The Painted Drum
by Louise Erdrich
|
|
Sign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of The Painted Drum.
discuss this book
friend reviews (0)
To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
lists with this book
This book is not in any lists. Go add it to a list.
other reviews (showing 1-20 of 657)
Read in March, 2008
The Painted Drum is lyrical and complex in the way that Louise Erdrich's writing tends to be. It's a lovely and magical story on Ojibwe traditions and their intersection with the modern world and the inevitable complexity of colonization. In general, I am drawn to Erdrich's novels, and I liked this one well enough, though I don't think it's one of her best, mostly because the narrative does not hang together as cohesively as I would like. As is typical of Erdrich, there are many characters in...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in March, 2008
My experience with this book proves that checking out books from the library is a good thing. About three years ago I bought this book and went to a Louise Erdrich book signing and got it signed. I wanted to read it then but put it on my bookshelf in my apartment. If I checked it out from the library I would of read it right away in fear of the due date. I heard of Erdrich's upcoming book 'Plague of Doves' and fetched this book of my shelf to get my fill.
This was a very good book, and did not ...more
This was a very good book, and did not ...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Has a copy to sell/swap
—
Read in March, 2008
recommends it for:
anyone interested in Native American culture
Although I debated between giving the book 3 or 4 stars, I really enjoyed it. It's a connection of four stories with the commonality of the painted drum. The story that was most intriguing to me was the first story. The main character discovers and connects with an old drum. However, the only way she can possess it is to steal it, something that she would never do. I too love old things, old things that were important to other people even if in just an ordinary way. I've thought a lot about this...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
This is a very deeply moving addition to Louise Erdrich's series of interwoven novels. In fact, in this one several stories set in different periods of history are intertwined. The main story concerns Faye Travers, who lives with her mother and runs a successful business organizing and selling the possessions of deceased folks. When she goes to review the estate of a neighbor, she finds a huge old painted ceremonial drum, which she can't resist taking home with her. Immediately, she begins to be...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in October, 2007
Why did it take me so long to read this book? I really had a hard time getting into it... the beginning seemed slow and I wasn't sure what to make of the characters, so I kept reading a few pages and then putting it down and reading something else. But I kept returning and about half way through the book I really became engaged with the characters. I loved the story of the drum and how it came to be and the lives it touched.
Now I'm recalling that I often have trouble with Erdrich's book...more
Now I'm recalling that I often have trouble with Erdrich's book...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
recommends it for:
Alicia
This book stayed with me long after I was finished. Its historical and tells a story of a Native American Family's interwoven past and present. I felt the magic of the land and the people who roamed it for centuries. I felt emotionaly bound to the story.
It starts out on a winding road and the story winds around the lives of a present day family and its ancestors and how everything that was ever done by each family member in centuries past would lead to their decendents and dictate their lives ...more
It starts out on a winding road and the story winds around the lives of a present day family and its ancestors and how everything that was ever done by each family member in centuries past would lead to their decendents and dictate their lives ...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
women interested in Native American stories
I enjoyed reading this book. Each section is good; a couple of sections are from the perspective of a woman who helps clean out houses after the owners die and auctions off the antiques in New Hampshire. Her mother is Ojibwe, although they never lived in North Dakota or on the reservation. Other sections do take place on the reservation: the history of the painted drum (and how it ended up in New Hampshire) placed in a family history, and another family's story involving the drum. Each secti...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in February, 2007
This story is about several generations of Ojibwe Indians and is an interesting psychological study of how parents’ problems can get passed on to their children and their children and their children. I didn’t so much buy the mystical allusions about the drum itself. Some terribly sad and horrifying things happen to children in this story. I wanted to love this book as I generally love fiction and non-fiction books about Native Americans. But I had a few problems with the fairy tale style of ...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2008
recommends it for:
lovers of kingsolver
I have the same sentiment as one of the other reviewers. I am having a hard time getting into it. The story seems to be unraveling fairly slow, but then again most good books do. I really enjoyed this book. It did start out fairly slowly especially considering that I didn't like Krahe's character, but towards the middle of the book, Erdrich leaves behind the main characters at the beginning to delve into the mythical history of the painted drum and that is where the story takes a turn for the...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2004
"Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won't either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Te...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in December, 2007
recommended to Tamera by:
Dianerecommends it for: Renee, Dram, Aunt
Not a typical book I would read. I enjoyed it and didn't want to put it down at some points. Very what I would call story-tellerish. There's a woman and she's telling her story and also the story of others, actually each character may be telling their own story. I was drawn to the Indian parts for obvious reasons, but turned off by parts that seemed like fairy tale. It seemed part autobiography, part history novel and part romance novel. Some good stories though. Might be an Oprah book.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in April, 2007
recommends it for:
anyone
I had to list one of Louise Erdrich's, and this is the most recent. You can read it on its own, certainly, though if you love it, start with Tracks, then Love Medicine, then Bingo Palace, then Tales of Burning Love, then Four Souls, then... you get the point. She is a stunning poetic voice, heartbreaking, warm, honest, profound. If the other Shook sisters join this list, we can debate which book is her best. Kathy says this is it. I still say Tracks or The Antelope Wife.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2008
I can't remember a time I strayed so long in the driveway at 9:30 p.m. after a long dull day of work with the thermometer dipping and the garage sensor light blinking while a disembodied voice lured, hypnotized and riveted me all at the same time. Anna Fields reading Louise Erdrich's The Painted Drum made me stay in my car well past the appointed time. This is 2 stories though I suspect the 2nd will swallow the first. It so reminded me of
This is the story of generat
This is the story of generat
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in August, 2007
As with other reviewers, I had a hard time getting into this book but once I did, I enjoyed it. I was taken by the story of the drum as well as the main characters' quest. The author did a good job interweaving the sentiments of characters of European and Ojibwe descent, in a way that seemed sincere. I normally don't finish a book if I don't like it after the first chapter or so, but something in this kept me going and I'm glad I stayed with it. It was a lovely story.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Favorite.
Erdrich is a remarkable historian, storyteller, poet... A magical concept, the inheritance of history through place, time, and objects is powerful and also telling of Erdrich's personal experience as a Native American woman. The book also places importance on female geneology, a common theme in many of her books. Each sentence and moment is stark and revealing, much like her poetry, movement and beauty flow from her fingertips.
Erdrich is a remarkable historian, storyteller, poet... A magical concept, the inheritance of history through place, time, and objects is powerful and also telling of Erdrich's personal experience as a Native American woman. The book also places importance on female geneology, a common theme in many of her books. Each sentence and moment is stark and revealing, much like her poetry, movement and beauty flow from her fingertips.
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in January, 2006
lyrical, engaging, sad, magical -- N.H. woman (who still struggles with father's & sister's deaths -- sister fell from an apple tree) finds old Ojibwe drum in estate she's cataloguing and returns it to tribal owners, who then narrate history of drum. Complex narrative, with characters who have appeared in Erdrich's earlier novels. Some unforgettable scenes like the one of 3 young children whose mother leaves them in a freezing house.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in February, 2008
I still get stopped dead in my tracks with the way Erdrich can use language in so many different ways. I think some people might suggest the narrative isn't as cohesive as others she has written (Antelope Wife and The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse still being two of my very favorites) but I loved the heartbreak and sensuality in this story...I always have to stop myself from underlining entire chapters.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in June, 2007
Louise Erdrich is a very engaging author, and I noticed a growth in her writing, and the daringness in her writing since she wrote "The Beet Queen" twenty years ago, which is the book that introduced me to Louise Erdrich's writing, and the one I read right before this one. The whole book was gripping, and Louise does a great job at telling stories about people, which are my favorite kind.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in August, 2007
This is a very moving story of mothers and daughters. It focuses particularly on how heroic young girls can be when circumstances require it. It's the first book I've read by Louise Erdrich, but I'm told that some of the same characters show up in different book's she's written--so that her books, in essence, fill out an extended family tree. I would like to read more of her books.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in February, 2006
I did not care for the modern time sections of this book, particularly the character Faye. The story of the drum and the sections that take place in the past are truly fabulous though. I ended up really enjoying this book becauce of the strengh of the Native American tale of the drum. The author ties the current time and the past together really well.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 3.73 (498 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 3.00 (1 ratings) number of reviews: 86popular shelves
other editions
quote
""Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won't either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself you tasted as many as you could." "
more quotes »