The Plague of Doves CD: A Novel
by Louise Erdrich
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 556)
Read in May, 2008
This book was quite good and interesting with lots of twists and turns. I do think doing a family tree on paper at the beginning would be useful to keep everyone straight. Erdrich's writing is wonderful, very poetic.
Two sections near the end of the book had appeared as short stories in The New Yorker that I had read in the last couple of years. For some reason, that was very disconcerting to me - I found it very distracting, I am not sure why. I think because it sort of took me out of my rh...more
Two sections near the end of the book had appeared as short stories in The New Yorker that I had read in the last couple of years. For some reason, that was very disconcerting to me - I found it very distracting, I am not sure why. I think because it sort of took me out of my rh...more
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Read in May, 2008
Interweaves the oral history & 1st person narratives of the members of a N. Dakota town & reservation to look at the aftermath & effects of an isolated murder of a white family and subsequent lynching of several innocent Indians. I couldn't read this in one sitting, so I was finding myself having a hard time keeping all of the different threads and families straight. There seemed to be so many that by the end when a new one started, I couldn't help thinking, "yikes, when is sh...more
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louise erdrich is an extraordinary writer--the way she puts words together is like beautiful beading, and i already miss the characters, want to know more, will soon read the book again just to get back in that town. she moves around between characters and times and how the past affects the present, sometimes tangentially, sometimes full on in the solar plexus. her works altogether (and of course i have read every book)are creating a four (at least four...) dimensional spiral, a little galaxy....more
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Read in May, 2008
recommends it for:
people who enjoy Louise Erdrich writing
I enjoyed this book. The writing was rich and poetic. The plot was a little tiresome based on the fact that Erdrich cast a wide net in this novel that is less than 400 pages. Each chapter was a different perspective and time. Sometimes I found myself enjoying what I was reading but a little confused with context ("how exactly did I get here?").
Also the jacket blurb leads the reader into thinking there is a mystery to be solved. There is but it seems like a minor part of the plot, bu...more
Also the jacket blurb leads the reader into thinking there is a mystery to be solved. There is but it seems like a minor part of the plot, bu...more
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Louise Erdrich is hands down, my favorite author - so I always grab her newest releases within the first month. While her story-telling style and language are up to her usual high quality. There are some interesting observations about relationships between Ojibwe, white, and mixed-blood people living in a fictitious town in North Dakota, but I didn't find the characters to be as engaging and memorable as Erdrich's characters usually are. Also, the book promises to revolve around a mysterious mu...more
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Read in July, 2008
This reminded me a lot of The Tenderness of Wolves, which I read recently. The same things bothered me about both books--an overabundance of characters and narrators, an anticlimactic "mystery," and a lot of loose ends. In this case, Erdrich introduces a completely new character at the very end to tie up the murder mystery that I had pretty much forgotten was a mystery at all--the murder is the thread that ties the whole book together, but the fact that it wasn't solved never really bo...more
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Read in June, 2008
I don't think Louise Erdrich can write a bad book, but this wasn't one of my favorites of hers. All the elements of a great book were there, but I felt like they didn't tie together. There were too many narrators that were too unrelated. The central "mystery" of the book wasn't played up enough. But there was some beautiful writing and character development in there. I would recommend for Louise Erdrich fans, but if you've never read her, start with Love Medicine or Tracks, and if you ...more
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Read in June, 2008
Erdrich weaves the history of a small town in North Dakota, where over the years, the experiences of Native Americans and whites have tangled in a sometimes violent web. Some stories are more engaging and immediately grabbing than others, especially those of Holy Track who was lynched as a boy and of Marn Wolde, a woman with a passion for snakes who runs away with a preacher (who in turn develops a dangerous cult). The chapters and voices unite to create a common history of the area. Erdrich'...more
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Read in May, 2008
Louise Erdrich rules. I've liked her other stuff, but this book made even The Painted Drum pale in comparison. The characters in this book are complex and come alive and the narratives all weave together in unexpected and creative ways. I would recommend this for anyone, but especially for people with an interest in Native American history or folks from the Great White North (i.e., ND, SD, MN, or WI).
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i was loving loving it, but hit some problems near the end. one pretty random thread was introduced three quarters of the way through the book that didn't enhance what came before or after. she also started over-explaining. she did all the work necessary to help her reader meet her halfway--with a few little words the whole fragmented novel clicked together--but then she undid it by spelling it all out. as a result, i had a "duh" moment rather than an "a-ha."
but, i would r...more
but, i would r...more
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Read in May, 2008
As a serious Erdrich fan, I was so excited to read her latest. This one, however, just didn't hold a candle to <Tracks>, <Love Medicine>, or, more recently, <The Master Butcher's Singing Club>. I felt like I'd read all these stories before, and though everyone in the book is connected to a central, devastating story from the past, the multiple character voices run together (except for Marn Wolde, who could have a book all her own and I would gobble it up!). Overall, I can't r...more
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Read in June, 2008
Smooth. So fluid, the writing, the plot, the story structure. I'm just amazed first by what a well constructed and executed book this is. Then there is just the beauty and sadness of the story. But even as a story originating from a ugly incident of racism and mob justice that gets entwined through generations of intermarriage, there is nothing of harsh judgment or irrational rage, but simple acknowledgment of how complicated our histories are. Wow, this woman can write.
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Read in May, 2008
I found myself checking back at prior chapters to see if I missed something and attempted to piece people/stories together as I struggled at times to keep it straight. I think I understood at the final pages but there is still a part of me wondering if I forgot some details - I read this during a road trip with the fam and was interrupted frequently. I did enjoy the author's writing style and story telling as well as the melding of generational and cultural influences.
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Read in June, 2008
recommended to Jean by:
Review by Washington Post
I don't know how "compelling" this mystery really is...the mystery part got lost in the strange and not very likable characters. Each chapter is narrated by a different character and they are thinly "related" to each other. I have never read anything by this author and I thought her writing was a bit vague and hard to relate to. I was expecting something much more enticing and engrossing from the get go. I would probably not seek out another novel of hers.
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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
readers who are interested in cross cultural relationships, history, and just plain fun stories.
Erdrich is a masterful spinner of tales that explore relationships over time; this book is a prime example. In this case, the relationships are primarily ones that wind back and forth across cultural borders - Native American and Anglo, in the northern plains. Nearly every chapter stands as a complete short story, so even if you just find this on a table at a friend's house and you have 20 minutes, choose any chapter and you'll spend time well.
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Ordered it as soon as it came out and just finished reading it. Breathtaking. Her ability to weave so many loose strands of a narrative and make them cohere is miraculous. Her prose is touched by her poet's soul in such a way that straight fiction writers often lack. She is an absolute wonder, and this book is marvelous.
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Read in May, 2008
Brilliant, as always, from Erdrich. I actually think this is her best yet, and I still recall images from the award winning Bingo Palace and Love Medicine all these years later. The mix of humor, humanity and pathos is right, yet she does not spare us the horror that humans are also capable of. Just a perfect book.
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Read in June, 2008
recommended to Lynne by:
I read all her work.
For me, this is one of Erdrich's most successful novels, one which continues to keep alive Ojibway culture intertwined, in this case, with the German settlers. It weaves in and out, always coming back to the central story of a wrongful vigilante hanging of three Indian men who came upon a brutal murder of a settler family. I think at some point Erdrich should get the Novel Prize for her body of work.
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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
adutls and sophisticated teen-agers
Louise Erdirch manages to make you laugh while she is writing about some of the most horrific acts against her native peoples and this book is no exception. Her characters are vibrant even while their bodies are declining and their stories are becoming repetitious. This story is told from many different viewpoints and at times I found it somewhat disjointed but I still enjoyed just about every word.
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This book is very hard to describe, so I don't think I'm even going to try. If I gave any details, it would give away too much of the plot, which is wonderful in its complexity. I will say that it concerns a small town in North Dakota, a murder, and the long lasting repercussions of that murder. But it is so much more than that. I would definitely recommend this book. I couldn't put it down.
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