From the Bookshelf of La Crescent Public Library…

[close] The Sentence by Louise Erdrich was our library's July Book Club pick and the consensus was that everyone liked this read.

A few members found it difficult to get into because the opening begins with an emotionally dark body snatching that results in a prison sentence for the main character. All members appreciated the character growth over the course of the book and we spent a lot of time at the beginning of our discussion on how Tookie grows as the book goes on. The way she relates to all the other characters and is gullible at times, while stubborn in others came up a lot.

Everyone appreciated the cultural history in the book and having a better understanding of residential schools and their impact on present day indigenous peoples. Also timely, was reading about the pandemic now, as the story takes place from November 2019 to November 2020. It was surreal for many members to read about and recall those early days of not knowing about the coronavirus and how scared we all were. Scenes that stuck out included the isolation of families, the staying up and watching the news or reading twitter threads, the death of George Floyd and the protests that followed, and the very real reality of what you go through when a family member gets hospitalized.

There was much to discuss and think about in this book. Everyone enjoyed the mystery of Tookie's real name and how that came back around.

Overall, The Sentence was very layered and made readers think. About half the group was interested in checking out more of Erdrich's work, and several were also interested in visiting her bookstore in Minneapolis. Everyone appreciated the writing and how much there was to learn, think about, and discuss as it was written about such recent events and all wondered how the book will be perceived 50 years from now as a work about this time.