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LaRose

Louise Erdrich

Start date: June 1, 2023

Finish date: June 21, 2023

Discussion: Author's Pick

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Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country
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Jun 14, 2016 Jeanne rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-women, first-nation, read-2016

LaRose is the third in a series of books by Louise Erdrich, each set on the Ojibwa reservation, near the town of Pluto. While the three books share some characters, they are less a trilogy than a well-loved community that the author can't help returning to. I hope she returns again. Still, violence from one generation spills onto later ones and into later books.

LaRose is a story of grief and grieving. Five-year-old Dusty is accidentally killed by his father's best friend (his mother's half-siste LaRose is the third in a series of books by Louise Erdrich, each set on the Ojibwa reservation, near the town of Pluto. While the three books share some characters, they are less a trilogy than a well-loved community that the author can't help returning to. I hope she returns again. Still, violence from one generation spills onto later ones and into later books.

LaRose is a story of grief and grieving. Five-year-old Dusty is accidentally killed by his father's best friend (his mother's half-sister's husband). As a way of creating justice and healing between the families, Dusty's best friend, LaRose, is sent to live with Dusty's family: "Sometimes energy of this nature, chaos, ill luck, goes out in the world and begets and begets. Bad luck rarely stops with one occurrence. All Indians know that. To stop it quickly takes great effort, which is why LaRose was sent" (Loc. 1871-1872).

Grief takes different forms. Dusty's mother withdraws from life and obsessively cleans. His sister becomes angry and cruel. His father withdraws from his best friend. Landreaux, the accidental killer, attempts to go on – and often seems to be doing well – but he and his wife need to fight the stories they tell: "The story would be around him for the rest of his life. He would live in the story. He couldn’t change it. Even LaRose won’t change it, she said. // But Landreaux knew that wasn’t exactly true. LaRose had already changed the story" (Loc. 591-593). Grief is generally stopped and healed in relationship, as one person reaches out to others.

This story, though, is a story within a story. The families' grief is seen within a well-developed historical and cultural context where we meet each of the four LaRoses, stretching back across five generations. Both of the youngest LaRose's families have ethnically-diverse backgrounds: his birthfamily is mostly Ojibwan, while his foster family is mostly Russian-German by heritage. These backgrounds and their backstories influence their sense of belongingness, their strategies for coping with grief, and the lives they style for themselves.

The current LaRose is the only male of the five LaRoses. Each is schooled and wise in Ojibwan lore and customs, but also well-schooled in White ways. Although the characters revert to their Ojibwan heritage, their White schooling does not detract from their personhood, but can make them more complex, competent, and well-rounded when they return home. Still, they often experience a sense of loss when living with whites. Landreaux, for example, is sent to boarding school where the administrator "meant well and her intentions were to help him be a good boy, but a white boy" (Loc. 3123-3124). Most, though, like the youngest LaRose, find a rich and satisfying balance:

He had learned from his birth family how to snare rabbits, make stew, paint fingernails, glue wallpaper, conduct ceremonies, start outside fires in a driving rain, sew with a sewing machine, cut quilt squares, play Halo, gather, dry, and boil various medicine teas. He had learned from the old people how to move between worlds seen and unseen. Peter taught him how to use an ax, a chain saw, safely handle a .22, drive a riding lawn mower, drive a tractor, even a car. Nola taught him how to paint walls, keep animals, how to plant and grow things, how to fry meat, how to bake. Maggie taught him how to hide fear, fake pain, how to punch with a knuckle jutting. How to go for the eyes. How to hook your fingers in a person’s nose from behind and threaten to rip the nose off your face. He hadn’t done these things yet, and neither had Maggie, but she was always looking for a chance. (Loc. 3459-3465)

This is a rich book, one that will lead to interesting discussions. I have referred to some of the book's story lines, but there are others about war and trauma, love and relationship, addiction, and lost heritages. This is a book that can easily be read and reread, unearthing more each time.
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Dec 28, 2016 Nanci rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction

Another good, solid book by Louise Erdrich. I always enjoy Erdrich's books, but this one was just a tad of a let down. I'm torn between a 3 and 4 star rating, but giving it a 3. I didn't care for the way she switched the focus of the book from the main characters to more of the supporting characters (the sisters) at about 3/4 of the way through the book. I would have preferred she kept developing the two couples, in particular the fathers. Still, the writing is good and it was interesting to hav ...more

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