Louise Erdrich is a prolific writer. Her latest book, The Round House, has won countless awards. It was this month's pick for my book club. Most of us found it a bit tedious and slow going at times. But when we got together to discuss the book, the conversation was rich.In a nutshell The Round House is about Joe, a 13 year old Native American boy, whose mom is brutally attacked and almost killed in the Round House. This one event changed his life, the lives of his mom and dad and the entire reservation.
I learned so much from this book:
- I learned how Native Americans and whites still live uneasily together.
- I learned that Native American woman in this country are brutalized on a regular basis.
- I learned that spirituality comes from many sources; in this case from Catholicism mixed with Native American lore and Joe's dad's great respect for the law.
- I was reminded that justice and revenge are sometimes so intertwined that many people can't tell them apart.
I loved the descriptions of food. Joe and his friends are fed wherever they go. They're sometime given jelly sandwiches to tide them over until breakfast comes.....a platter of bacon and a pan of her one breakfast specialty - a mixture of grated potatoes, eggs, diced peppers and ham, laid up out in a baking pan and broiled until the cheddar cheese topping bubbled up and toasted.
I loved the stories of the grandfather, Mooshum, who said he was 112 years old. For instance, he tells a story about Liver Eating Johnson...How that old rascal used to track down Indians and kill us and take out and eat our livers.
But The Round House is a serious and important book. One that I most likely wouldn't have read if it hadn't been assigned to me by my book club.
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