sent to investigate the claims of miracles and make a recommendation for sainthood.

Father Damien will need to decide whether he can bear to reveal his own deepest show more secrets in the twilight of his life or let the Vatican award recognition upon a truly evil woman.

The cast of characters here is large and the nonlinear story telling can be a bit bewildering at times. Still, the power of the storytelling cannot be denied and I enjoyed living in the richly detailed world of the novel. show less

Complicated relationships, shifting points of view, interwoven chronologies---all these things made this a challenging and highly engaging read for me. The story begins with an ancient priest, Father Damien Modeste, writing as he clearly has done many times before, to an unresponsive church hierarchy. We discover almost immediately that Father Damien has a fundamental secret, and then we are transported back to the lives he lived before arriving at the Ojibwe reservation of Little No Horse, where he has served a remarkably long tenure, and where additional secrets abound. There is something Faulknerian in the structure of this novel, although on a sentence level Erdrich's writing is clear and crisp, never convoluted or streaming. As the show more narrative moved from one time frame to another, I found myself re-reading sections 50 or 100 pages later when it became clear how That Part related to This Part. I don't consider this a criticism; I immersed myself in this story in a way that doesn't happen often to me, even with books I admire and enjoy. And I may just read it again from beginning to end.
May 2015 show less

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 show more 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. show less

This novel goes back to the early 1900's when the progenitors of the cast of characters I met in Love Medicine were themselves young--pre-legendary. Here we are given the story of the Catholic priest, Father Damien, sent to this remote section of the Ojibwe reservation. It is (literally) a wild ride, as always with Erdrich, beautifully written and slipping effortlessly and convincingly in and out of places not quite of this world and so tender about the mysteries that people hold within themselves. It's the sort of book that makes you remember that one should never be dismissive of anyone no matter what they appear to be on the outside, whether a hapless drunk or a feckless storyteller or an inveterate flirt. ****1/2

Published in 2001, this is a story of a woman who decides to be a priest, Father Damien. She works with the Ojibway on a reservation somewhere in North Dakota/Minnesota. The story is both set in 1996 and in the memories of the priest. The characters are so fun and the story so full of humor and serious subjects. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The female who becomes Damien the priest does so because she believes she is doing good by being a priest to the people. There is also the theme of Catholic vs. Spirituality and the theme of lost and resilience.

Oh, my hodge-podge of immediate feeling! At first I thought it best to sleep on it, write something tomorrow, as sleep tends to ameliorate just about anything, but what the hell.

Is this 4 stars? 5 stars? First, to get my few quabbles out of the way, which may just be my own and no real flaw of the book. This being the fifth-and-a-half Erdrich book I've read, I have been steeped enough in the mythology and history of her Little No Horse/Argus/North Dakota nether regions to know a lot of the skinny already behind the mysteries in this book. Not that it matters much because I begin to realize how much I forget from previous stories, and then I get frustrated and resolve for the nth time to reread all these books again. Someday. I am show more starting to muddle all the information I've learned thus far, enough so that it sometimes held back some of my enjoyment of the moment. Has anyone else had this problem, or is it just another hell constructed by my OCD, literary fact-checking mind? Similarly, much to my annoyance because I desperately try to avoid this, I've lately guessed endings/outcomes to many books I read, and Last Report proved as no exception...that was a little bit of a letdown. I also got confused as to which parts of Father Damien's reports were known to Father Jude. Some minutiae Jude seemed to understand quite well, whereas others--primarily the fact that Damien is a WOMAN and all issues surrounding this matter--go quite undetected. This seems a little careless to me on Erdrich's part. Can someone out there tell me if I'm mistaken?

And yet, I really did enjoy this book. Though I loved Damien/Agnes, I truly love Nanapush. Even though I'm sure he's supposed to be Father Damien's foil, thereby giving Damien the limelight, he absolutely stands first in my mind. The crafty chess scene with Damien...brilliant! Trying to steal a wife from his best friend...strangely endearing. But--I agree with Meghan on this--"Le Mooz" may be the best single chapter I've read in a while. What's not to love? Moose rides, flatulence, necrophilia, and love above and beyond it all? This is what wins me over.

And how we, every single character, develop love and compassion through (or in spite of?) agitation and restlessness. Or understanding how we interpret everything to be a miracle until another explanation arises. The matters of faith, holiness, and loneliness...to be so integral to the lives of so many and yet be entirely isolated...how do we select our heroes and villains? Who has a right to say which is which? Who deserves to know who the heroes are? Even though Last Report obviously has its own answers, this book does have a lot of delicious gray area that I was glad to read after the rather underwhelming black and white of Narcissus and Goldmund I read a few books back. (I’m feeling a little guilt in suggesting that Erdrich trumps Hesse for me now.) And on a side note, LR only heightened my longing for playing the piano once again. I’m a sucker for people who write about pianos.

Like many others before it, this book leaves me with a number of questions to figure out for myself...questions I probably won’t, can’t take the time to answer just yet, but will find elsewhere on down the road.

*******

I haven't quite stopped thinking about this book in the nine months since I finished it...it deserves 5 stars. show less

This story is as powerful and mesmerizing a tale as I have yet to read by this marvelous author. Here we have the story of an aging priest who reflects back on a life ministering to Ojibwe Indians on an isolated reservation. The story spans the better part of the 20th century, and is true to the times without being focused on history as much as character. The priest's astonishing secret of a double life, coupled with the fascinating characters who people his tale, and the haunting, lyrical style of Erdrich’s spot-on magical realism result in an outstanding work of literary fiction.