From the Bookshelf of Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge…

The Round House

Louise Erdrich

Start date: May 18, 2016

Finish date: May 20, 2016

Discussion: 2016 Challenge prompts

Why we're reading this: Had never read this author.
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2016 Challenge prompts

A book with a protagonist who has your occupation...
By Danah · 8 posts · 184 views

last updated Jan 27, 2017 08:22AM

The first book you see in a bookstore
By Juanita · 64 posts · 492 views

last updated Dec 29, 2016 04:24PM

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What Members Thought

Oct 06, 2012 Nadine in NY Jones rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, literary-schmiterary, why-no-quotation-marks, ohno-its-magical-realism, national-book-award-winners, coming-of-age

Brother, I said, what made you come to the overlook?
I was always there, said Cappy. Every morning. I always had your back.
I thought so, I said. And then we slept.

This is a case of a really great book that I just didn't love. I'm not sure why exactly I didn't love it, I think there were quite a few small reasons that all added up.

Part of it is that I don't love magical realism, and I have little patience with ghosts.

Part of it is that I'm not overly fond of coming-of-age stories.

Part of it

Brother, I said, what made you come to the overlook?
I was always there, said Cappy. Every morning. I always had your back.
I thought so, I said. And then we slept.

I went out to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. The well on the place sucked up sweet water. Sonja always kept a jug of it cold. I poured water into a Pabst Blue Ribbon glass—they collected beer glasses—and drank it down. Then I filled it back up for Sonja. I guess I wanted her to drink out of the same glass as me, though I really wasn’t thinking about that. I was thinking about how much money might be in the envelopes. I went back in and Sonja had a fresh shirt on—pink and gray stripes that pulled wide across her chest. The shirt had a stiff white collar and a buttoned tab. She drank the water.

Not a single one of those details matters to the outcome of the story.

Part of it is that I think a peanut butter and pickle sandwich sounds really gross, and they ate A LOT of them in this story.

Part of it is that I didn't fully sympathize with the characters, so I was impatient with them and their indecisions and poor decisions. I can't really sympathize with a 13 year old boy who stares at a woman's boobs the entire time he talks to her, and I can't sympathize with that woman either (view spoiler).

And part of it is that I thought the political message was a little heavy-handed. These are issues that need a lot of visibility, but it lessened my enjoyment of the book.

One thing that did not ever bother me was the complete lack of quotation marks to indicate dialogue. This was surprising, because I just finished another book (The Past) in which it was a big issue for me; I guess Ms Erdrich just has the perfect touch, it was seamless and I hardly noticed. Perhaps that's the difference between a good writer/storyteller and a great one.

This book fulfills the "National Book Award" category of the 2016 Popsugar Ultimate Reading Challenge. ...more

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Nov 22, 2017 Sarah rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: american-fiction, best-books-ever, native-indigenous-lit

This book was phenomenal. I couldn't put it down - it's a mystery/thriller, but it's really good so usually people class it as literary fiction, it seems (that's a rant for another time).

Erdrich is skillful at weaving social issues and cultural traditions of Native peoples (in this case, Anishinaabe/Chippewa), near constantly, into the story in a way that doesn't seem contrived. The subtlety with which she does so creates a strong sense of place, and for me, that always makes a novel better. Th ...more

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May 19, 2016 Christina rated it really liked it

Shelves: popsugar-2016-reading-challenge

A version of this review appeared on my blog, drinkingandink.
I have a hard time reviewing Good Books. I have no trouble shredding a Bad Book, or weighing the strengths and weaknesses of a Pretty Good Book, or, in my superhero identity as Minority Opinion Girl, encouraging you to consider that maybe a Good Book isn't very good after all or that a Pretty Good or Bad Book is significantly better than you thought.

But this was a Good Book that actually was good, so what am I supposed to tell you abou ...more

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Jan 11, 2013 Jennifer rated it really liked it

Shelves: literaryfiction, library-book, kindle, tob2013

An unsettling read, with lots of twists and turns. Told as retrospective but in a way that vibrates with currency. I remember Erdrich from high school- this is not a school book, but a raw investigation into reality. Very much enjoyed it, if you can enjoy the shattering of innocence and a world where the law precludes justice.

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