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The Round House

Louise Erdrich

3.95 · Rating details · 97,977 ratings · 9,802 reviews

Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here

One of the most revered novelists of our time - a brilliant chronicler of Native-American life - Louise Erdrich returns to the territory of her bestselling, Pulitzer Prize finalist The Plague of Doves with The Round House, transporting readers to the Ojibwe reservation in North Dakota. It is an exquisitely told ...more

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Hardcover, 323 pages

Published October 2nd 2012 by HarperCollins

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· 97,977 ratings · 9,802 reviews

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Jul 17, 2012 Will Byrnes rated it it was amazing

Shelves: literary-fiction, fiction, books-of-the-year-2012

The Round House is a knockout of a book.

Louise Erdrich is one of the true deities in America's literary Olympus. With The Round House she has used her mythic creative powers to give us a book that can be read as a page-turner about a terrible crime, the attempt to identify the criminal and take action, or as a rich, layered look at a culture in a place and time, and a lad coming of age within it, the tale imbued with telling details, a colorful palette of imagery and cultural significance. Or b ...more

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Nov 25, 2012 Emilia rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Louise Erdrich now has me as a fan, even though I've previously resisted reading her adult novels. There are two reasons for this: 1) As part of my Native American studies curriculum, I tried reading her children's book The Birchbark House to a class of second graders. It bored them to tears so I stopped reading the book aloud to them and abandoned it altogether. 2) Louise Erdrich was married to Michael Dorris, a professor/writer whose claim to Native American heritage was called into question. Louise Erdrich now has me as a fan, even though I've previously resisted reading her adult novels. There are two reasons for this: 1) As part of my Native American studies curriculum, I tried reading her children's book The Birchbark House to a class of second graders. It bored them to tears so I stopped reading the book aloud to them and abandoned it altogether. 2) Louise Erdrich was married to Michael Dorris, a professor/writer whose claim to Native American heritage was called into question. I'm still unsure if it's ever been proven whether or not he was authentically Native American. Dorris committed suicide after he and Erdrich divorced. Even though the latter is no wrongdoing of Erdrich's, I never really shook off the negative connection to Dorris.

I picked up The Round House before it was crowned the National Book Award winner because it received rave reviews on goodreads and because my local independent bookstore was selling signed copies. Here's one instance in which my book buying addiction has served me well! Everything about The Round House was just right. Erdrich captures how an Ojibwe family carefully deals with the mother's violent rape. Even though thirteen-year-old Joe and his dad Bazil are angry and want to know who did this heinous crime, there's a calm thoughtfulness that is carried throughout the story. I attribute this quiet to the self-possessed nature that seems inherent in the Native culture.

One of the most interesting characters for me is Linda Wishkob, a white woman who was adopted by an Ojibwe hopsital janitor after the doctor said she had a congenital deformity. Linda's birth parents decided to abandon her, taking only Linda's healthier twin brother Linden. The reader finds out that later as an adult, Linda is contacted by her birth mother because her twin needs a new kidney and that Linda is his only hope of being a good match. Linda's decision has a huge impact on how the story plays out and I love how Erdrich has given this control to a minor character.

The Round House is not only about tragedy and justice. It also focuses on the strong friendship bonds of horny and goofy teenage boys who are also dealing with very grownup themes of religion, spirituality, culture, and sense of belonging. I highly recommend this novel and yes, I will be reading more books by Louise Erdrich! ...more

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Jan 25, 2014 Annet rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: wow-impressive, emotional, brilliant, family-ties, literature-pure, have-to-read-again, crime, heartbreaking, dark, coming-of-age

This is a wonderful, moving book, I'm sure it will be one of my reading highlights this year. Picked it up at Newark airport last January. Great, interesting and fascinating story, variety of great and weird characters, a bit of surreal supernatural woven in, insights into the culture, traditions and life on an Indian reservation, the love of family and friends, a coming of age story which made me think a bit of Stand By Me. It's the story of Joe, 13 years old, living on an Indian reservation in ...more

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May 27, 2019 Beata rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

My first novel by Louise Erdrich, and I am absolutely taken by the story that took me to North Dakota and revealed so much about the world that is still a little unknown to me .... It takes a master to write a book that has an intriguing plot, and that opens to a reader gradually. I love this type of narration .... This novel will stay with me for a long time ...

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Feb 09, 2013 Elaine rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013

There is obviously a lot of erudition about Native American lore, folkways and post-colonization history that went into this book. There is also clearly a lot of love put into the detailed recreation of life on a reservation in the 1980s. And there are also the bones of a classic coming of age story here, along with some memorable characters -- the randy foul-mouthed octagenarian grandparents, the quirky postmistress who was abandoned by her white family and is a rare "adopted in" Native America ...more

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Dec 28, 2017 Brian rated it really liked it · review of another edition

"Just an observation of the truth."

I initially gave “The Round House” 3 stars. It is a good read, with some excellent characterization and I read it at a decent pace and enjoyed it while doing so. However, when I was done with it, I was like “well, that was good, what’s next?” I was hoping for it to induce more than that in me. After discussing it with my book club, I moved up my opinion of it. I am content to give it 4 stars in the end.
The good thing about this novel is that the suspense builds "Just an observation of the truth."

I initially gave “The Round House” 3 stars. It is a good read, with some excellent characterization and I read it at a decent pace and enjoyed it while doing so. However, when I was done with it, I was like “well, that was good, what’s next?” I was hoping for it to induce more than that in me. After discussing it with my book club, I moved up my opinion of it. I am content to give it 4 stars in the end.
The good thing about this novel is that the suspense builds nicely, the story is an interesting one, and Louise Erdrich is a smart enough writer not to harangue the reader with “issues”. She could easily have made this a novel about legal jurisdiction on Indian reservations, the effects of colonization on Native Americans hundreds of years after the fact, the impact of Catholicism on native populations, etc. However, to do so would have been to write a boring and pedantic novel. Instead, she has written a really interesting story that touches on (without whining or preaching) those topics in the context of a much more interesting human story that I doubt would isolate any reader. Kudos to her for that.
One of the joys of this text is the unexpected humor (it is quite funny at times) and the author’s wonderful grasp of teenage boys. The characterization of the protagonist, 13-year-old Joe, and his three friends is well done. The book is set in 1988. I was a teenage boy in the 80s once, I recognized myself in many of the elements and characteristics she imbues the characters with in this text. The book is filled with real people, and there were times I was unexpectedly moved by some subtle element Erdrich created within a character. This happens in real life, and when novels capture that it pleases me to no end.
I have some small quibbles with the conclusion of the novel, but overall it is an enjoyable read. Don’t read the critical blurbs printed in the book They overpraise “The Round House” to a ridiculous degree. It is a very good novel; it tells a poignant tale and will give you something to reflect on. Take it at that and enjoy. ...more

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Aug 09, 2012 Michael rated it it was amazing

Recommended to Michael by: Will Byrnes

Shelves: fiction, coming-of-age, mythology, racism, native-american, north-dakota, favorites

A perfect novel to me, with Erdrich at the top of her game. Through several of her past books, she has a great track record in bringing to life a memorable line of characters in the Ojibwe tribe in North Dakota over different epochs of history. Here we get the vibrant portrait of a family on the reservation trying to recover from a brutal rape of the mother in 1988. The story is from the perspective of a 13 year old boy, Joe, with occasional overviews that reveal the fictional narrator is making A perfect novel to me, with Erdrich at the top of her game. Through several of her past books, she has a great track record in bringing to life a memorable line of characters in the Ojibwe tribe in North Dakota over different epochs of history. Here we get the vibrant portrait of a family on the reservation trying to recover from a brutal rape of the mother in 1988. The story is from the perspective of a 13 year old boy, Joe, with occasional overviews that reveal the fictional narrator is making sense of events from a point decades later.

Joe is an only child of Bazil, a tribal judge, and Geraldine, who works as a clerk in the tribal office, which includes processing documentation of tribal membership. His parents try to spare him from clear knowledge of what happened to his mother. Their devastation undermines his supports from them, so he seeks more from the company of his three close friends and from his extended family of uncles and aunts and his grandfather. He slowly learns what rape means and about the location of the crime near the old and unused tribal council meeting place, the Roundhouse. His idolized father feels impotent because felony crimes by whites on the reservation fall into county and state jurisdiction, while if the crime was on neighboring federal land it falls to the FBI to investigate.

Thus Joe is challenged to grow up fast. He begins to feel he must find the perpetrator and help bring him to justice. Past childish pursuits become transformed. Eavesdropping on adults as a form of fun becomes a compulsion to glean clues. His recourse in childish fantasies with his friends over roles of various characters from Star Trek The Next Generation fuels his quest to become a hero. The burgeoning of his own sexuality, sparked by fantasies about an aunt who once was an exotic dancer and the lusty joking and reminiscences of his grandfather and great aunt, is shadowed due to the rape. And his experimentation with alcohol with his buddies is not much fun given his sensitivity to its role in facilitating violence in so many families on the reservation.

Another form of guidance for Joe derives from spirituality. The myths and ghosts that imbue the consciousness of most Ojibwe come alive in this story, and they provide a framework for the significance of Joe’s quest and of the Roundhouse itself. Joe also seeks some guidance by asking the new priest, Father Travis, about what to do about evil in the world. It is unclear whether he sees platitudes or wisdom from his answer:
The only thing God can do, and does all of the time, is to draw good from any evil situation. … Every time there is an evil, much good comes from it—people in these circumstances choose to do an extra amount of good, become stronger in their devotion to Jesus, or to their favorite saint or attain an unusual communion of some sort in their families.

Through the story, Erdrich is able to paint a wonderful portrait of the tribal community, of the strengths it gains from family and cultural traditions, and the resilience of its members in the face of poverty and the lingering burden of historical disenfranchisement and genocide. There is much joy and humor throughout the tale despite the dark theme of the impacts of an unprosecuted rape. Erdrich’s ability to make you both laugh and cry is my signature of excellence in reading. In my view, she deserved the National Book Award for this effort.
...more

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Jul 08, 2013 Debbie rated it it was ok

Shelves: loathed, disappointments

I hate cilantro; even a tiny bit can ruin an otherwise wonderful dish. I mostly hate ghosts, mythology, dreams, religion, and political messages, and these topics all ruined an otherwise fine novel. I realize it’s a long list of dislikes, but really, a novel should be all about character and plot development.

The characters were sort of boring or too stereotypical, and the plot, though interesting, was too broken up for me to appreciate it. Okay, the main character, Joe, did struggle with the bi ...more

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Oct 30, 2017 Katie rated it really liked it

Shelves: published-2012

The Round House is narrated by Joe, a thirteen year old Indian boy (I hate the term “Native American": it sounds patronising to my ears unless you’re going to call all white Americans “ex Europeans” or some such nonsense: “Indians” might be daft but at least like “cowboys” it summons up the exotic wonder and affection of childhood) living on a reservation when the events depicted in the novel take place. When his mother is raped and becomes a shell of her former self Joe is catapulted into a pre The Round House is narrated by Joe, a thirteen year old Indian boy (I hate the term “Native American": it sounds patronising to my ears unless you’re going to call all white Americans “ex Europeans” or some such nonsense: “Indians” might be daft but at least like “cowboys” it summons up the exotic wonder and affection of childhood) living on a reservation when the events depicted in the novel take place. When his mother is raped and becomes a shell of her former self Joe is catapulted into a premature spiritual crisis. He wants justice but sees no signs of it arriving. He becomes disillusioned with his father as he learns how ineffective he is in his role as a local judge. The cases he tries all of a somewhat petty nature. Neither does he have any religious faith to provide guidance since the tribe’s spiritual life is on the decline as a result of the long term banning of all their traditional ceremonies. Only a few elders are still connected to the old ways. The depiction of a powwow was interesting as all its former significance seemed to have tapered to little more than an excuse to show off for the opposite sex, a mating dance. Joe will seek guidance from his father, one of his elders and from a Catholic priest, none of whom quite provides answers. When the perpetrator of the rape is identified and arrested but then released because white men can’t be prosecuted as a result of absurd disputes of sovereignty and jurisdiction related to Indian territory he will have to take the law into his own hands.

I thought the ideas behind this book deserved a slightly better execution. It begins really well and ends really well but is prone to flabbiness in the middle section. I’d have liked it to be tightened up, perhaps fifty or so pages edited out. It also deserved a more complex baddie. The rapist isn’t very convincing except as a prototype of malevolence. On the whole though this was a novel I enjoyed and it raises important issues concerning the rights of minority groups. In fact it made me sad that difference is becoming almost outlawed in our modern world as if the ideal is to homogenise the entire human race. Of course the insistence on difference, personified at its worst by ISIS, sometimes leads to violence so on one level it’s understandable we want everyone to be one happy family but there’s also the risk of losing so much culture and spirituality in the process. Erdrich did a great job of showing me what a rich cultural heritage the Ojibwe tribe have. ...more

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Nov 16, 2012 Jack rated it it was ok

Told from the perspective of a 13 year old Indian boy in 1988, it is the story of how the brutal rape of his mother effects his life, the life of his family and his community. A New York Times best seller, many must find this book compelling, however I found the writing tedious and had a hard time finishing.

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Jan 08, 2015 Terry Everett rated it it was amazing

What a powerful book.

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Jul 29, 2012 Julie Christine rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Everyone

Shelves: american-west, contemporary-fiction, usa-contemporary, best-of-2012, indigenous-aboriginal, read-2012

On two successive nights this week I woke suddenly, yelling out in fright. In my dreams I was moments away from becoming the victim of a horrific assault. Shaken, I turned on the light, shifting uncomfortably in sheets soaked in my sweat, and I reached for The Round House. Louise Erdrich’s profound novel haunted my dreams and moved me to tears and laughter in my waking hours.

Geraldine Coutts, an Ojibwe living on a reservation in North Dakota, doesn’t escape from her nightmare. On a gentle spring On two successive nights this week I woke suddenly, yelling out in fright. In my dreams I was moments away from becoming the victim of a horrific assault. Shaken, I turned on the light, shifting uncomfortably in sheets soaked in my sweat, and I reached for The Round House. Louise Erdrich’s profound novel haunted my dreams and moved me to tears and laughter in my waking hours.

Geraldine Coutts, an Ojibwe living on a reservation in North Dakota, doesn’t escape from her nightmare. On a gentle spring Sunday in 1988 her thirteen year old son Joe and her husband Bazil, a tribal judge, peel her fingers from the steering wheel of her car and speed her unyielding body to the hospital. The front of her shirt is covered in vomit and she reeks of gasoline. Raped and nearly burned alive, Geraldine escaped when her captor went in search of matches.

Geraldine’s physical wounds heal in time, but the spirit of this proud, vibrant woman is crushed. She tumbles into depression, refusing to leave her bedroom, barely eating, escaping her terror through the false protection of sleep. The Round House opens with this crime and it becomes the incident which ushers Joe, the novel’s narrator, out of the smooth waters of his childhood into the murky depths of maturity.

The Round House is more than a coming-of-age story. The novel has many layers, each beautifully rendered in language that is so pure it belies the complex themes. The search for Geraldine’s attacker propels the narrative and in this, it is a tense literary thriller. It is an exploration of tribal law and the protracted effort by the federal government to chip away at Native American sovereignty. Tribal political and judicial limbo is a chord that resonates throughout Erdich’s works, yet when told through the perspective of a child it becomes the character’s discovery of his legacy and not the political agenda of the author. It is a novel rich with history, mythology and adventure.

But more than these themes, this is a novel of family. The tight union of Bazil, Geraldine and Joe forms the familial core. Erdrich’s portrait of a strong woman collapsing dug so deeply under my skin – this cold reality was the source of my nightmares. But the ways a husband and a son respond to the woman they love as she falls apart, how hard they work to lift her up and save her, are heartfelt and poignant. Erdrich captures each character’s emotions and reactions in vivid and graceful detail.

The theme of family extends through the tribal community. Erdrich reveals daily life on a reservation. She shows us what we think we know: the poverty and alcoholism on the inside, the marginalization and racism from the outside. But she also conveys a sense of community that few of us will ever experience, no matter how idyllic our childhood. Within the tribe everyone belongs to everyone else – the definition of family is not limited to blood relations. The communal responsibility demonstrates a solid foundation built on shared history and beliefs.

Despite the violent crime that churns the plot, there many moments of levity and sweetness in The Round House The novel’s comic foil is Mooshom, Joe’s ancestor and tribal elder. And I do mean elder. He’s entering his second century as salty as a sailor and with libido to spare. The many scenes Joe shares with his besties Cappy, Angus and Zack are ripe with thirteen year old boy hormones, antics and tenderness.

I can’t sing loudly enough my praises for The Round House. I also can’t believe this is the first Louise Erdrich novel I’ve read. It has been a year of celebrated-American author discoveries for me: Terry Tempest Williams, Cormac McCarthy, Louise Erdrich, not to mention the astonishing debut of Amanda Coplin (The Orchardist). That they are each deeply connected to the American West is significant to me as a reader. Through their words I have developed a deeper understanding, love and compassion for my enormous and complex backyard. ...more

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Dec 13, 2012 Kelly (and the Book Boar) rated it liked it

Shelves: book-clubby, smort, liburrrrrry-book, read-in-2016

Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/

First things first, yes I am going to use gifs even whilst reviewing a real modern day classic. Don’t like it? Suck it.

Okay. Now that that is out of the way let me ask you all a question: Are you a lunatic like me and sometimes actively seek out something in hopes that it will make you feel bad? If not, let me ‘splain things. I was born with a bit of a deficiency . . .

It takes a lot to make me have any emotion aside from happiness ...more

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May 06, 2018 William2 rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 21-ce, fiction, us, american-indians

Excellent, a svelte thriller, a lean slice of bildungsroman, a coming of age story. This book is the sequel to The Plague of Doves, which I have awarded five worthy stars.

It’s the late 1980s and an Indian woman has been viciously raped on her home reservation. Her son, Joe, an adolescent, and his father, a reservation judge, want to find the culprit. A homespun investigation ensues, mostly independent of local law enforcement, which appears to be ignoring the whole thing. The judge’s approach t Excellent, a svelte thriller, a lean slice of bildungsroman, a coming of age story. This book is the sequel to The Plague of Doves, which I have awarded five worthy stars.

It’s the late 1980s and an Indian woman has been viciously raped on her home reservation. Her son, Joe, an adolescent, and his father, a reservation judge, want to find the culprit. A homespun investigation ensues, mostly independent of local law enforcement, which appears to be ignoring the whole thing. The judge’s approach to finding the ravisher is straightforward. But when Joe and his pimply friends take some aspect of it into their hands things go absurdly haywire yet still end up yielding some bit of evidence.

The poor traumatized mom is upstairs in bed. She’s withdrawn utterly from family life. This leaves Joe and his father believing that some sort of restoration of their former happiness might be possible if the man can only be found. The ugly fact that seems to belittle the actual rape—horrendously traumatizing in itself—was the attempt by the attacker to douse Joe’s mom with gas and set her on fire once he’d taken his pleasure, an attempt which failed only because the man’s matches were wet. And they find the perpetrator, too. I won’t say what becomes of him, but it’s satisfying on multiple levels.

Erdrich’s prose is fundamentally flat and her tone so pitch-perfect that here or there a particular word will sparkle from her verbal firmament like a kind of jewel. It’s a beautifully spare sort of writing at the service of a gripping narrative.

Of the two Ehdrich novels I’ve read to date, the thing I most like about them is their sense of family and community. Dysfunction and mayhem come from outside the family, to assail it harshly. But it is the family that endures. Quite the reverse of my own experience, so Ehdrich’s family based stories touch me like a kind of balm. I especially liked Joe’s father here, the judge. I could have used such an exemplar.

In closing, I want to say how much I liked the way the old Indian widows sit around reminiscing about sex with their now dead husbands. There’s nothing vulgar about it, rather it’s sweet and nostalgic—noteworthy romps they were, too; no question. Read it, please. ...more

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Nov 23, 2012 Roxane rated it really liked it

Wonderful novel, with an ending so stark and sharp and haunting. At times the narrative wanders in ways that frustrate but Erdrich's talent is undeniable and this novel reminds me of Possessing the Secret of Joy for what it does to create fiction that both tells a story and makes a political statement. This book is well worth the read. ...more

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Apr 11, 2020 Michael rated it liked it

Shelves: 2020

A suspenseful coming-of-age novel charting an Ojibwe boy’s quest to find and kill his mother’s rapist, with the help of his tight-knit group of friends. In a way that’s especially accessible to teen readers, the fast-paced plot takes on a host of difficult topics—gendered violence, white supremacist terror, the genocide of indigenous peoples, systemic legal injustice. The work’s full of info dumps, to the point that the flow of the story feels choppy, but Erdrich’s writing is arresting.

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Jan 03, 2019 Diane rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, brunch-club

This is a beautifully written novel about a heartbreaking story of violence and revenge.

When a Native American woman is violently attacked on the reservation, her husband and teenage son try to seek justice, each in their own way. But this book is more than that plot — it's a collection of stories of people and life on the reservation. It's also the story of a boy growing into a man, and trying to decide what kind of man he will become.

This was my first Louise Erdrich book, and I picked "The Ro ...more

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Nov 12, 2012 Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it really liked it

Shelves: tournament-of-books, location-usa, national-book-award-nominees, read2012, location-usa-nd, around-the-usa

I was in a rush to finish this tonight before the National Book Award winner was announced, and I got to the last page right as the ceremony was starting. It ended up winning this year's award, so I'm glad I chose this novel to read over the other two I didn't get to.

In an Ojibwe community, a mother is brutally raped. The novel is told from her son's perspective as their family tries to heal and they attempt to catch who did this horrible thing. Most of it is told in the time of the story, but o ...more

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Mar 13, 2013 Melki rated it liked it

Shelves: family-based-fiction

I still haven't forgiven Louise Erdrich for The Crown of Columbus, that turd of a book she wrote with her then-husband, Michael Dorris. National Book Award winner, or not, quite honestly, I only read this one because I needed a book set in North Dakota for my Reading the 50 States challenge.

I was actually fine with the main storyline of how a mother's brutal rape affects the entire family, UNTIL Erdrich began introducing minor characters with stories to tell that were far richer and more compel ...more

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Oct 05, 2012 Cathy DuPont rated it it was amazing

Recommended to Cathy by: Will Byrnes

With many thanks to my friend, Will Byrnes, I read The Round House and while stingy with five stars, this book was without question, five stars. If I could give it more, I would.

I had prior knowledge of the problem of crimes against women on U. S. Indian Reservations specifically the inability of determining jurisdiction of areas, adding to the fact (due to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling) that on the reservation, non-Indians cannot be charged with crimes committed on Indian reservations, so I wasn’ ...more

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Aug 24, 2018 Meike rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2018-read, usa

Native American author Louise Erdrich successfully blends crime fiction with a revenge tale, a coming-of-age story, a narrative about racism and the depiction of life on a reservation - this is the stuff that National Book Award winners are made of. At the heart of "The Round House" lies a specific social justice issue: While Native American tribes have their own courts, they can only prosecute tribal members - but over 80% of the perpetrators of rapes on reservations are non-Native, and most ar ...more

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Dec 04, 2013 Elyse Walters rated it it was amazing

This is one of those stories I can't imagine 'ever' forgetting.
WOW-WOW-WOW...."The WRITING" by Louise Erdrich was EXCEPTIONAL. I wish *I* had words to describe what she 'did' on paper what I liked SOOOOOOOOO much. (I loved how the author 'inserted' ADULT *Joe* like a 'drop-of-spilled-water' into the story---then carried on 'BEING' young *Joe*: smooth -as- silk!)
Readers ALMOST didn't notice what SHE was doing. I loved how the author gave us 'enough' information needed --but not 'too much'.

DAMN: ...more

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Jun 16, 2018 Maxwell rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: owned, book-club-pick

I was pretty much sucked into this story from page 1. Erdrich's narration through the eyes of a 13 year old boy is masterful. It's a difficult book to read, for sure, and be warned that it covers some pretty intense topics like rape and abuse. But it's an important story as well, and Erdrich is able to look at some big injustices in light of one character's story in a way that makes it all the more enraging. And yet there is resilience and hope in these characters as they band together. I need t ...more

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Jun 17, 2019 Ingrid rated it it was amazing

4.5 stars Extraordinary and impressive. I thought the last few pages were not entirely part of the story, just written to tie off loose ends.

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Oct 15, 2012 Mij Woodward rated it liked it

Shelves: national-book-2012, hist-fiction

Maybe it's my age (68). Maybe it's a peculiar idiosyncrasy that I am unable to tolerate ANY passages in a novel that seem to be aimed at teaching me something.

I do like to be taught. But in a novel, any teachings have to be cleverly disguised, and just sort of snuck into the plot.

Maybe all that I learned about the Chippewa in North Dakota, and the injustices they and other Native groups face from our country's stupid fractured legal system, and life on the reservation--maybe that learning deser ...more

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Feb 24, 2017 Margitte rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017-read, american-novel, family-sagas, suspense, literary-novel, american-author, community, crime-novel, reviewed

Spring 1988. A woman is attacked and brutally raped somewhere in the Indian reservation. Joe, the thirteen-year-old son of Geraldine Coutts experienced the shock, horror and drama of his mother's condition when he and his father, Bazil, the tribal judge rushed her off to hospital.

Geraldine's only way of recovering was to shut herself up in a shell of silence and darkness, while the young boy struggled to grow up before the sun rose the next morning. Together with his father, and his best friend ...more

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May 06, 2018 Joy D rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: family-dynamics, zck, reviewed, north-america, historical-fiction, mystery, crime, social-commentary, law, native-american

Set in 1988 on an Ojibwe reservation in North Dakota, thirteen-year-old Joe’s family is devastated when his mother is subject to a vicious attack. Her reaction is to withdraw, showing all the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Unfortunately, the exact location of the crime is unclear, leading to a quandary among state, federal, and tribal jurisdictions. Joe’s father is a tribal judge, so he helps Joe understand legal ramifications. It starts out as a mystery, with Joe and his friends at ...more

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Apr 03, 2013 Darlene rated it it was amazing

It was a Sunday morning in the spring of 1988 that Geraldine Coutts, a member of the Ojibwe tribe of North Dakota, whose job and responsibility it was to determine eligibility for tribal membership, hurriedly and appearing distraught, left her home for an unexpected meeting. When she returned home later that day to her husband Bazil and son Joe, they were shocked by her condition... covered with blood and appearing to be in shock. Geraldine Coutts had been severely beaten and brutally raped and It was a Sunday morning in the spring of 1988 that Geraldine Coutts, a member of the Ojibwe tribe of North Dakota, whose job and responsibility it was to determine eligibility for tribal membership, hurriedly and appearing distraught, left her home for an unexpected meeting. When she returned home later that day to her husband Bazil and son Joe, they were shocked by her condition... covered with blood and appearing to be in shock. Geraldine Coutts had been severely beaten and brutally raped and the perpetrator had doused her with gasoline and attempted to set her afire. This sets the scene for Louise Erdrich's magnificent book, The Round House.

As in so many of Ms. Erdrich's books, there are so many layers to the story she so beautifully tells. At its most basic level, this is the story of the brutal rape of a woman and the damage this rape causes to the woman and her family... not just the physical wounds but also the psychological, emotional and even spiritual wounds. Ms. Erdrich describes the aftermath of this brutal rape with such sensitivity and yet she still manages to portray the very real devastation to Geraldine, Bazil and Joe.

Another layer to this story which I found interesting was the legal and political aspects of life on a reservation. I found it amazing that even though the story is set in 1988, the legal problems encountered on tribal lands , as those which were experienced by Geraldine and her family who just wanted justice to be served, were and are the same experienced on tribal lands today. In recent years in fact, the Congress of the United States was arguing about and holding up the passage of the Violence Against Women Act because of a provision pertaining to crimes committed on tribal lands by non-Native American perpetrators. Ms. Erdrich does a great job of portraying the problems faced by Native Americans on tribal lands. exactly where the crime was committed and whether the perpetrator was a member of the tribe was pertinent to whether justice would be served... was the crime committed on the reservation? If not, the perpetrator would be governed by the laws of the state or even federal governments. Also, tribal laws had no 'teeth' with regards to crimes committed against Native Americans by non-Native Americans. As Bazil attempted to explain to Joe... " We want the right to prosecute criminals of all races on all lands within our original borders." This aspect of the story was extremely frustrating for me to read... I felt the frustration of Bazil (a tribal judge) and I felt Geraldine's despair and fear that she might never get her life back.

As in other novels by Ms. Erdrich, another layer to this story which I particularly enjoyed is the tribal mysticism which was woven into the storyline... the customs and stories which are handed down from one generation to the next. In this story, Ms. Erdrich also ties in the beliefs of Catholicism .. the many types of sin and the various definitions of evil in this world. These descriptions provided a backdrop and deeper understanding of these characters ... how they felt and what motivated their actions.

Ms. Erdrich has once again written a book that I could not put down. This story elicited my outrage over the denial of justice to Native Americans throughout American history. It elicited feelings of compassion and admiration for Geraldine and her family. Ms. Erdrich has written a story grounded in the harsh realities of Native American life on reservations and combined that harshness with the beautiful mysticism of their culture and their beliefs. ...more

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Dec 18, 2012 Diane Yannick rated it liked it

National Book Award? Not for me. An important Native American legal loophole was brought to light.---when a Native American woman is raped by a non-native man, legal jurisprudence is lacking. For me, this could have been done more effectively with a tighter, more focused story.

I cared about Joe, the 13 year old whose mother was raped. I appreciated the author's authentic voice and her use of elder's stories when they directly related to the storyline.

What I didn't like was all of those rambling ...more

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Oct 23, 2020 Dave Schaafsma rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-20th-century, mystery-detective-thriller, native-americans

The Round House won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2012, and it has been on my tbr list almost that long, primarily thanks to a great review by Will Byrnes. So I finally read it and liked it a lot. It’s a coming-of-age story set on an Ojibwe reservation in North Dakota. It’s the story of Joe, a 13-year-old son, his father and judge Bazil and his mother Geraldine who returns home one day beaten and raped.

Joe’s decision to help solve the crime for his beloved mother is inspiring, as is hi ...more

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About Louise Erdrich

Louise Erdrich

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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 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.

For more information, please see http://www.answers.com/topic/louise-e...

From a book description:

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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