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The Round House

Louise Erdrich

Start date: July 15, 2015

Finish date: August 15, 2015

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Mar 01, 2013 Mary rated it really liked it

A tribal enrollment specialist, Geraldine lives on a reservation with her husband, Bazil, a distinguished judge, and their 13-year-old son, Joe, who narrates the story years later as an adult reflecting back on a horrific summer of his youth. The Coutts family is extremely close.
After Geraldine is assaulted, her face "still garishly marked" with bruises, Joe embarks on a vigilante path to justice. Enraged, frustrated and frightened, he can't bear the sight of his mother in such a broken state, t A tribal enrollment specialist, Geraldine lives on a reservation with her husband, Bazil, a distinguished judge, and their 13-year-old son, Joe, who narrates the story years later as an adult reflecting back on a horrific summer of his youth. The Coutts family is extremely close.
After Geraldine is assaulted, her face "still garishly marked" with bruises, Joe embarks on a vigilante path to justice. Enraged, frustrated and frightened, he can't bear the sight of his mother in such a broken state, too depressed to eat or even to leave her room: "Her serene reserve was gone — a nervous horror welled across her face," Joe recalls. "Her jaw was indigo. Her eyebrows had always been so expressive of irony and love, but now were held tight by anguish."
Along with his three best friends, Zack, Angus, and Cappy — one of whom will not survive to adulthood — Joe investigates the area around the crime scene and unearths evidence that was either not seen, or ignored, by investigators. (Joe also discovers a mysterious stash of $40,000 inside a toy doll.) Further complicating this matter is the question of the exact location of the attack; it occurred somewhere near the round house, an old, sacred place of tribal worship and ceremony. Yet it's unclear whether the rape happened on tribal, state or federal land, and who can claim jurisdiction over the case.
Plus, as Joe's father explains, most Indian rape cases are never brought to trial by the U.S. attorney. When they are, few result in prosecution. Joe realizes that there is little hope for justice, at least through conventional means.
Bazil is convinced that the rapist must have been implicated in one of his old courtroom cases and is seeking revenge against the Coutts family. He's right. The motive behind this sickening attack, however, is even more complicated than he realizes.
As in previous Erdrich novels, The Round House delivers justice and redemption in unlikely ways. No healing comes without great suffering. Acts of violence beget further violence. Calm is shattered by loss. This is painful material to be sure, but in the face of sorrow, Erdrich's characters are defined by quiet determination, courage and resilience. "We just kept going" are the last four words of this haunting story. That's as close to a happy ending as the author is willing to get.
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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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Jan 04, 2013 Nancy H rated it really liked it

I really like Louise Erdrich's writing, and this book is just as good as her others. It is about a young Native American boy who grows up quickly in the face of several tragedies in his life. An excellent story! ...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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