The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse - Louise Erdrich - 5 stars

[Robin P]

I picked this book from my stash solely because it works for a challenge ending this month. I was wary going into it, as my responses to this author vary. I loved The Round House and The Sentence but found early books like Love Medicine a bit confounding. I started slowly in this book, feeling it would be a 3-star book for me. There are a lot of characters and relationships, both official and not (detailed in a family tree inside the front cover. )As I went along, I thought, "this element is pretty good - probably a 4-star book". But toward the end, I felt it's an outstanding 5-star book.

Father Damien ministers to the Ojibwe in North Dakota for over 70 years. In the first couple of pages, the readers learns his secret. The priest is secretly a woman, originally named Agnes. It's very interesting how Erdrich switches between the identities, using Father Damien and "he" in one sentence, and Agnes and "she" in the next, depending on context.

This book has scenes that are laugh-out-loud funny, others that are tragic, sometimes on the same page. The Native sense of humor is earthy and practical. There is also philosophy and lots of magical realism. Instead of converting the Ojibwe, Damien/Agnes falls in love with them as a group and as individuals, and finds that elements of their spirituality, mostly learned from the elders, are more fulfilling and comforting than church doctrines. This would be a great book for a book club discussion.

I don't think any of Erdrich's books have ever been filmed but they could make great movies or TV series. A series could show the continuing characters over generations that she features in different books.

[Joy D]

So glad to see you enjoyed this one, too!

[Jgrace]

This is one of my favorites. I know that Love Medicine was her breakout book and continues to appear on a lot of lists, but I think her writing has gotten much better since them.

[Robin P]

The Round House would be a great read in connection with To Kill a Mockingbird. They both have young protagonists with a parent in the legal system and have to learn its limitations the hard way.