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Master Butchers Singing Club

4.0 of 5 stars 4.00 · rating details · 9,273 ratings · 929 reviews

What happens when a trained killer discovers that his true vocation is love? Having survived the killing fields of World War I, Fidelis Waldvogel returns home to his quiet German village and marries the pregnant widow of his best friend who was killed in action.

With a suitcase full of sausages and a master butcher's precious set of knives, Fidelis sets out for America, get...more

ebook, 416 pages

Published February 4th 2003 by HarperCollins (first published 2003)

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Jul 30, 2010 Barbara rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Maria

Shelves: ww-1

How does one review a book written by a true artistic voice and do justice to its telling? One should not expect a synopsis here, that can easily be found elsewhere. This is a beautiful, often painful novel.

Although Louise Erdrich generally places emphasis on the Native American in her books, she has chosen to take a different route with this novel. The occasional references to American Indians are by no means insignificant, however, but add spice to an already intriguing narrative. Her many, va...more

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Nov 02, 2007 Amanda rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

This woman is an AMAZING author with an incredible talent for finding her characters' voices. There are alot of people in this book whose lives are intertwining, and you come to know all (or at least most) of them so intimately that it is slightly jarring when the perspective changes from one to another. And yet you quickly become familiar again with the way each person is and how they see their world. They are all very real and very honest. My only problem with this book was that it felt rushed...more

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May 23, 2013 Elaine rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013

This is a lumpy weird passionate sweep of a novel. There was lots that irked me - pacing that speeded up and then slowed way way down and the central passion seems hollow (and mostly happens offstage), but I read compulsively nonetheless.

Indeed, the book's real passions are the all the non-couple pairings- women friends, parents and children, adoptive parents, platonic male and female pairs, and these relationships are intense and compelling and give the book a wonderfully rich texture. It's ju...more

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Aug 23, 2012 thewanderingjew rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The novel is book-ended by WWI and WWII. It is a mystery with many twists and turns, but underneath the varied themes it feels as if it is mainly about love and romance, in all its varieties, and war, in its many phases.
Arriving home to Germany, after World War I, after three years of acting as a sniper, Fidelis is bruised inside and out. He has made a promise to a dying soldier, his friend Johannes, and he fulfills it by marrying his dead comrade’s betrothed. He develops a deep love for Eva, wh...more The novel is book-ended by WWI and WWII. It is a mystery with many twists and turns, but underneath the varied themes it feels as if it is mainly about love and romance, in all its varieties, and war, in its many phases.
Arriving home to Germany, after World War I, after three years of acting as a sniper, Fidelis is bruised inside and out. He has made a promise to a dying soldier, his friend Johannes, and he fulfills it by marrying his dead comrade’s betrothed. He develops a deep love for Eva, who is pregnant, and after her son is born he develops a deep love for the child named Franz. About three years after the birth, he decides to travel to America. He is now “the master butcher”, no longer a killer. He has the tools of his trade and little else when he winds up in North Dakota. Soon, however, he brings his wife and child to Argus, and although their life is hard, they are contented and devoted to each other. They raise three more sons, in addition to the first born who was fathered by his comrade in arms. Franz is the eldest son. After him came Markus and the twins, Erich and Emil.
Like Fidelis, Cyprian has also survived the war. He and Delphine are quite the couple. He is somewhat of an acrobat and she is his assistant. She has left her hometown farm, in Argus, to travel to Minnesota with him, to perform and make their fortune in sundry fairgrounds. Their story is told with humor, as we meet Delphine and Cyprian, who in all his glory is doing a handstand, naked, in front of a window to the street, which creates quite a stir which Delphine must calm. She is apparently a master at such things after growing up, motherless, with a father who is the town drunk and often had to be rescued when he did outrageous things. She does not know who her mother is since he will only tell her that she went away. He, however, worships a fuzzy picture of her.
When Delphine and her performing partner, Cyprian, return to Argus, they find her father in a drunken stupor, his home in a state of decay with an awful smell that they cannot dislodge, and then, ultimately, they find the bodies of the Chavers family. Somehow, they got locked in Roy’s basement and all three died there. Delphine’s close friend, from another time, is Clarisse, the town’s embalmer. Because of the buried bodies in the basement, they are reunited and their friendship blooms again. At the same time, she meets Eva, the wife of the butcher, who becomes Delphine’s friend and mentor, teaching her a trade and many facets of cooking and housekeeping. The butcher has brought some of the immigrants in the town together to form sort of a glee club similar to the one they had back home, and they meet and sing at regular intervals. Life settles down to a rhythm that is dependable and pleasant except for the fact that Delphine is unfulfilled in her relationship with Cyprian who prefers an alternate lifestyle.
The book tenderly investigates the relationships between people, and it will capture your heart as you develop real feeling for the characters and their struggles to succeed and carve out a place for themselves in this world. You can feel their pain and their happiness, and you can see them in your mind’s eye all those years ago, as they try to find that place for themselves with little else but the power of the strength in their bodies and the faith in their hearts.
The book is also about the variety of ways love can touch our lives. For instance: Delphine misses the love of a mother and a man; Cyprian misses the love of a man and doesn’t understand why he can’t love Delphine in the same way; Roy hungers for the lost Minnie’s love; Franz hungers for Mazarine’s affections; Fidelis misses Eva and the children miss their mother, Sheriff Hock suffers from unrequited love. Love can cause grief as well as ecstasy. It can give hope and create hopelessness. It lives in many shapes and they are all put under the microscope in this book.
The novel is about the variety of ways that we experience war. Throughout the book there is a theme of warring factions. There is also a prevailing theme, too, about the futility and injustice of war, in all its forms. There is, of course, the war between countries, the war that exists between friends when they have disagreements, the war between competitors in business, petty wars between relatives, there are often battle scarred husbands and wives who often have silly disputes that escalate, wars with disagreeable neighbors. Life and death are wars in themselves; the very struggle to survive or expire involves battles of many kinds with medical staff, well intentioned relatives and friends and oneself. There are wars or struggles over right and wrong, choice of lovers, laws and their enforcement. Not all wars involve weapons. Some are emotional and exist only within the lost soul. All of these are explored.
Friends may often become enemies, and later, friends again. This story is about a family torn apart by war when during World War II, some members of the family fight for the Axis and the Fatherland, while the other members fight for the Allies and America. They are fighting against each other because they are in countries with different ideologies and goals. Part of the family raised fully in America, identifies with her, the other part, living now in Germany, fights for America’s enemies. The futility of war is obvious since former enemies are now friends and former friends are now enemies, even today.
The book is also about the scars of life that people carry around with them, about the life-changing moments. Markus’ childhood accident, being buried under a hill when it collapses, and the death of his mom, scar him deeply. Delphine is scarred by the lack of a mother’s influence and the embarrassment of having the town drunk for her father. Eva is scarred by loss and disease. Mazarine is scarred by her terrible home life. Fidelis and Cyprian are physically and mentally scarred by war and injuries. The tale is colored by the effects of these scars on all of the characters.
There is a subtle theme of “stealing” also. Tante steals Eva’s medication, Roy steals morphine afterwards. He stole the life of the Chaver’s family. Tante steals her happiness from the lives of others and takes Fidelis’ children to Germany. Fidelis, in a sense, steals his dead buddy’s life when he marries Eva. Delphine steps into Fidelis and Eva’s life, pretty seamlessly. Franz’s love is stolen, briefly, from Mazarine, by his classmate, Betty. The mountain steals Markus’ boyish outlook on life. Clarissa steals Cyprian and the life of Hock. Hock tries to steal her love. Step and a Half steals Mrs. Smirkus’s baby when she was left for dead.
In the end, none of the characters were fully aware of what they could and could not achieve in life. Clarisse became a master embalmer, Roy once kicked his drinking habit, Eva made a success of Fidelis’ business and became a wonderful mentor to Delphine, and then Delphine became a mentor to Mazarine who had became a teacher and then a shopkeeper.
There are some ironies in the story that could have been developed more fully. Although Franz did not know he was the son of a Jew, and believes he is the son of Fidelis and Eva, both Germans, he goes off to fight against the Germans. The irony about the path that Eva and Mazarine both travel, losing their sweethearts because of war and before the child is born, is not dwelt upon either. However, the story develops so many themes well, it will just give the reader more to ponder.
The beauty of this book is in its down home values, its strong images of love and devotion, honor and morality. The picture of a child defying all odds in order to take his mom up in a plane, to make her happy, as she lays dying, is incredibly moving. The idea of Eva’s vision, in which she decides she is part of everything, even after she dies, having nothing to do with religion or anything else, but simply her idea of how it is, becomes a significant message of the book. Eva feels strongly about this, especially after her plane flight. She knows life will continue to change; it will go on, wonderful things will be discovered that they can’t imagine, but her essence will continue and be part of it. What a wonderful way to think about life and death.
These are plain folk with simple values and a strong determination to succeed at something, to work hard and achieve. It is the old way, and today, this drive and energy does not seem so apparent in our young people. More often we see them waiting for someone to give them an opportunity, rather than see them searching for their moment of opportunity.
The story transcends issues of race, religion and sexuality since it very calmly includes interracial relationships, homosexuality, bisexuality and interreligious unions without undue sentiment or concern.
The book is a wonderful choice for a book club discussion because of the many issues it elaborates.
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Jan 12, 2009 Mara rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: germany, historical-fiction, immigrants, american-indians, wwi, wwii

The master butcher's singing club of the title doesn't really figure into this book at all. Fidelis, the master butcher in question, does start a singing group in his new home of Argus, North Dakota, that's meant to reflect the master butcher's singing club he was a part of back in Germany, as a place where outside grievances can be set aside.

But this story is really about Delphine, a native of, though an outsider in, Argus. It's about her relationship with men, sort of, but really about what s...more

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Mar 24, 2008 Summer rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people i purposely enjoyed frustrating

VERY mixed feelings about this book. The author has some beautifully worded sentences and an overall engaging story (in the sense that it would have made a good screenplay) however, what the author states in the included interview as to her intention for writing the book (1--to show the affects of war and 2--to show the difficulties of immigrants to build a life in a country devoid of familial support or the familiarity of cultural fortification)was at best, used as a backdrop for a story about...more

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Sep 13, 2007 Nicole rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A throughly enjoyable read. The title says it all: this novel is replete with images that juxtapose the gorgeous with the grotesque (I'll toot my own horn over that bit of alliteration there), from the bloody trade that supports the main characters (butchers), and the plethora of death and bodies, to the wild and inspiring landscapes of the mid-west and touching portrayals of human relationships. If you like books full of the quirky characters America seems to attract/create, this is for you. Se...more

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Sep 28, 2007 Bari rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The book had my complete interest from the first two chapters, but I had no idea initially where the author would take it. It was a fascinating story, or rather collection of stories, particulary how each character's life fell into pattern with the others'. One of the strongest points for me was how she wrote and used time. Some events were written in a sentence or two and others lasted chapters, and it was not about how significant or trivial the event was, but rather it was like seeing each ev...more

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Feb 24, 2013 Joan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This novel was a pleasure to read. It is the story of an assortment of residents of a small town in North Dakota, Argus. It is an ordinary town, but the story is not ordinary and neither are the characters. Fidelis, a German soldier, loses his best friend in WWI, and after telling the man's fiancé the bad news, ends up marrying her (Eva) who is already pregnant. He sets off for America with his butcher's knives and a suitcase full of exquisite sausages. He eventually brings Eva over and they run...more

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Feb 02, 2013 Inga rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Der Titel des Buches versetzt erst einmal in etwas skeptisches Erstaunen. Eine Freundin bemerkte treffend, nachdem sie die auf dem Klappentext der Taschenbuchausgabe abgedruckten Empfehlungen gelesen hatte, dass sie einem Buch, das von so vielen Frauenzeitschriften schwärmerisch kommentiert wird, nicht über den Weg trauen würde. Ich habe es dennoch gelesen und es erzählt auf seinen 500 Seiten tatsächlich eine anrührende Geschichte.
Es ist die Geschichte der deutschstämmigen Familie Waldvogel, die...more

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Jan 14, 2013 peg rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, wwii, nativeamerican

The Master Butcher's Singing Club takes place in a small mid-western town during a time period that encompasses two world wars and it provides a sobering glimpse of life among immigrants striving to attain the American dream.There is no doubt in my mind that Louise Erdrich is a great writer. Her rhythm, wit, eccentric characters,master story-telling and vivid descriptions immediately piqued my interest when I began reading this novel. However, as the story progresses, its focus frequently change...more

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Jan 07, 2013 Laura rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Definite mixed feelings about the book. Definite gems in the story. The characters are great, each with a distinct view of the meaning of life and their purpose in it. I appreciated the writing and Erdrich's ability to intertwine the lives of all the different characters. The friendship between Eva and Delphnie is beautiful and I loved her depiction of what it's like to care for someone who's dying. Also loved how she portrayed the bits of history in general. The author does a great job of descr...more

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Oct 27, 2012 emi Bevacqua rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Fidelis Waldvogel survives WWI as a German sniper, recovers at home and then sets out to the home of Eva the girlfriend of his best friend Johannes who died in combat. Fidelis means to inform Eva of her lover's death but ends up marrying her, fathering Johannes's unborn child, and three other sons including twins.

Fidelis emigrates to America, sets up his butcher shop and then sends for Eva and his sister Tante. Eva befriends Delphine, who is just as much a main character as Fidelis is in this b...more

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Aug 30, 2012 Booknblues rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Louise Erdrich’s The Master Butchers Singing Club set in the bleak landscape of Argus, North Dakota from the 1920’s through World War II is told primarily through the perspective of Fidelis Waldvogel and Delphine Watzka. Erdrich is so adept at characterization and creating a setting that one can even imagine the taste and smells from the oven and so it is a pleasure to immerse oneself in Argus and get to know the cast of characters who populate the town. She is also skilled at setting the stage...more Louise Erdrich’s The Master Butchers Singing Club set in the bleak landscape of Argus, North Dakota from the 1920’s through World War II is told primarily through the perspective of Fidelis Waldvogel and Delphine Watzka. Erdrich is so adept at characterization and creating a setting that one can even imagine the taste and smells from the oven and so it is a pleasure to immerse oneself in Argus and get to know the cast of characters who populate the town. She is also skilled at setting the stage and what happens earlier in the novel and seems without importance becomes vital later.

Fidelis a German sniper by way of the war and a butcher by trade spends 12 days walking home after the war ends. Fidelis known for his strength continues his journey to tell his best friend’s pregnant fiancee, Eva of his death, he falls in love with her and marries her. His life changes when he sees the wonderful bread produced in America, in Seattle and decides he will live there. He packs his butcher’s knives and his father’s sausages which he sells to take him across America, he only has enough to take him to Argus where he sets up shop.

Delphine is from Argus and uses the stage and her acting abilities to leave behind a drunk father and be laughed at and looked down upon from the community. Because of her strong stomach muscles she is chosen by an acrobat, Cyprian to assist in a balancing act and they travel the west together. Upon returning to Argus, Delphine meets Eva:

“Today her hair was bound back in a singular knot, the sides rolled in smooth twists, the knot itself in the shape of the figure eight, which Delphine knew was the ancient sign for eternity. Eva rose and turned away, walked across the green squares of linoleum to punch some risen dough and cover it with towels. As Delphine watched, into her head there popped a strange notion: the idea that perhaps strongly experienced moments, as when Eva turned and the sun met her hair and for that one instant the symbol blazed out, those particular moments were eternal. Those moments actually went somewhere. Into a file of moments that existed out of times range and could not be pilfered by God.”

Louise Erdrich is so gifted in the way she describes simple moments that it is a pleasure to read her books. I loved that she was able to create so many layers to the simple town life of Argus, North Dakota. There are so many ideas to think of within this story that I strongly recommend it.(less)

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Jul 15, 2012 Philippa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Review published in the New Zealand Herald, 5 July 2003

The Master Butchers Singing Club
Louise Erdrich
(Flamingo)

Reviewed by Philippa Jamieson

Louise Erdrich is in my view one of the best contemporary American novelists, but her latest offering is a disappointment. The cover intrigues, picturing meat and sausages in rich reds and browns, and it starts promisingly enough. The Master Butchers Singing Club is a departure from Erdrich's usual characters from the Ojibwe tribe (from which the author is d...more Review published in the New Zealand Herald, 5 July 2003

The Master Butchers Singing Club
Louise Erdrich
(Flamingo)

Reviewed by Philippa Jamieson

Louise Erdrich is in my view one of the best contemporary American novelists, but her latest offering is a disappointment. The cover intrigues, picturing meat and sausages in rich reds and browns, and it starts promisingly enough. The Master Butchers Singing Club is a departure from Erdrich's usual characters from the Ojibwe tribe (from which the author is descended). This time she is inspired by her German heritage.
Fidelis Waldvogel, a young German butcher whose best friend is killed in WWI, marries his widow Eva. They emigrate to America, settling in Argus, North Dakota, where Fidelis establishes a butchery – and the male choir of the title.
Meanwhile, Delphine Watzka and partner Cyprian are travelling around performing circus-style balancing acts. On returning to Delphine's drunkard father in Argus they uncover a grisly secret in his basement. Gradually Delphine's fortunes become entwined with those of the Waldvogels. Themes of butchery and killing run through the book, though it is more sad than gruesome, and members of the Waldvogel family end up fighting on opposing sides of WWII.
Sprawling and ambitious, the book covers the period from 1918 to the mid-fifties, and introduces a host of idiosyncratic characters: the resourceful Delphine; Eva, a perfect angel hausfrau; Clarisse the embalmer, unrelentingly pursued by the portly Sheriff Hock; the strange scrap collector Step-and-a-Half. Descriptions are imaginative and poetic: the butchery, for example, glistens with visceral detail.
Where this novel falls down is the uneven plot, which lurches haphazardly, lifting the reader up and then pulling the rug out in anticlimax – several times. There are too many unexplained loose ends for my satisfaction and the omniscient point of view scatters the focus. The Master Butchers Singing Club lacks the cohesion and the spirit of Erdrich's previous novels – I'd recommend most of them over this one.
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Feb 02, 2012 Lisa Christen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

First of all, a few tidbits. The author says that the photo on the cover of the 2003 edition of this book is her grandfather who was a butcher and fought in WWI on the German side. His sons fought in WWII on the American side. Also, her grandmother was in a vaudeville act where she was a human table.

Now to the story itself. Loved it. But it is an interesting book. It was one that I wanted to read to find out what was happening, but I do have to tell you that it is a story about people. Nothing m...more

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Dec 01, 2011 Sue Mellgren rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Favorite Quote:

"Eva sipped her coffee. Today, her hair was bound back in a singular knot, the sides rolled in smooth twists, the knot itself in the shape of the figure eight, which Delphine knew was the ancient sign for eternity. Eva rose and turned away, walked across the green squares of linoleum to punch some risen dough and cover it with towels. As Delphine watched, into her head there popped a strange notion: the idea that perhaps strongly experienced moments, as when Eva turned and the sun...more

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Jun 21, 2011 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the story of two very different families and how they collide. Firstly, the Waldvogels – from Germany. Fidelis Waldvogel was a former sniper for the Germans in WWI, and returns home to marry his dead best friend’s pregnant fiancee, Eva. He then moves to the United States and becomes a master butcher. His wife soon joins him, along with their four sons: Franz, Markus, Emil and Erich.

Delphine is the daughter of a drunk and a mysterious missing woman named Minnie. We meet her as she is out...more This is the story of two very different families and how they collide. Firstly, the Waldvogels – from Germany. Fidelis Waldvogel was a former sniper for the Germans in WWI, and returns home to marry his dead best friend’s pregnant fiancee, Eva. He then moves to the United States and becomes a master butcher. His wife soon joins him, along with their four sons: Franz, Markus, Emil and Erich.

Delphine is the daughter of a drunk and a mysterious missing woman named Minnie. We meet her as she is out on the road, travelling with a professional “balancer” named Cyprian – a gay Ojibwe Indian who loves Delphine as a sister and wants her permanently in his life. Delphine’s father, Roy, is the Argus town drunk and Delphine returns to take care of him – only to find something horrifying down in the family basement. She also takes a job at the Waldvogel Butcher shop, and has her life forever altered upon meeting Eva, Fidelis, and Markus.

These families dance around each other, bringing others in and out of their orbits, influencing each other’s thoughts and beliefs with their own actions and reactions to events as they come along – whether death, near-death experiences – murders, jobs, and uncomfortable family secrets. The stories of these families are forever intertwined, as the two youngest Waldvogel boys are sent back to Germany with their embittered aunt and then WWII breaks out. We watch Franz fall in love, and we watch as Delphine must make decisions harder than she likes in order to capture her own happiness and meaning in her life.
From the west, later and later every night, flame reflected up into the bursting clouds. Skeins of fire over the vast black fields.

This is a book that speaks intelligently and beautifully about our struggles with death and what comes before it – the living towards death: death in its suddenness, and in its ability to drag itself slowly towards you. It looks at how this affects those who love you, and even you yourself and what the inevitability of death does to one who is alive.(less)

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Oct 04, 2010 Kathy Szydlo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I really enjoyed this book and would have rated it higher except for feeling that it was incomplete. Erdrich shortchanged too many of the characters at the end, while I would have liked to have read more about how their lives continued.

Set in a small North Dakota town after WW I, we follow the lives of Fidelis, a German born butcher, his wife Eva, and their sons. Another main character is Delphine, a local woman who becomes close friends with Eva. Most of the story takes place in the mid to late...more

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Feb 09, 2010 Rita rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Louise Erdrich is a master storyteller. "The Master Butchers Singing Club" is a fascinating tale that follows the life of Fidelis Waldvogel for more than three decades beginning with the end of WWI. Travelling with one suitcase filled with sausages and a set of master butcher's knives, Fidelis emigrates from Germany to America - destination Seattle, Washington. Selling the sausages for train fare, Fidelis is only able to make it as far as Argus, North Dakota. Have you ever wondered "Why on earth...more

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Oct 29, 2009 Catherine rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009, 50books_poc, indian_country, mainstream-us

In the simplest terms, The Master Butcher's Singing Club is the story of Delphine, a woman who once performed in acrobatic shows with her platonic life-partner; a woman who settles in Argus, North Dakota not long after WWI. It's also the story of Fidelus, a German sniper in the war, and his family - Eva, Franz, Markus, Erich, and Emil - who make Argus their home because it was as far along the American railroad system as a suitcase of sausage could transport them, and as hospitable as any town c...more In the simplest terms, The Master Butcher's Singing Club is the story of Delphine, a woman who once performed in acrobatic shows with her platonic life-partner; a woman who settles in Argus, North Dakota not long after WWI. It's also the story of Fidelus, a German sniper in the war, and his family - Eva, Franz, Markus, Erich, and Emil - who make Argus their home because it was as far along the American railroad system as a suitcase of sausage could transport them, and as hospitable as any town could hope be to a master butcher. The lives of each glance against once another, entwine, separate, entwine again, and between each moment comes the story of a world slipping between the twentieth century's great wars.

I've long wondered how men who survived the horrors of WWI could step back into normal life again, and Erdrich imagines one answer for Fidelus - a coping, a stillness, an anger, and something of a recovery. His sons must cope with WWII, and the mingled horrors its brings. In each instance I loved the perfected personalities of these men - perfected not in the sense of lacking faults, but rather in the business of living on the page, of having thoughts and emotions and actions that felt real and true, different from the women without being predicated on the female characters being lacking or lesser in some way. And the women - such women; honest, individual and wholly unique, fully realized as characters rather than ciphers; as women who might do housework without the housework becoming who they are; who might think about, conceive, deliver and raise children, but not without Erdrich telling us about their minds.

As I read I often thought, I could not have written this - the plot, the people, the place are all so richly imagined and cleverly constructed that I cannot stretch my mind to imagine how a person begins to write such a book. I suspect my admiration for the story will only deepen the more I think about what I read, and that I'll come back to this book for another reading time and time again.(less)

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Mar 05, 2010 Mimi rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As I read this book, I couldn't help feel the power of Fidelis Waldvogel, as well as the strength of Delphine Watzka. They were both wonderfully drawn characters who, though from different worlds, managed to share a similar destiny. Ms. Erdrich also created other characters with fascinating stories of their own while at the same time linking them all together in a meaningful way.

I've read some reviews stressing disappointment in the stark landscape portrayed in this tale. I, however, found the d...more

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Mar 19, 2009 Susan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Reading for the second time (for my book club) and enjoying it as much as the first time.

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Apr 30, 2012 Mereke rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A dear friend dropped this treasure in international mail for me, luckily it arrived! I will admit I am a huge Louise Erdrich fan but I hadn't read this novel because it isn't about her usual clan of characters.

Needless to say I am so glad I did read it because as is always the case with Erdrich she defines the characters, of which there are always many, succintly and in such a smooth, events based way that you feel you know them on the basis of events observation in the first few pages. This p...more

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Apr 13, 2011 Patience Thomas added it · review of another edition

Historical fiction which spans the decades from WWI through WWII. Takes place in North Dakota but the protagonist emigrated from Germany. After the war in Germany, he returns and marries the finace of his best friend's fiance who died tragicially in a fluke accident after the war ended. He goes to America alone to start his business as a butcher and then sends for his wife and child. Life is hard in North Dakota especially for someone from an urban area in Germany. Music is one of the bonds whic...more

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Jul 14, 2008 Kris rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bookclub, favorites

Ok, so I read this book in 7 hours yesterday. Couldn't put it down. Very sad, but interesting and gripping novel! I'd even go so far as to call it 'epic'.
I sobbed my heart out on pages 139-140...other than that, I was just involved in the story. In turn I thought, Poor Delphine, Poor Cyprian, Poor Eva, Poor Fidelis, Poor Markus, Poor Franz, Poor Mazarine!!! I never felt Poor Tante though... hahahah.
The end was VERY surprising.

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Nov 14, 2012 Dlee rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I liked the over all tone of this book. It was dark and brooding but seemed to strive for lightness and happiness at least in the beginning. Ultimately, there was no happiness and no light. Perhaps Cyprian found peace. I'm not sure. But no one else did. Not Fidelis who seemed so strong at first but ended as almost a footnote to Delphine's story. Not the father, not the scrap collector and certainly not Eva. I was hoping that perhaps the children could find some happiness, but no, none for them e...more

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Sep 15, 2011 Karen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Erdrich is like a more literary Fannie Flagg -- a really good story teller delivering the story with beautiful prose. I was really drawn into the story, which in my opinion focused mostly on a woman named Delphine more than it did on Fidelis, the butcher who started the Master Butchers Singing Club. Delphine is a former circus performer, Fidelis is a German immigrant. They meet up in a small town in North Dakota, and many of the townspeople are other characters in the story, all of them a little...more

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Dec 20, 2009 Anika rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: gah-frustrating

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Jul 04, 2008 Kirsten rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I love Louise Erdrich. Love her.

She is such a nuanced, intelligent, talented writer.

I would read anything she writes. I'd read her shopping list.

Even her weaker novels -- and there have been one or two -- are worth the read, simply for her lyricism and the way she elevates the act of storytelling into an art form.

The Master Butchers Singing Club is, I'm happy to say, one of her best.

Highly recommended.

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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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“She slowly became convinced…that at the center of the universe not God but a tremendous deadness reigned. The stillness of a drunk God, passed out cold…She had learned of it in that house…where the drunks crashed…Things had happened to her there. She was neither raped nor robbed, nor did she experience God’s absence to any greater degree than other people did. She wasn’t threatened or made to harm anyone against her will. She wasn’t beaten, either, or deprived of speech or voice. It was, rather, the sad blubbering stories she heard in the house. Delphine witnessed awful things occurring to other humans. Worse than that, she was powerless to alter their fate. It would be that way all her life – disasters, falling like chairs all around her, falling so close they disarranged her hair, but not touching her.” — 11 people liked it

“She had always been a reader… but now she was obsessed. Since her discovery of the book hoard downstairs from her job, she’d been caught up in one such collection of people and their doings after the next…The pleasure of this sort of life – bookish, she supposed it might be called, a reading life – had made her isolation into a rich and even subversive thing. She inhabited one consoling or horrifying persona after another…That she was childless and husbandless and poor meant less once she picked up a book. Her mistakes disappeared into it. She lived with an invented force.” — 10 people liked it

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