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The Round House

Louise Erdrich

Start date: July 15, 2015

Finish date: August 15, 2015

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What Members Thought

Feb 22, 2014 Laura rated it really liked it

Shelves: hf, pulitzerandrunnersupandmore, lib-has-audio, library-request, crime-thriller-suspense, library, 2014, on-laptop, group-reads

This is a difficult book to give a star rating to. Writing and characterization for me were both fives. The story was very good. It made me angry and sometimes it disgusted me and then at others, it made me laugh. Audio performance was just ok. It felt to me as though the narrator read the book for the first time while doing the narration, because words were emphasized that shouldn't be, which changed their meaning at times. He probably went too slow for most people, although for me it was nice ...more

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Mar 23, 2013 Greer rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2013-books

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The Round House tells the story of Joe, a young Native American grappling with the rape of his mother, it's impact on their family, and the white perpetrator's ability to escape justice due to a bureaucratic legal system that is stacked against Native Americans and makes it impossible to determine which court has jurisdiction. This book is a beautifully written and compelling read -- it's my first Erdrich novel and makes me want to read more by this author.

Erdrich really knows how to create a th The Round House tells the story of Joe, a young Native American grappling with the rape of his mother, it's impact on their family, and the white perpetrator's ability to escape justice due to a bureaucratic legal system that is stacked against Native Americans and makes it impossible to determine which court has jurisdiction. This book is a beautifully written and compelling read -- it's my first Erdrich novel and makes me want to read more by this author.

Erdrich really knows how to create a three-dimensional world, engaging all the senses to draw the reader into the story. She also did a wonderful job capturing what childhood is like, and that time where children are coming to a more adult awareness of the world. For Joe this process is accelerated by his mother's rape, a sudden awareness that the world is neither safe nor fair, and the inversion of his relationship with his parents as he feels a growing need to protect them.

A major focus of the book is differing viewpoints on justice (as discussed in Maria Russo's NY Times book review http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/14/boo...). There is the American legal system, which is flawed, but Joe's father is a tribal court judge who has committed his life to trying to change things little by little from within. This system lets him down when he needs it most. There is the viewpoint of reservation priest Father Travis that justice is best left to God and eventually something good always comes out of bad things. I appreciated that Father Travis isn't portrayed as naive or simplistic in his views -- his world view is formed by coming through tragedy himself. However, his advice does nothing to alleviate the immediate pressures facing Joe -- his mother's fear, his father's helplessness, the chance that the rapist (Linden Lark) will try to harm his family again.

Finally there is wiindigoo law. (A human possessed by a malevolent spirit known as a wiindigoo was obsessed with feeding on other humans). Erdrich portrays Joe as justified in killing Linden as a wiindigoo, but it carries consequences. As Erdrich says at the end, "The sentence was to endure." (I think she is also making a commentary on endurance as an integral aspect of Native American life historically).

I loved the stories of Joe's grandfather Mooshum that were interwoven throughout the book, and thinking about how they related to the larger story. On the one hand, they point Joe toward wiindigoo justice and emphasize the importance of a son's devotion to his mother. On the other hand, they show that even wiindigoo justice can be perverted, as in one story a woman is wrongfully accused of being a wiindigoo (although again, I think Linden is portrayed as being a true wiindigoo).

My only (minor) criticism of the book would be that towards the end the pacing seemed a bit off, with some sections feeling a little too drawn out, and others too abrupt (Linden's murder, the death of Joe's best friend Cappy). For this reason I'd rate it a 4.5, but overall loved this book. ...more

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Mar 15, 2014 Martha rated it really liked it

Shelves: owned-tbr-books, dayton-literary-peace-prize

I started this book March 8, 2014 and finished it on March 15. This is my first upload from the library, and I'm pretty sure uploading e-books from the library will become a habit. It was the first book of Louise Erdrich's that I have read and I'm happy I have many more books to read by this author. I'm still thinking about the ending--I wasn't too happy with it--and that's why I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5. ...more

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Dec 31, 2012 Kent Winward rated it really liked it

The book was compelling. The young narrator makes the story. The only reason I didn't go with five stars was it felt a shade preachy to me. The great novels walk the fine line between didactic-ism and coherence, this erred on the side of the didactic, but great story telling. ...more

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Dec 23, 2020 Carla rated it it was amazing

Shelves: best-writing, 21at-century-culture-and-thought

I just finished it. It's going to take some thinking about. I'm very affected reading about Native American challenges persisting to this day. ...more

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