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The Round House
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Start date
March 15, 2013
Finish date
April 15, 2013
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What Members Thought

Jenny (Reading Envy)
I was in a rush to finish this tonight before the National Book Award winner was announced, and I got to the last page right as the ceremony was starting. It ended up winning this year's award, so I'm glad I chose this novel to read over the other two I didn't get to.

In an Ojibwe community, a mother is brutally raped. The novel is told from her son's perspective as their family tries to heal and they attempt to catch who did this horrible thing. Most of it is told in the time of the story, but o
...more
Linda
Mar 02, 2014 rated it it was amazing
Justice, patriarchy, coming of age, genocide, tribal sovereignty, loyalty and betrayal... All packed into the rough structure of a murder mystery.
Rashida
Oct 08, 2012 rated it really liked it
I don't know!!!! I don't know how I feel. There are moments of lyric beauty and moments of pure mundanity. Moments of comic farce and moments of sharp tragic pain. It drags and the pages turn themselves. This book is a study in contradiction. But it is Louise Erdrich. The subject matter is important. The characters are beloved. Four stars it is. Maybe it ain't fair.

Two main problems Erdrich never quite recovers from:

1) She is not a 13 year old boy. In The Plague of Doves, she mostly inhabits Eve
...more
peg
Oct 27, 2012 rated it it was amazing

This is the first Louise Erdrich novel I have read and it definitely won't be the last. In addition to spinning a compelling tale about a young Native American boy who attempts to avenge his mother's violent rape, Erdrich paints a starkly realistic picture of modern-day reservation life. The contrasts between federal and tribal governance and culture are emphasized in this story and promote public awareness of the struggles Native American encounter on a daily basis. Erdrich's prose is rich and
...more
Andi
Jan 14, 2020 rated it it was amazing
This book begins with a great trauma, winds into history and legend, and twists the life of a 13-year-old boy.

Richly written. Hard but full of laughter. Beautiful.
AmandaLil
Jul 25, 2012 rated it it was amazing
Shelves: first-reads, fiction, 2013
The Round House by Louise Erdrich 5 stars

Small trees had attacked my parents' house at the foundation.

Goodreads Firstreads win, thank you to the publisher and Goodreads for the opportunity to read and review.

Narrated by 13-year-old Joe, an Ojibwe boy living on a North Dakota reservation, The Round House is part coming of age story, part fast-paced crime novel and a detailed look at modern Native American life and culture in the 1980's.

Joe's life changes the day his mother is attacked near the r
...more
Jennifer
Dec 31, 2012 rated it really liked it
Erdrich writes as beautifully as ever, though this had a very different feel from her early works.

In the spring of 1988, an Indian woman living on a reservation in North Dakota is raped and beaten. She retreats to her room and provides few details. The investigation is also hampered because the woman is unaware if the attack occurred on tribal land, federal land or state land. The woman's son, 13 year old, Joe becomes frustrated by his powerlessness and sets out to find her attacker.
...more
Robert
Aug 17, 2017 rated it really liked it
I really liked this book. I honk of all Erdrich's books that I have read thus far, this provided the most complete portrait of a Native American family in general and the life of a Native American youth on the edge of manhood that I have seen in her books or elsewhere. Even the peripheral characters were fully ealized as people and individuals with their own stories. I found myself wanting to know more about Sonya and Whitey as well as the details of other relationships developed in the story. T ...more
Linda
Dec 04, 2012 rated it it was amazing
I hadn't read Erdrich in several years; thought I knew her work and I overlooked new releases. She's at the top with this novel and now I see why it won the National Book Award. Effortless to get into; strong narrator; twisty plot; complicated tribal issues; women's rights (1 of 3 Native women will be raped in her lifetime; 86% by non-Native men; very few prosecuted). It's also a family story, told from a 13-year-old son's pov after his mother is raped. If you've drifted away from Louise Erdrich ...more
Clifford
Jan 09, 2013 rated it really liked it
Shelves: novels
Lots to think about and discuss in this novel about a painful subject. See my full review here: http://cliffordgarstang.com/?p=3586 ...more
Lee
Nov 23, 2012 rated it really liked it
Mixed feelings.
Hard to get into at first, then very good. Strange to know the perp., but wait for justice.
Interesting examination of whether violence is ever right.
Sad.
Jennifer
Oct 01, 2012 rated it really liked it
Jennie
Nov 01, 2012 added it
Shelves: women
Kate
Dec 26, 2012 rated it really liked it
Jane
Feb 25, 2013 rated it really liked it
April
Mar 05, 2013 rated it liked it
Sherry
Mar 08, 2013 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: reading-list, kindle
Rose
Mar 19, 2013 rated it liked it
Robin
Mar 22, 2013 rated it liked it
Shelves: generalfiction, 2013
J.D.
Mar 23, 2013 rated it really liked it
Kel
Mar 27, 2013 marked it as to-read
Lynn
Jun 20, 2013 rated it really liked it
Anne
Aug 29, 2013 is currently reading it
Heather
Jan 23, 2014 marked it as to-read
Marie
May 07, 2014 rated it liked it
Kellie Demarsh
Aug 25, 2014 marked it as to-read
Dottie
Feb 10, 2015 marked it as to-read
Shelves: 2015-the-plan-is
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