Maria Literata: Book Review: The Round House by Louise Erdrich

(Goodreads)

One Sunday in the spring of 1988, a woman living on a reservation in North Dakota is attacked. The details of the crime are slow to surface as Geraldine Coutts is traumatized and reluctant to relive or reveal what happened, either to the police or to her husband, Bazil, and thirteen-year-old son, Joe. In one day, Joe's life is irrevocably transformed. He tries to heal his mother, but she will not leave her bed and slips into an abyss of solitude. Increasingly alone, Joe finds himself thrust prematurely into an adult world for which he is ill prepared.

While his father, who is a tribal judge, endeavors to wrest justice from a situation that defies his efforts, Joe becomes frustrated with the official investigation and sets out with his trusted friends, Cappy, Zack, and Angus, to get some answers of his own. Their quest takes them first to the Round House, a sacred space and place of worship for the Ojibwe. And this is only the beginning.

Without a doubt, my favorite theme in novels is coming of age (or bildungsroman, if you will). I love reading how a character grows and matures in either a positive or negative way; it feels like I am watching them grow before my own eyes. And because so much of that internal conflict is shared with me, I feel that I have grown with them.

It's hard to believe that Joe, the protagonist, is only 13 years old. At the beginning of the novel he seems very mature, and that is only emphasized by the tragedy that strikes his family. However, the reader is often reminded of his age by all his decisions that make you want to reach into the book and yank him back by his collar! Honestly, I found myself shaking my head many times, thinking 'you're only 13!'

There's a lot of pain in this novel, and one can definitely feel that through the pages. For anyone who's ever had a tragedy in their family, had a deep depression or were close to someone that went through one, you'll be reminded of what those days felt like. A person doesn't heal in one day, no matter how much love is thrown at them; this novel is a painful reminder of that.

Sections of this novel feel slow, which I think is the main reason why it took me so long to finish this novel (a little over two weeks?). The slow pace of the novel made it hard to follow at times and I found myself having to reread some sections more than once because I realized I hadn't been paying attention. Erdrich doesn't use quotation marks, which I think is beautiful when executed well. However, there were many times where I couldn't differentiate if a sentence was dialogue or Joe's point of view. It was something I could have gone without.

Overall, I can see why this won 2012's National Book Award for Fiction: it's powerful, mythical, and moving; however, it just wasn't quite for me.

Memorable Quote(s)

"As I feel into a darker sleep, I understood that I had learned something. Now that I knew fear, I also knew that it was not permanent. As powerful as it was, its grip on me would loosen. It would pass." (264)