An exquisitely told story of a boy on the cusp of manhood who seeks justice and understanding in the wake of a terrible crime that upends and forever transforms his family.
One of the most revered novelists of our time - a brilliant chronicler of Native-American life - Louise Erdrich returns to the territory of her bestselling, Pulitzer Prize finalist The Plague of Doves with The Round House, transporting readers to the Ojibwe reservation in North Dakota. It is an exquisitely told story of a boy on the cusp of manhood who seeks justice and understanding in the wake of a terrible crime that upends and forever transforms his family.
Riveting and suspenseful, arguably the most accessible novel to date from the creator of Love Medicine, The Beet Queen, and The Bingo Palace, Erdrich's The Round House is a page-turning masterpiece of literary fiction - at once a powerful coming-of-age story, a mystery, and a tender, moving novel of family, history, and culture.
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[SMALL TREES HAD attacked my parents' house at the foundation]***
(Corsair, 7 February 2013, first published 2 October 2012, ebook, 384 pages, Around the Year in 52 Books 2019, a book featuring indigenous people, bought from @AmazonKindle)
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I'd never heard of the author before and to be honest I've only read a few books that feature indigenous people. I decided to read this because the blurb made it sound like a good and it has some glowing reviews. I was not disappointed. The Round House is all kind of harrowing. I was impressed by the fact the narrator; Joe is only thirteen years old. Joe comes across as very mature and the way he deals with the terrible crime committed against his mother reduced me to tears. The most harrowing thing is that the attack happens where the boundaries of different lands meet (perhaps intentionally?) so it is impossible to determine if this should be a tribal case or not. The book works on two levels. You get to know how the rape affects the family. The book also offers insight into the treatment of indigenous people by non- indigenous people. 1in 3 indigenous women are raped at least once and 86% of the rapes are by non- indigenous men and no action is taken in most cases. The end of The Round House floored me. This is a heart-breaking and breath-taking book.
