The Round House

The Round House is an unflinching look at trauma and it's effect on family and community. I loved the way Erdrich used a first-person adult narrator recounting events that happened in his youth. I found that it brought another level of reflection to an already mature character. Most of this novel was a gut punch, but it's had moments of hilarity and joy that you could truly feel. I loved the way that memory and storytelling from elders was woven into the narrative - if you know me, I'm a SUCKER for when that device is used and used extremely well, much like in this story.
I really enjoyed this novel and I can't wait to read her other works!
Please read the CW before starting this novel. There isn't too much graphic content, but it could be triggering for some. Also, there aren't any quotation marks denoting conversations or lines of dialogue, so that may took a few pages to get used to. 

This was my first Erdrich book, and it was an interesting read. I almost put it down fairly quickly, because the entire book follows from a violent attack on a woman, and almost all of the central characters are men/boys. However, I think this is an example of how fiction can expose some serious societal problems, without being pedantic about the problems.

It's also about how men and boys deal with violence against the women in their lives, which is something worth reading and thinking about.

The book is an odd mix of a thriller (of a sort) and a deep dive into the emotions that come from violence. I think it works, but I never forgot that I was reading a book, because of the jarring mix of thriller genre tropes and a serious look at violence.

Plusses:
+ First Nations main characters, written by a woman of Native descent.
+ Great relationship stuff between father and son, against a lot of traditional masculinity.
+ quite good as a thriller for the most part
+ Star Trek: The Next Generation references throughout (it works, don't worry!)
+ Some great is-it-real-or-a-ghost-or-a-dream sequences

Minuses:
- we don't get enough of the mom character, or any of the female characters. I am certain this is a conscious choice on Erdrich's part. It's just a choice I don't like.
- a couple of Very Amazing Coincidences to drive the plot forward. These can be fun, or they can be distracting. For me they were distracting.
- the violence is mostly left to the side, undescribed, which works well


Plusses:

This story begins with the brutal rape and attempted murder of Geraldine Coutts, a Native woman who works to help people establish eligibility for tribal membership. Her 13 year old son Joe and husband Bazil attempt to help her heal, but she retreats into her bedroom and won't come out. Joe does some investigating of his own, although he's been told not to, and makes important discoveries.

If it weren't for the horrific reason for the story, this would be a lovely book about friendship, community, and belonging. Joe moves between his parents' house and his aunts and uncles, cousins and friends with absolute confidence that he will be taken in wherever he goes. Although he is fluent in how to charm old ladies into feeding him, he goes to his elderly grandfather to ask questions about the meanings of disturbing dreams and complex family relationships. Joe is shaken, but he's also at home in his community and he brings all the resources of that community to trying to solve the problem of his mother's rape.

There's a point in the story, long before the end, where Joe expresses relief at being able to go back to being 13 again. Needless to say, he doesn't get to stay 13 for very long. For all of its beauty, this is a bittersweet story. I really loved it.

I didn't love this *quite* as much as Erdich's The Night Watchman until near the very the end, when I gasped. The quote from a New York Times review on the front cover of my copy talks about family, but I actually think this book is equally about ride-or-die friendship. I'm also not sure if Erdich gets enough credit for how funny she is, even amidst the darkest topics. The plot starts with a violent sex crime committed against an Indigenous woman in an uncertain jurisdictional location (a nightmarish blend of attempted physical and bureaucratic genocide). Erdich also infused the story with the comedic banter of deeply loyal teenage boys, two elders recalling past sexual adventures, and an athletic Catholic priest who levels cutting insults at the "wayward youth" without cursing at all. A deft balance of heavy and light.

One of the biggest sucker-punches to the stomach that I have read in a long time.

Erdrich's prose, stunning to me. Descriptive, tugs you in, real, blunt without being crude. A new, major inspiration to my own. The lack of quotations around dialogue threw me off in the start, but it came to help draw me into the story even better by the end. Demonstrating the complex feelings of family, the consequences of actions, emotional and physical and intangible. This is definitely not a novel that you read in one fell swoop; after each chapter, I had to pause and let it sink its teeth into me a little deeper. It affected me in a personal manner, as well. Unveiled some wounds.

This is one of those novels that if you read it at the right time in your life, it'll linger with you. And even if you don't, it'll linger anyway, against your will. Maybe there were things I was dissatisfied with, but they feel unimportant and didn't chase me away because I can't remember them.

I also recommend this to anybody who wants to understand even a little the struggles of tribal law.

Uh... hmm. I guess I'm kind of surprised that this book of hers won the NBA to be honest? It's probably my least favorite Louise Erdrich book? Obviously it's well-written because that's what Louise Erdrich does. Let me see. Perhaps by giving this book a remembered teenage boy as its narrator Erdrich necessarily sacrificed some of the poetry I associate with her normally? Maybe I liked this less because it's more of a mystery and I don't generally like mysteries? I'm waffling between 3 and 4 stars but I guess I'll go 4. Also perhaps because I am still haunted by the ending it earned another star. Also perhaps it is unfair to compare her works to one another. But I'm only human! In fact I'm going to go re-read [b:Love Medicine 91440 Love Medicine Louise Erdrich http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1171229200s/91440.jpg 1524121] and reflect upon my own humanity.