The stunning first novel in Louise Erdrich's Native American series, Love Medicine tells the story of two families -- the Kashpaws and the Lamar... read full description
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Mar 28, 2008
Kirk
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Erdrich's first and still best-known work (because it's the one most often taught) has become something of a model for the contemporary short-story cycle, with interconnected stories devoted to a variety of interrelated characters spanning three (almost four) generations. The strength here is less in story (which centers on a love triangle and its effect on family ties) or character (vivid as they may be, they're still devoted women and unreliable men) than in style. I wouldn't call it lyrical b
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Sep 26, 2011
Lanea
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The novel is set largely on a Chippewa reservation in North Dakota, with brief forays to the Twin Cities. There is a family tree at the beginning of the book--refer to it as you read. This is essentially the story of two linked multi-generational families. The speaker shifts from chapter to chapter, as does the point in the time-line. Now we have the voice of a young student going home to visit her grandparents and worrying about her cousin, now the voice of that grandmother still a young wo
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Aug 20, 2007
Luisa
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To write a novel, start with a good short story. Then, write another. Then, another. Recycle your characters, put them all together, and you have a novel.
Yes, I'm being glib. Actually, I'm a big fan of Louise Erdrich's work. She transitioned from poetry to short stories into novels, and while the transition was not seamless, it was, and still is, a journey and a growth the reader can experience with her. Her early novels do read like short story collections with the imagist More...
Yes, I'm being glib. Actually, I'm a big fan of Louise Erdrich's work. She transitioned from poetry to short stories into novels, and while the transition was not seamless, it was, and still is, a journey and a growth the reader can experience with her. Her early novels do read like short story collections with the imagist More...
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Jan 25, 2008
Kate
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I read "Love Medicine" as an anthologized short story twice before I finally picked up the entire book. "Love Medicine" is one of the three most moving short stories I've ever read. Lipsha Morrissey's voice, his eye on the world, his confidence in his gift to heal, and . . . well, this implies the wrong metaphor, but his faith in the midst of suffering, his longing to connect to his own history despite its knotted-ness makes him a vivid and resonant character. Don't we all ha
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Dec 17, 2009
T
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If you find yourself back in the 1990s and in a college course called "Native American women authors," you should definitely read this book. All other people, including time-travelers, should skip it.
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Dec 17, 2009
Steve
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Before I had yet read Karen Manuelito’s examination of the intersection of interests between indigenous “womanisms,” highlighting particularly the commonalities between the experiences of African American and American Indian women, I noted the similarities between the emphases on female experience in Morrison’s Beloved and Erdrich’s Love Medicine. It’s not by accident that Morrison’s is one of the strongest voices in the chorus of praise on the back cover of the novel, noting that “(t)he beauty
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Dec 01, 2008
Rob says:
If you haven't treated yourself to the storytelling of Louise Erdrich, this is a great place to start. Her characters are beautiful, tragic, fun and flawed. Sometimes all in the same person! Her subsequent works develop many of the people introduced in Love Medicine. Lots of great reading to be had!
If you haven't treated yourself to the storytelling of Louise Erdrich, this is a great place to start. Her characters are beautiful, tragic, fun and flawed. Sometimes all in the same person! Her subsequent works develop many of the people introduced in Love Medicine. Lots of great reading to be had!
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Aug 05, 2011
Elizabeth (Alaska)
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A reader once said of Erdrich: "she puts her characters through a lot." I can't say strongly enough how much I agree with this statement. The story takes place between the mid-1930s and mid-1980s on an Indian reservation in North Dakota. The characters are two inter-related Native American families who exhibit typical human frailties and emotions. Five stars. I see that others who have read this and other Erdrich novels give it only four stars. It's hard for me to believe this author c
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Feb 16, 2009
Carrie
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Love Medicine is a novel set in and around an Ojibwe reservation in South Dakota. It consists of a number of vignettes and stories about various members of two families on the reservation, the Kashpaws and the Nanapush/Lamartines, whose lives are interwoven in various ways. It is remarkably well written, particularly considering that this was Erdrich's first novel. She writes a number of different characters, with very distinct voices, each sounding distinct and authentic. And the writing is bea
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Jul 23, 2011
Joan
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The book told the story of some of the Dakota First Nation people who lived on a North Dakota reservation from 1934 until 1984. The chapters focus on particular points of intersection between various characters and the sparks that arose from these interactions. Lulu Nanapush was a central character. She had 3 boys by different fathers, then she married a Lamartine and had 5 more boys, not all of whom were fathered by her husband. Marie Lazarre, a non-native, was another important character i
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Jul 03, 2011
James
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I first read this the year or two after it came out in 1984, and I didn't have the proper framework then for appreciating it. I was expecting a linear narrative, and this is a braided narrative, in the tradition of Faulkner. It's essentially a loving portrait of a community, of the reservation. It begins with June Morrissey tragically striving to return to the reservation and ends with her son Lipsha joyfully if cautiously returning. In between are short stories--some describing the same events
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May 18, 2011
Anna
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Not my usual type of reads. My mother-in-law recommended me this book, as the author is from ND and a native American...
The first story tells about June Kashpaw dying in a snowstorm after walking away from a man's car in the country. June was raised on a reserve in North Dakota and the rest of the book deals with all the other people who live or used to live on the reserve. The Kashpaws, the Morrisseys, the Lamartines and the Nanapushes mix and mingle. At times I found it hard to remem More...
The first story tells about June Kashpaw dying in a snowstorm after walking away from a man's car in the country. June was raised on a reserve in North Dakota and the rest of the book deals with all the other people who live or used to live on the reserve. The Kashpaws, the Morrisseys, the Lamartines and the Nanapushes mix and mingle. At times I found it hard to remem More...
Mar 03, 2011
Louise Erdrich
Louise Erdrich was born in Little Falls, Minnesota she was the eldest of seven kids. She grew up in Wahpeton, North Dakota where her parents influenced her to write. Her father was a German American, and her mother who was Native American. In 1972, Erdrich was one of the first women admitted to Dartmouth College. She majored in English and creative writing, and took courses in the Native American Studies program. She graduated in 1976.
At Dartmouth Louise met her hu More...
Louise Erdrich was born in Little Falls, Minnesota she was the eldest of seven kids. She grew up in Wahpeton, North Dakota where her parents influenced her to write. Her father was a German American, and her mother who was Native American. In 1972, Erdrich was one of the first women admitted to Dartmouth College. She majored in English and creative writing, and took courses in the Native American Studies program. She graduated in 1976.
At Dartmouth Louise met her hu More...
Nov 13, 2010
Ning Ning
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Nov 04, 2010
S.
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This book is the story of a group of Anishinabe people in North Dakota. The story emerges from the voices of three generations of people living on the reserve. Some are Chippewa, some are white. All of them have problems. This is one of the best books I've read about cultural conflicts for Native people, but it's not preachy. It just tells it like it is.
There are a lot of sad things that happen in this book, but it's also quite funny. Sometimes it's both. An example of this is More...
There are a lot of sad things that happen in this book, but it's also quite funny. Sometimes it's both. An example of this is More...
Aug 23, 2010
Lynne
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There are no short, pithy remarks I could possibly make that would do justice to this book, so I won't even attempt it.
To say this is a book about love doesn't cover it. To say it's about two Ojibwe families as they struggle to make sense of their lives as a conquered people in 20th century America is an inadequate description too. The book is entirely unique in its voice, vision, and purpose.
The story is told with multiple points of view from several narrators from the t More...
To say this is a book about love doesn't cover it. To say it's about two Ojibwe families as they struggle to make sense of their lives as a conquered people in 20th century America is an inadequate description too. The book is entirely unique in its voice, vision, and purpose.
The story is told with multiple points of view from several narrators from the t More...
Nov 20, 2009
Ivana
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Oct 27, 2009
Courtney
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This book meanders through the lives of members of an extended North Dakota family. It spans 60 years, chronicling moments from three generations of Chippewa.
The plot's orbit is uneven as it revolves around two centers of gravity: June Morrisey on her own, and Lulu, Marie and Nector bound together. That unevenness is not a weakness; it adds complexity to a book about the ways that love binds together us and pushes us apart.
At the outset of "Love Medicine," Jun More...
The plot's orbit is uneven as it revolves around two centers of gravity: June Morrisey on her own, and Lulu, Marie and Nector bound together. That unevenness is not a weakness; it adds complexity to a book about the ways that love binds together us and pushes us apart.
At the outset of "Love Medicine," Jun More...
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Jun 13, 2010
Harmonybites
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When I started reading this book, I was struck by the similarities to Sherman Alexie's THE LONE RANGER AND TONTO FISTFIGHT IN HEAVEN, which I had read recently; both books are on a list of recommended literary fiction I'd been working through and are the first published prose book by each author. Both are more a linked set of short stories than a novel, mostly told in first person from multiple viewpoints, set in an Indian Reservation--in the case of LOVE MEDICINE a Chippewa Reservation in North
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Jan 10, 2011
THIS BOOK IS AN ATTENTION GRABBER..AT FIRST I WAS CONFUSED BY WHO THE NARRATOR WAS BUT I FOUND OUT THAT DIFFERENT CHARACTERS WITHIN THE NOVEL GET A CHANCE TO TELL STORIES THROUGH THEIR EYES. THE BOOK FIRST CAUGHT MY EYE DUE TO THE NATIVE AMERICAN SETTING. THE MAIN CHARACTER LIVES IN A RESERVATION AWAITING FOR A BUS TO GO HOME FROM THE CITY SHE GOES INTO A BAR. ONE DRINK LEADS TO ANOTHER AND SHE ENDS UP HAVING SEXUAL INTERCOURSE WITH A GUY IN HIS TRUCK. SHE MISSES THE BUS AND DECIDES TO WALK HOME
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Sep 23, 2011
Rachel
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Erdrich's first novel revolves around two families that live on the Chippewa reservation in North Dakota, the Kashpaws and the LaMartines. The matriarchs, Marie Kashpaw and Lulu LaMartine, help shape the success of their husbands, lovers, sons and daughters with little more on hand than willpower.
The death of one of Marie's adopted daughters, beloved in the reservation although she struggles with alcoholism and infidelity, serves as the catalyst for both the destruction and awake More...
The death of one of Marie's adopted daughters, beloved in the reservation although she struggles with alcoholism and infidelity, serves as the catalyst for both the destruction and awake More...
Jun 10, 2010
Holly
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This is my favorite book and always will be. I am a book lover and have read thousands of books. When I was little, I used to read them over and over if I liked them. When I first read Love Medicine, I could not believe that a book could exist that was so close to my heart. I think about this book the way some people feel about the Bible.
Having said that, others will not relate as closely as I did. The book is set on a North Dakota Ojibwa Indian reservation and I grew up on a More...
Having said that, others will not relate as closely as I did. The book is set on a North Dakota Ojibwa Indian reservation and I grew up on a More...
Dec 10, 2011
Tucker
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A very dark portrayal of a Chippewa community through different periods and different lenses. Each character voice is unique, but they all share a certain pride and realization that they inhabit a world of consumption and Christ and bureaucracy but they come from a world of forest spirits and nature in all things. The Christian Science Monitor sums it up nicely by saying, "lyrical and funny, mystical and down-to-earth." The reader witnesses Native Americans through the worst of times a
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Feb 15, 2008
Amy
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This book actually earns six stars for the passage near the end about being "in love with the whole world and all that lived in its rainy arms."
I read this book because I remember that my grandmother loved it and I'm trying to read all of her favorite books. What if you could read all the same books that someone else read in their lifetime, in the same order, at the same age?
I read this book because I remember that my grandmother loved it and I'm trying to read all of her favorite books. What if you could read all the same books that someone else read in their lifetime, in the same order, at the same age?
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Jul 27, 2011
If I were to write a novel, I strongly suspect this is the kind of novel I would write. I don't have the patience to suspend this big long story arc continuously--I get impatient and need to see some progress, some mini-resolutions embedded in every chapter and perspective. Once I made myself a little family tree on scrap paper, I was set to enjoy a highly emotional novel. There were sex scenes in every chapter, but not one had the stink of sensationalism. They were there because...well, how
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Apr 20, 2010
Sarah Beth
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According to the cover of this book, Love Medicine is a "Triumphant National Bestseller". Not just a bestseller, mind you. A triumphant one.
I'm not exactly sure what makes a book triumphant but this one is pretty darned good and I'm super impressed that Erdrich could keep her many, many characters straight. I'm picturing a sticky-note flow-chart above her desk...
The story is of two, mostly native American families that interweave through the generations. The c More...
I'm not exactly sure what makes a book triumphant but this one is pretty darned good and I'm super impressed that Erdrich could keep her many, many characters straight. I'm picturing a sticky-note flow-chart above her desk...
The story is of two, mostly native American families that interweave through the generations. The c More...
Mar 29, 2009
Catherine
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The first half of this book seemed tremendously fragmented - and as I looked up the ISBN number to mark which edition I read, I saw that several of the chapters were published as short stories before the book itself. Ohhhhh, I thought. Well. That explains that.
Viewed as vignettes of contemporary (to the '80s) reservation life in Northern Minnesota / Western North Dakota, the book hangs together better than if you read it - as I did - expecting a single story arc. That arc does ap More...
Viewed as vignettes of contemporary (to the '80s) reservation life in Northern Minnesota / Western North Dakota, the book hangs together better than if you read it - as I did - expecting a single story arc. That arc does ap More...
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May 09, 2009
Heather
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This book was alright because I have (not literally) ADD and get bored easily. But the constant need to connect stories and characters and ages and times and places....it was like an explosion of a novel. It was fun and kept me interested, but honestly that was about the only thing that did. This family is - has always been - out of control. They go around doing whatever they want, getting into all kinds of ridiculous situations. And it's really disturbing at times. It's a perfect example
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Jul 13, 2011
Ann-marie
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Two things: "Shadow Tag" and "Tracks" have awakened a muse in me. When I read her work, I find myself writing poems, something opens up and a new way to my poetry, an almost different voice comes out. I find it scary and thrilling. To my friends who may be stuck, try a novel, someone who may not be new but new to you.
Jun 15, 2011
Samantha
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Loved this collection of interwoven short stories. Loved it! Many of Erdrich's fiction takes place on the same Indian reservation. This book introduces many of the families that recur later throughout Erdrich's fiction.
Each story is narrated by a different character, and Erdrich is very good at creating different voices for each of her characters and creating believable motivations for their actions. I read several of her later novels prior to this one (published in 1984), and whe More...
Each story is narrated by a different character, and Erdrich is very good at creating different voices for each of her characters and creating believable motivations for their actions. I read several of her later novels prior to this one (published in 1984), and whe More...
