The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse

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The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse

4.18 of 5 stars 4.18 · rating details · 4,213 ratings · 566 reviews

For more than a half century, Father Damien Modeste has served his beloved people, the Ojibwe, on the remote reservation of Little No Horse. Compelled to his task by a direct mystical experience, Father Damien has made enormous sacrifices, and experienced the joys of commitment as well as deep suffering. Now, nearing the end of his life, Father Damien dreads the discovery...more For more than a half century, Father Damien Modeste has served his beloved people, the Ojibwe, on the remote reservation of Little No Horse. Compelled to his task by a direct mystical experience, Father Damien has made enormous sacrifices, and experienced the joys of commitment as well as deep suffering. Now, nearing the end of his life, Father Damien dreads the discovery of his physical identity, for he is a woman who has lived as a man. He imagines the undoing of all that he has accomplished -- sees unions unsundered, baptisms nullified, those who confessed to him once again unforgiven. To complicate his fears, his quiet life changes when a troubled colleague comes to the reservation to investigate the life of the perplexing, difficult, possibly false saint Sister Leopolda. Father Damien alone knows the strange truth of Sister Leopolda's piety, but these facts are bound up in his own secret. In relating his history and that of Leopolda, whose wonder working is documented but inspired, he believes, by a capacity for evil rather than the love of good, Father Damien is forced to choose: Should he reveal all he knows and risk everything? Or should he manufacture a protective history? In spinning out the tale of his life, Father Damien in fact does both. His story encompasses his life as a young woman, her passions, and the pestilence, tribal hatreds, and sorrows passed from generation to generation of Ojibwe. From the fantastic truth of Father Damien's origin as a woman to the hilarious account of the absurd demise of Nanapush, his best friend on the reservation, his story ranges over the span of the century.In a masterwork that both deepens and enlarges the world of her previousnovels set on the same reservation, Louise Erdrich captures the essence of a time and the spirit of a woman who felt compelled by her beliefs to serve her people as a priest. "The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse" is a work of an avid heart, a writer's writer, and a storytelling genius.(less)

Hardcover, 368 pages

Published April 3rd 2001 by HarperCollins Publishers (first published September 2000)

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Oct 09, 2012 Brandon rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people with spiritual concerns, tribal people, neighbors of tribes, poets, musicians, Chopin lovers

While much has been made about configurations of gender in the novels of Louise Erdrich, Last Report of Miracles from Little No Horse (LRMLNH) transcends earlier accomplishments from The Beet Queen and The Antelope Wife. The unifying aspect of sex becomes the force early in this story that turns the plot back to Tracks, bringing an astonishing depth to a story we thought we already knew.

For those not familiar with the novels of Erdrich, many of the characters in LRMLNH were introduced in earlier

...more While much has been made about configurations of gender in the novels of Louise Erdrich, Last Report of Miracles from Little No Horse (LRMLNH) transcends earlier accomplishments from The Beet Queen and The Antelope Wife. The unifying aspect of sex becomes the force early in this story that turns the plot back to Tracks, bringing an astonishing depth to a story we thought we already knew.

For those not familiar with the novels of Erdrich, many of the characters in LRMLNH were introduced in earlier books. In this story, a priest on a remote reservation in Minnesota writes a missive to The Pope, telling the pontiff he’s got the wrong person in mind for sainthood: Sister Leopolda, a woman whose either-or-but-not-both attitude is potently destructive. Instead, the priest tells The Pope about the witness he received from the tribe of Mary Kashpaw, Lulu, Fleur Pillager and (my favorite) Grandpa Nanapush. In a sense, this novel is a satire of religious conversion memoirs from earlier centuries.

Although there are many ways to connect this novel to others in Erdrich’s round of stories, I’m interested in her use of music, something that significantly helped the characters of Tracks survive the harsh winter of 1917-1918. Music seems related to the concept of flow, be it blood, water, wine or the transfiguration of one to another.

In other novels, Erdrich has used water as a volatile symbol, so LRMLNH astonishes with its variation on the motif. The water of the natural world in Love Medicine is still imbued with significance in LRMLNH, but Erdich links characters to nature by the flow of that water. Sister Cecilia leaves the convent when Mother Superior hides all music (except Bach) because the midnight playing of Chopin’s “Prelude in E Minor” wakes Mother Superior in sweat & tears with memories of her own dead mother (15). In one deft scene, Erdrich dramatizes the spiritual link between family, spirit and the flow of water. This early leave-taking becomes more amazing when considered with the novel’s conclusion.

The connection between music and family is subtle but startling once we realize that some music is sex. For example, Berndt Vogel--a farmer whom Sr. Cecilia goes to work for--uses the piano to keep her around; Cecilia, in turn, uses music to seduce him (a bit like the movie The Piano) While Sr. Cecilia practices piano, Berndt practices for loving her. The musical sex described on page 21 is more astounding than the traditional sex described on page 24. For an author as accomplished at writing eroticism (Tales of Burning Love is particularly memorable in exploring the diversity of physical love), Erdrich continues to astonish in LRMLNH.

The musical sex Berndt and Agnes share is a kind of birth control, unless we consider music the offspring. This book is about the spirit transcending the physical. It is interesting that Fr. Damien looks at the piano as “sleeping child” (6-7). Few writers have written as much non-fiction on parenting as Erdrich (The Blue Jay’s Dance, Books & Islands in Ojibwe Country and whatever contributions she made to Michael Dorris’ Broken Cord). So it is with interest that I look at the spiritual rebirths in LRMLNH, in particular, Fr. Damien’s realization that being reborn once might not be enough. And the novel is not talking about reincarnation, but opening a new dimension of one person, and music seems to be present throughout the conversions.

When Fr. Damien plays the piano in the new church, snakes come from the ground, giving him good standing with the Anishinaabeg (220). The snakes or ginebigoog come from the lower levels to hear the priest play piano, thus bringing the people to church because the snakes are known to be wise. All these things occur in Chapter 12, “The Audience,” one of the most philosophical passages in all Erdrich for it is here music elucidates the distinctions between European and American approaches to language, time and love. As for me, this chapter is sacred literature. So to quote from it I risk the heresy of paraphrase (don't we always?), but the poetry found within Erdrich’s prose is worth it:

“Divine love may be so large it cannot see us.
"Or it may be so infinitely tiny that it works at a level where it directs us like an unknown substance buried in our blood.
"Or it may be transparent, an invisible screen, a filter through which we see and hear all that is created.
"Oh my friends…”
The snakes lifted their bullet-smooth heads, flicked their tongues to catch the vibrations of the sounds the being made somewhere before them.
”I am like you,” said Father Damien to the snakes, “curious and small. Like you, I poise alertly and open my senses to try to read the air, the clouds, the sun’s slant, the little movements of the animals, all in the hope I will learn the secret of whether I am loved.”(227)

The novel earns this philosophical indulgence with physical hardship of surviving the Era of Benign Neglect. It is the spiritual transcendence mistaken as a loss of faith that makes this novel so rich. If survival is to be more than a physical act, survivors need to evolve spiritually, which here seems to be not a loss of faith but a loss of misunderstanding.
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Jun 12, 2009 Brad rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: unfinished

I have to admit that I didn't finish this book. I vowed to myself, back when I slogged my way through the insufferable Anna Karenina, that I would never again finish a book just because I had started it -- and I continue to live by that standard. Still, I came very near the end, and my complaint about The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse could not have been repaired in the space left.

What it boils down to is this: for me, Erdrich didn't achieve a genuine internal life for all her...more

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Apr 24, 2009 David rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It has been a while since I read a book which made me genuinely laugh out loud as I read it and which brought me to tears at other times. This book was one of those types of reads for me.

I have read a few of Erdrich's previous novels and I have enjoyed all of them. In every one of her novels we are exposed to the inner thoughts and dialouge's of her multiple characters. Many of her works deal with the different extremes of love and how one experiences love in its different forms.

From the mount...more

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Aug 29, 2009 Matt Fox rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My experience with this book was one of the most unique I ever had when reading, particularly with one chapter toward the end in which i found myself both laughing and crying, almost simultaneously. I have taught Erdrich's short stories to college survey courses and she was a favorite of my students. The narrative saga of her Objiwe characters continues, specifically in Kapshaw, Nanapush, and Fleur, but you don't need to have had read her previous works to enjoy this one.

The story is definitely...more

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Jan 09, 2008 Jessica rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: fans of mystical realism, American Indian culture, gender issues

Shelves: super-best, to-re-read

This epic spans generations but centers around the life of the fascinating Father Damien. Every aspect of his story is compelling, as are the journeys into the lives of other characters on the reservation. Erdrich deftly balances depth and breadth to create a vast yet intricately detailed and rich web of personalities, relationships, and histories. The tension between Catholicism and traditional Ojibwe spirituality is explored poignantly without demonizing either side.

Erdrich writes with a powe...more

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Apr 11, 2008 Kristen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: novels, native-american

Another beautiful, moving book from Ms. Erdrich. Probably her most ambitious.

There's some great, hilarious stuff with Nanapush in this book, scenes that I'm sure I'll always remember -- a moose chase gone awry, and a series of very funny resurrections. There are also many beautiful passages about faith, some of which caused me to close the book and think for a while before moving on. For me, that's a sign that a book is working on me at a deeper level than just story.

I'd call this a must-read, t...more

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Aug 29, 2009 Mosca rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

What a beautiful ending for another complex story by Louise Erdrich!

This is a book that twisted my opinions around its premises more times than once. At times preposterous, and at times profound--this tale binds the reader up into its characters' choices. Choices that we don't always agree with, but seem frequently to find ourselves complicit in.

And although sometimes I felt that small plot twists were a bit pat, I found that their weave into the greater tapestry of Erdrich's telling were more...more

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Mar 06, 2008 Suzanne rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: summer-read, spiritual

This is just a stunning book although it can be a bit overdone at times. A priest who gives his life to Native Americans on the reservation, turns out to not be what he appears. His breasts are bound. He is she. This is discovered at the end of his life. What was the meaning of his/her life? As a Catholic, he has lived a lie. So is there forgiveness and redemption? Like many of Erdrich's works this informs the reader about Native American life and the hopelessness of the reservation.

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Aug 27, 2012 Rusty rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I found myself chuckling and enjoying this read so very much. The character of Father Damien Modeste is well developed. Found the transition from a nun named Sister Cecelia to Agnes, the live-in common law wife, to Father Damien Modeste fascinating. As she develops her persona as a priest one can't help but smile or chuckle out loud. While she operates as a priest she doesn't fool many of the tribal people who get to know her/him well.

Father Damien takes his role as priest at the reservation ser...more

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Sep 09, 2010 Sarah Payok rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Louise Erdrich's books usually involve generous quantities of mysticism, spirituality, all-consuming love, and mystery-style plots that would be riveting without the dreamlike atmosphere created by all the mysticism, spirituality, and all-consuming love. The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse does not break from this pattern and the result is a novel that is equally engaging and cringe inducing.

The book centers around last 75 years or so of the life of Father Damien Modeste, a Cathol...more

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Sep 01, 2009 Lindsay rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Lindsay by: Meghan

Shelves: favorites

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 skinn...more 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 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.(less)

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Aug 24, 2010 Francine rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was my introduction to Louise Erlich, and I have since read most of her books. Her writing is exquisite. She brings forth the experience of the Native American with great accessiblity and little romance (in the sense of wanting people to be in a way that they actually are not). This story is based on a person that actually existed and fooled everyone in contact with her into believing she was not only a man, but a priest. This is a singularly remarkable book and written with such compassion...more

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Jan 27, 2009 Bethtub rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was something I looked forward to reading- sneaking a couple pages in wherever I could. Though I've enjoyed reading lots of books in the past years, I'm often motivated in part by a sense of accomplishment- I feel a pride in getting through so many pages. With this book, I simply and only enjoyed it. Erdrich is so savvy that her characters all have a unique depth- no relying on one main character to be interesting and letting the others slump. She often has strong women navigating the...more

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Jun 09, 2011 Maureen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

Incredible! This book is easily one of the best books I have read in the last five years. Erdrich's prose reads like poetry and her use of language is so elegantly accomplished I often found myself either moved to tears or simply breathless from the impact of her words. Erdrich skillfully prepared each and every word, phrase and sentence before it was placed on the page much like a chef prepares a fine meal- to delight the reader's palate and imagination. I dreaded the end of this book only beca...more

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Jan 05, 2013 Becky rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I feel so traitorous that I didn't like this book. I didn't like it for a very specific reason that I haven't heard anyone else object to. Specifically, a scene that takes place on p. 44. (view spoiler)...more

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Jul 14, 2012 Philippa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Review published in the New Zealand Herald, 27 July 2002

The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse
Louise Erdrich
Flamingo, $31.95

Reviewed by Philippa Jamieson

The title is a mouthful all right, but it's easily the best book I've read in months. Louise Erdrich goes from strength to strength with her seventh novel, continuing in her distinctive vein of storytelling about people of the Ojibwe tribe. The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse is her most ambitious writing to date and i...more Review published in the New Zealand Herald, 27 July 2002

The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse
Louise Erdrich
Flamingo, $31.95

Reviewed by Philippa Jamieson

The title is a mouthful all right, but it's easily the best book I've read in months. Louise Erdrich goes from strength to strength with her seventh novel, continuing in her distinctive vein of storytelling about people of the Ojibwe tribe. The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse is her most ambitious writing to date and in my view her finest.
Absorbing from the outset, this passionate saga picks you up and carries you along, with (literally) thrills and spills along the way. The prose is rich; it flows and sparks. Earthy lust, crises of faith, colonisation, culture clash, loss and longing are all tackled with deep sensitivity and honesty. The author shows the dark side of human nature but the enduring theme is love in its many forms.
The central character is the extraordinary Father Damien, who has spent most of his long life working on a reservation. He began life as a woman (Agnes), then became a nun (Sister Cecilia), and, driven from the convent by an unhealthy obsession for playing the piano, became Agnes again. After a series of bizarre events, a chance meeting with a priest on his way to a new post leads to Agnes assuming his identity and going to Little No Horse.
Erdrich draws together kinship threads from her previous novels, with a cast of lively characters all clamouring for their stories to be told. There's old Nanapush, Agnes' friend and confidante. There's the damaged Mary, strong as an ox, with an unswerving devotion to Father Damien. There's Father Jude, sent by the Vatican to investigate the miracles performed by Sister Leopolda. And there's Leopolda herself, a Jekyll and Hyde conundrum of ascetic piety and rumoured violence. I did become confused between some of the characters – the family tree was necessary.
Some events are seemingly miraculous, and indeed Erdrich includes elements of magic (sur)realism, but others turn out to be explained in a perfectly rational way. The Ojibwe magic works its spell on first Damien and later Jude, and they face challenges to their faith. Father Damien is a most unorthodox priest – not least because of his gender, but because he accepts the beliefs of others, and because he is a human being with carnal desires.
And of course questions hover until the riveting end: will Father Damien be found out as a woman? And does it ultimately matter?
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May 06, 2012 Carl Brush rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Louise Erdrich’s work is no secret. She’s been one of those rarities among artists--both popular and respected--at least since Love Medicine won the National Book Award around 1993. In ensuing years, she’s built a universe of and constellation of characters comparable to Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha county. Her marriage to novelist Michael Dorris (Yellow Raft on Blue Water is his best known; their collaboration The Crown of Columbus is a unique piece of historical fiction.) Their good work among Ind...more Louise Erdrich’s work is no secret. She’s been one of those rarities among artists--both popular and respected--at least since Love Medicine won the National Book Award around 1993. In ensuing years, she’s built a universe of and constellation of characters comparable to Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha county. Her marriage to novelist Michael Dorris (Yellow Raft on Blue Water is his best known; their collaboration The Crown of Columbus is a unique piece of historical fiction.) Their good work among Indian victims of alcohol is (See his The Broken Cord, the story of adopting a child with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.) and the circumstances of his 1997 suicide are worthy of attention both within and outside the literary world. But I’ve just finished The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse and want to use this space to revel in her magic.

The last Erdrich I read was The Painted Drum which disappointed me with its lack of dramatic tension. Little No Horse has no such problem. Every section, virtually every page, has its own story, yet each story is part of a whole in a novel that covers eighty-plus years in the life of Agnes DeWitt, who spends most of her life as the priest Father Damien Modeste serving his/her parishioners on the North Dakota reservation of Little No Horse. (To give you an idea of what a relentless storyteller Erdrich is, even her end notes contain the fascinating story of how the reservation got its name.) Of course, as usual with her, the story spans much more time and space--in both the earthly and spirit worlds--than the lifetime of this sham priest.

Erdrich’s prose is at once grounded in reality, earthy, and spiritual. I opened the book at random and happened on this one passage describing the child Lulu’s attempt to escape from boarding school by hiding under a traveling school bus:

....My teeth chattered at first but then the [exhaust] pipe under me, the middle pipe, grew warm. It ran straight down the center of me, warming me, burning me, although that would be in the end a complete surprise.

All through my life, to the mystery of my devoutest lovers, I have borne that central scorch mark--a think stripe of gold lighter than my skin, a line evenly dividing me, running between my breasts and vanishing between my legs.

And it is Lulu’s nature to embody the essence of both good and evil in her life, yet her inner nature is expressed in a decidedly unmetaphorical event. And so it is with even the smallest details of Erdrich’s writing. A character leans over, brushing her hair, and the hair will brush the ground, then root to it--if only for a moment--and a simple act becomes a metaphor for communing with nature. All in the space of fewer words than I have taken to describe it. And the reader experiences that communion at the same time as wondering what just happened. I guess what’s happened is a shock of connection between the spiritual/physical/emotional planes of existence, which is what we seek always in art. That unity of all the disparate pieces of ourselves that most of the time lie scattered yet always pull toward one another.

And that’s the reason I’m talking about Louise Erdrich’s whole body of work here. Before The Painted Drum for me, there was Tales of Burning Love, which is nearly as exhilarating as Miracles, but includes many of the same characters, or references to them. Each new approach to the Erdrich world, then, widens one’s understanding of the people, their history, their spirit.

Every artist is part of a tradition, of course, and Erdrich includes not only the magical realism of her Native American soul, but a number of distinctly American literary motifs, the most notable one for me in Miracles is the tall tale. The story of Nanapush and the moose as well as his subsequent wake/funeral deserves to be enshrined as right up there with Paul Bunyan--except it’s too risque to get into the children’s stoybooks. Another section is in a category of its own--have you ever read of a nun climaxing while playing Chopin?

One theory of art has it that the greater the volume of reality a work embodies, the more satisfying it is to the audience which experiences it. Erdrich embodies an enormous hunk of reality, and too read her work is to enrich our every aspect. (less)

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Apr 27, 2012 Pearl rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It's been so long since I read Louise Erdrich's first book, "Love Medicine," that when I picked it up after finishing "The Last Report . . . " its pages were yellowed. I remembered nothing of the story but remembered thinking it was wonderful and read her second book, "The Beet Queen" with much anticipation. I found it very grim and stopped reading Erdrich. So when my book club proposed "The Last Report..." I was ready to try her again.

Her writing is still delightful - fluid, descriptive, witty....more It's been so long since I read Louise Erdrich's first book, "Love Medicine," that when I picked it up after finishing "The Last Report . . . " its pages were yellowed. I remembered nothing of the story but remembered thinking it was wonderful and read her second book, "The Beet Queen" with much anticipation. I found it very grim and stopped reading Erdrich. So when my book club proposed "The Last Report..." I was ready to try her again.

Her writing is still delightful - fluid, descriptive, witty. She has a wonderful sense of humor, of the ironic, and is a great story teller. Trouble is, there's just too much going on in this book. Themes and motifs galore. Murder mysteries unraveled. "Saints" unmade or unrealized. And a lot of farce. Matter of fact, is the whole story a farce?

The story is set on an Ojibwa reservation in North Dakota and spans most of the 20th Century. It's the tale of a one-time nun (Agnes DeWitt aka Sister Cecelia) who is asked to leave her convent because of her obsession with Chopin, whom she plays with such un-nunly passion that all who hear her are disturbed, unquiet. Through a series of misfortunes and with nothing to do and no place to go, she ends up assuming the identity of a priest, a Father Damien, who has been assigned to minister to the Anishinaaabeg.

We come to know six families (well, "know" might be an overstatement - it's very hard to keep track of who's who)on this remote reservation. Their lives are interwoven with one another and with Father Damien/Agnes. Questions of Catholicism vs. Native American spirituality arise for the priest. Contrasts between the sympathetic, forgiving Father Damien and the harsh, life-nullifying Sister Leopolda are drawn. The difficult life on the reservation of Indians who have been robbed not only of their land but also of their way of life and have suffered the scourges of the white man's diseases are sharply drawn. Father Damien spends eight decades ministering to his people. They truly become his people. Yet, he is a fraud - a woman cannot be a priest, cannot administer the sacraments. If he/she is found out, will all his work - all the baptisms be nullified? And his converts not saved?

The story if framed by an inquiry into sainthood. A young priest is sent by the bishop to inquire into the life of Sister Leopolda. There are reports of miracles she has performed, of having the stigmata. Is she a worthy candidate for canonization? By the end of his investigation, the young priest wonders if he shouldn't be thinking of Father Damien instead. He, of course, doesn't know Father Damien's big secret nor doe4s he know many other things that we, the reader, have been let in on about this fallible priest. But we are led to wonder too. What makes a saint?

Yes, it's a bit of a grim story but also very funny, often very farcical and full of interesting characters, sympathetically portrayed. In the end, though, too much. Too much confusion of characters, themes, magical events and so on. I often know how well I like a book by the rate at which I read as I'm coming to the conclusion. If I love the book and love the characters, I don't want to leave them. I slow down my reading. About 3/4th of the way through this book, I sped up. I'd had enough. I wanted to be done.
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Mar 19, 2012 Sandie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: dinner-book-group, fiction

I like Louise Erdrich, probably because she has some of the magical realism of the South American authors that I also like. This book gives one plenty to think about. I am sure the book discussion will be interesting and wish that I would be able to be there.

The story is about Father Damien, the main character in the book, who is a woman who has lived as a man and who identifies as a priest. We are aware of this from the beginning. After a series of troubling events in her life, Agnes DeWitt st...more

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Jun 14, 2011 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As always, I enjoy the poetry of Louise Erdrich’s writing. Not only is she the master of retelling the history of certain people, but she does so with a simplistic grace. This is the second of her works which I’ve read and each has only served to deepen my respect for the Ojibwe people. However, this book deals both with Ojibwe life, belief, culture as well as the Catholic faith. Each person we are introduced to is presented with another individual who challenges their faith – whether it’s in Je...more

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Jun 08, 2011 Sherry rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

one of my favorite authors- found this info on the author-

novelist Louise Erdrich (books by this author), born in Little Falls, Minnesota (1954). She grew up in Wahpeton, North Dakota, where her parents taught at the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Her mother was French-Ojibwe, and her father was German; she and her six brothers and sisters were raised in a close, loving family. Instead of watching TV—they didn't own one—the children were encouraged to write and to memorize poems.

She went off to Dartm...more one of my favorite authors- found this info on the author-

novelist Louise Erdrich (books by this author), born in Little Falls, Minnesota (1954). She grew up in Wahpeton, North Dakota, where her parents taught at the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Her mother was French-Ojibwe, and her father was German; she and her six brothers and sisters were raised in a close, loving family. Instead of watching TV—they didn't own one—the children were encouraged to write and to memorize poems.

She went off to Dartmouth in 1972, the same year the university started admitting women and the first year of its new Native American Studies program. The program's director was Michael Dorris. Years after she graduated, Erdrich was invited back to Dartmouth to read some of her poetry, and she became re-acquainted with Dorris, and they ended up getting married.

She started off as a poet. Her first book was Jacklight (1984), a book of poems based on the thesis she wrote for her master's degree in 1979. She said, "I began to tell stories in the poems and then realized that there was not enough room." So she moved on to fiction. She published her first short story, "The Red Convertible," in 1981, and "Scales" in 1982. Later that year, Dorris convinced her to enter a new fiction writing contest, so in the space of two weeks she wrote "The World's Greatest Fisherman," and she won the $5,000 prize. Two years later, she published Love Medicine (1984),a novel made up of 14 interrelated stories.

Love Medicine is populated with characters who live in the fictional town of Argus, North Dakota, or its nearby reservation. There is Marie Lazarre, who starts out life convinced she wants to be a nun—"I was that girl who thought the black hem of her garment would help me rise. Veils of love which was only hate petrified by longing—that was me." And her rival Lulu Lamartine—"Lulu Lamartine was usually controlled as a cat, and got her way through coaxing, cajoling, rubbing against your leg. An old woman who remained infuriatingly pretty, she bent others to her will before they knew what was happening." And Nector Kashpaw, the man who loved Lulu but married Marie anyway: "Here is what I do not understand: how instantly the course of your life can be changed. I only know that I went up the convent hill intending to sell geese and came down the hill with the geese still on my arm. Beside me walked a young girl with a mouth on her like a flophouse, although she was innocent. She grudged me to hold her hand. And yet I would not drop the hand and let her walk alone. Her taste was bitter. I craved the difference after all those years of easy sweetness." After Love Medicine, Louise Erdrich wrote many novels set in the same fictional universe, and Marie, Lulu, and Nector all reappeared, along with others connected to them. Her novels include Tracks (1988), The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse (2001), The Master Butchers Singing Club (2003), The Plague of Doves (2008), and Shadow Tag (2010).

She said, "We have a lot of books in our house. They are our primary decorative motif—books in piles on the coffee table, framed book covers, books sorted into stacks on every available surface, and of course books on shelves along most walls. Besides the visible books, there are the boxes waiting in the wings, the basement books, the garage books, the storage locker books. They are a sort of insulation, soundproofing some walls. They function as furniture, they prop up sagging fixtures and disguised by quilts function as tables. The quantities and types of books are fluid, arriving like hysterical cousins in overnight shipping envelopes only to languish near the overflowing mail bench. Advance Reading Copies collect at beside, to be dutifully examined—to ignore them and read Henry James or Barbara Pym instead becomes a guilty pleasure. I can't imagine home without an overflow of books. The point of books is to have way too many but to always feel you never have enough, or the right one at the right moment, but then sometimes to find you'd longed to fall asleep reading The Aspern Papers, and there it is."

She said, "By having children, I've both sabotaged and saved myself as a writer. [...] With a child you certainly can't be a Bruce Chatwin or a Hemingway, living the adventurer-writer life. No running with the bulls at Pamplona. If you value your relationships with your children, you can't write about them. You have to make up other, less convincing children. There is also one's inclination to be charming instead of presenting a grittier truth about the world. But then, having children has also made me this particular writer. Without my children, I'd have written with less fervor; I wouldn't understand life in the same way. I'd write fewer comic scenes, which are the most challenging. I'd probably have become obsessively self-absorbed, or slacked off. Maybe I'd have become an alcoholic. Many of the writers I love most were alcoholics. I've made my choice, I sometimes think: Wonderful children instead of hard liquor."(less)

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Feb 25, 2011 Janet Leszl rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse hooked me early on. Most authors may hint at a big revel and string you along. This novel starts out with a giant revelation that keeps you reading, wondering how this came to be and why. I loved getting to know the complexities of Agnes life before becoming the priest. Mostly I enjoyed delving into the psyche of Father Damien/Agnes. Her/his rich life was filled with both the extraordinary and the common day to day existence of a person trying t...more

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Feb 08, 2011 Elizabeth Sulzby rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

One very vivid unforgettable image from Louise Erdrich's novels: a nun pouring hot oil in the ear of a young indian student. Throughout her work there are plots involving, to greater or lesser focus, the role of the catholic church and how the BIA abused children by sending them to boarding schools. I read this sometime back. Not my favorite of Erdrich's work but it is still very good. What it added to my knowledge was a more indepth depiction of the catholic church in Indian lands. It also cove...more

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Jul 30, 2008 Beverly rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Beverly by: Jonis Agee

Erdrich has written a complex, exciting novel. The cast of characters is pretty large, but she remains in control of them; they are individual and important to the story. The protagonist, Agnes/Modeste, has reinvented herself several times, and the juxtaposition of her complicated life with the present action kept me reading. This was a book that I slowed my reading for; I didn't want it to end.

Great for studying integration of character details into setting.

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Feb 06, 2013 Irene rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a difficult story to summarize. Fr. Jude is sent to investigate the life of a zealously, ascetical nun who has been submitted for the canonization process. Fr. Damien, the ancient pastor of the parish serving the Ojibwa people for the better part of the 20th century becomes the primary narrator of the story of this community and his life becomes the pole around which the larger story unfolds. Identity (people are often not what they seem), sanctity (zealous piety vs. sympathetic toleranc...more

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Jul 17, 2012 Wendy Kobylarz rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book chronicles the life of a former nun who, through a series of circumstances, becomes a priest at a fictionalized Ojibwe reservation during the last eighty years of the 20th Century
Through Father Damien, as well as other secondary characters, Erdrich explores the ideas of identity, religion and spirituality, gender and power. Through the stories of the Ojibwe, the mixed-bloods and the European-descended Americans, she weaves issues of tolerance and understanding and the slow stripping aw...more This book chronicles the life of a former nun who, through a series of circumstances, becomes a priest at a fictionalized Ojibwe reservation during the last eighty years of the 20th Century
Through Father Damien, as well as other secondary characters, Erdrich explores the ideas of identity, religion and spirituality, gender and power. Through the stories of the Ojibwe, the mixed-bloods and the European-descended Americans, she weaves issues of tolerance and understanding and the slow stripping away of one culture by another. I find these issues compelling, and the way Erdrich explores them are fairly strong. She perhaps does herself in a bit by overexplaining; for
example, in the case of a nun, part Ojibwe and part French and Polish, who the church was considering for sainthood: “In an attempt to reconcile the two worlds from which Leopolda drew spiritual sustenance, the young novice mistakenly…attempted to graft new branches onto the tree of Catholic tradition…When her efforts to meld the two cultures failed…” (p. 339). This passage is part of a passage written by the priest sent to investigate Sister Leopolda, so Erdrich at least removes herself a little bit from pointing out the obvious, and yet she does. This happens in several other places as well.

I had to read this novel for school; it is not one I would have chosen on my own, and this semester I am looking at structure as well as content. This novel fails a bit in that respect for me, too. I can concede that the Ojibwe definition of time may be fluid, and that this book in part conforms to a non-white idea of time, but I found myself spending too much time trying to figure out family alliances, which the family tree did not clear up too well; I was very confused about the ages of people and the back-and-forth structure of the novel is also confusing. At first it conforms to a back-and-forth that's easy to follow – the novel begins with a prologue taking place in 1996. From there it vaults back to the beginning of Agnes’ story (Agnes the nun who later becomes Father Damien), circa 1910-1912. Then we are thrown forward again in time to 1996, and so it goes for a while; then suddenly we're thrust into different times -- probably for a reason, but I am a linear person and found myself constantly stopping to wonder "what year is this, again? how old is everyone?" and it interfered with my reading.

The female characters are particularly strong in this work, and are definitely the more complex as compared to the male characters. It is somewhat disappointing, however, that in Erdrich’s exploration of gender /rules and authority, the only character who is not straight is minor and whose role is to move a story within the story along. Otherwise, even with all Father Damien’s subterfuge, everyone is quite straight. Although I recognize this is pretty much the pattern in the world, in a novel exploring issues of gender and power, a stronger queer character might have been useful.

The setting in the novel is strong; Erdrich’s language is absolutely gorgeous. A few examples of phrases I find particularly strong: the convent was a “blistering white” (p. 65), “the stink of ghost” (p. 79), “the thought laid his heart down” (p. 82), “withering light of the government school” (p. 170), “voluptuous nightmares” (p. 192), “electrified panic” (p. 213). There are more, of course. I recognize the importance of that in this novel – descriptors are not random; they are strong and convey emotion, as in “withering light of the government school” – many readers have some notion of what the US did to Native American children. And “voluptuous nightmares” – that is self-explanatory and so incredibly strong. All kinds of naughty images pop into one’s mind thanks to those two simple words, not usually seen together. It is Erdrich’s language that impresses me the most.(less)

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Apr 06, 2010 Carla rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A must read book, truly original characters!!!! Erdrich is a gifted storyteller who has a seemingly endless well of native / indian characters to draw from. None of her characters ever feel like that...characters in a book drawn to instruct you, instead you fall in love with them, warts and all, and know that they live on even after you finish the last chapter, they just ARE real people. I love all her books, but this one especially captured my imagination.

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Jan 14, 2013 Heather rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I don't often say that a book is in the top 5 books that I have ever read, but I confidently will say that this is the best book I have ever read. I wish I could give it 6 out of 5 stars.
I read this book after loving "The Master Butcher's Singing Club" by the same author. I loved how she introduced different stories and introduced them into the main plot. After "Little No Horse", I can't wait to read more of her works.

I love character novels that weave in and out of the complexity of daily life,...more

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Dec 21, 2011 switterbug (Betsey) rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If you yoked Faulkner with Garcia-Marquez, and anointed them with the comic hijinx of John Irving, you would experience a sense of Louise Erdrich's poetic, visually imaginative power. She interweaves a traditional pagan mysticism with Catholic catechism, the animate with the anthropomorphic. The central figure, Father Damien Modeste, is a Catholic missionary priest who, since coming to the Little No Horse reservation in 1912, has fluidly blended the customs of the Ojibwe people with the Holy Tri...more If you yoked Faulkner with Garcia-Marquez, and anointed them with the comic hijinx of John Irving, you would experience a sense of Louise Erdrich's poetic, visually imaginative power. She interweaves a traditional pagan mysticism with Catholic catechism, the animate with the anthropomorphic. The central figure, Father Damien Modeste, is a Catholic missionary priest who, since coming to the Little No Horse reservation in 1912, has fluidly blended the customs of the Ojibwe people with the Holy Trinity. Through his eighty years there on the reservation (he is at least 100 years old now), he has integrated the spiritual faiths into a potent hybrid, a mystic fusion that also informs the book's imagery, without a shred of proselytizing. Father Damien takes great pleasure in forgiveness, in absolving all of people's sins at confession.

Many of Erdrich's characters develop over time in her Argus novels, with intricate histories and relationships. Father Damien was a peripheral character in past books, such as Love Medicine,The Beet Queen and Tracks. Erdrich's use of the multi-narrative voice and nonlinear storyline brings specific characters in and out of focus at different times and in different books. In LAST REPORT, I could sense the full lives of characters such as Nanapush, Damien's closest friend, who came with a full history by the time he was introduced in this book. It is difficult to review this novel without mentioning some surprises about Father Damien's identity, which is shared in the first several pages. However, I leave that to the reader to discover, and will give very little plot point information.

Father Damien is now at the end of his life. He has been writing letters to the Vatican asking for spiritual guidance for half a century, awaiting a reply, persevering in this quest. When Father Jude shows up, it is not for the reasons Damien is hoping for. Rather, Father Jude has come to interview the cleric and others because the Vatican is considering Little No Horse's deceased Sister Leopolda (the Puyat) for sainthood. The Sister is inexplicably bound up with some reported miracles on the reservation. However, she was also a treacherous woman responsible for the tragic fate of several people. During the investigation of Sister Leopolda, Father Damien's extraordinary life unfolds.

Erdrich's prose is so dense and dynamic that you can extract any line and see multiple images expanding. Her sentences are not merely strung together to get to the next one. Like beautiful poetry, the journey of a single phrase can make you pause and shudder. Her sense of character is not limited to the sentient and her depiction of place contains a blend of what is now and what is ancient. I am still revisiting passages just for its supple beauty. Erdrich is an alpha-female writer; the robust writing/story doesn't depend on sentiment or emotional manipulation, but rather on singularity and strength. Flinty, brutal, feral, mystical, and inflammatory, this book is a postmodern world of the supernatural and earthly, intoxicated with great passion and love, deep sorrow and regret. And occasionally, it is hilarious.

I observed immediately that Erdrich's narrative keeps the reader at a certain distance, but it's the same way that the moon is at a distance when we gaze upon it. Too close and we would lose perspective. Within the chapters are subheadings that could rightly be their own vignettes and character studies. The structure reflects Erdrich's fealty to oral storytelling --the Native American tradition of language and the land, of birth and death, of revenant spirits, and the eternal cycles of nature. Father Damien's letters to the Vatican and his interview with Father Jude weaves the disparate narratives together, and shows the reader his candor beyond the cloak of secrecy.

I can see a higher power inhabiting the nun's fingers that channel Chopin; in the heart that beats in its cage; brittle old bones buried in the earth; the broken bits of sun flashing through the trembling leaves; a cold fat moon of an early frost; the long shadow of a life.(less)

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Apr 22, 2013 Ginny Sharkey rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

One part mystery, one part moral exploration, one part Native American storytelling, one part Catholic mysticism, one part hilarity, one part social commentary, all parts richly written. Erdrich tells the story of Agnes DeWitt, a former nun with a lusty bent who takes her life into her own hands when she becomes Father Damien to the Ojibwa people she/he ministers to. Erdrich plays with perceptions and pronouns throughout the book, and is utterly unafraid as she weaves these strands into a whole...more

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About Louise Erdrich

Karen Louise Erdrich is a American author of novels, poetry, and children's books. Her father is German American and mother is half Ojibwe and half French American. She is an enrolled member of the Anishinaabe nation (also known as Chippewa). She is widely acclaimed as one of the most significant Native writers of the second wave of what critic Kenneth Lincoln has called the Native American Renais...more Karen Louise Erdrich is a American author of novels, poetry, and children's books. Her father is German American and mother is half Ojibwe and half French American. She is an enrolled member of the Anishinaabe nation (also known as Chippewa). She is widely acclaimed as one of the most significant Native writers of the second wave of what critic Kenneth Lincoln has called the Native American Renaissance.

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Author Biography:

Louise Erdrich is one of the most gifted, prolific, and challenging of contemporary Native American novelists. Born in 1954 in Little Falls, Minnesota, she grew up mostly in Wahpeton, North Dakota, where her parents taught at Bureau of Indian Affairs schools. Her fiction reflects aspects of her mixed heritage: German through her father, and French and Ojibwa through her mother. She worked at various jobs, such as hoeing sugar beets, farm work, waitressing, short order cooking, lifeguarding, and construction work, before becoming a writer. She attended the Johns Hopkins creative writing program and received fellowships at the McDowell Colony and the Yaddo Colony. After she was named writer-in-residence at Dartmouth, she married professor Michael Dorris and raised several children, some of them adopted. She and Michael became a picture-book husband-and-wife writing team, though they wrote only one truly collaborative novel, The Crown of Columbus (1991).

The Antelope Wife was published in 1998, not long after her separation from Michael and his subsequent suicide. Some reviewers believed they saw in The Antelope Wife the anguish Erdrich must have felt as her marriage crumbled, but she has stated that she is unconscious of having mirrored any real-life events.

She is the author of four previous bestselling andaward-winning novels, including Love Medicine; The Beet Queen; Tracks; and The Bingo Palace. She also has written two collections of poetry, Jacklight, and Baptism of Desire. Her fiction has been honored by the National Book Critics Circle (1984) and The Los Angeles Times (1985), and has been translated into fourteen languages.

Several of her short stories have been selected for O. Henry awards and for inclusion in the annual Best American Short Story anthologies. The Blue Jay's Dance, a memoir of motherhood, was her first nonfiction work, and her children's book, Grandmother's Pigeon, has been published by Hyperion Press. She lives in Minnesota with her children, who help her run a small independent bookstore called The Birchbark.

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