Meghan Review: The Round House by Louise Erdrich

In the hauntingly lyrical The Round House, Louise Erdrich weaves an intricate story about the social and legal ramifications when a horrific rape is perpetrated on a Native American reservation. Told through the eyes of thirteen year old narrator Joe, the son of the raped woman Geraldine, Erdrich explores the effects of the rape upon the young boy, his family, and the entire community of the reservation.

One of Erdrich’s greatest strengths is her superb ability to create believable and multi-layered characters with complex motivations. Joe astounded me with his realness; it felt like he was breathing right there on the page! Because he is the lens through which the reader explores this world, the strength of his voice (simultaneously innocent and knowledgeable) makes the novel stand strong. His love and loyalty for his mother Geraldine is mirrored in his close relationship with his father. After her rape, Geraldine spirals into an almost catatonic depression, and Joe and his father struggle to maintain the fabric of their family unit. The poignant love between father and son and their difficulties in running a household without Geraldine are illustrated in the details, such as the slowly blackening rotten casserole in the back of their fridge or their fragile efforts at dinner conversation. Joe’s hunger for justice and his search for clues that will lead him to his mother’s rapist are melded with a vivid description of reservation life. By giving the reader a vivid and gorgeous natural setting accompanied by great supporting characters, Erdrich emphasizes the complexities of the relationships on the reservation.

Though this is a fictional story, The Round House deals with real legal problems still surrounding tribal and state jurisdictions over Native American land. Each piece of land on the reservation has a different jurisdiction, so when a crime (especially something as complicated and emotionally charged as a rape) occurs, law officials aren’t sure how to try the crime locally, or if they are even able to do so if it falls under federal territory. Joe’s story is the story of so many children of Native American mothers who have suffered terrible abuse or assault, often at the hands of non-Native men. By making this problem specific and grounded it in the experience of one boy’s coming-of-age, Erdrich has created a novel that is socially powerful, emotionally moving, and a masterpiece of literature.

Recommended to: people who love a good bildungsroman (think To Kill a Mockingbird, but more gritty), anyone curious about legality/judicial issues on Native American land, fans of crime thrillers with unlikely detectives, lovers of familial epics focused around a young narrator (The Secret Life of Bees-esque)

Release Date: October 2nd 2012  Pages: 336  Format: ARC
Source: TLC Book Tours  Publisher: Harper Collins  Buy It: Book Depository

This is a review by Meghan. You can find her here on Goodreads or on Twitter @meghanc303

Shadow Tag by Louise Erdrich

"History is two things, after all. To have meaning, history must consist of both occurrence and narrative. If she never told, if he never told, if the two of them never talked about it, there was no narrative. So the act, though ti had occurred, was meaningless."

Shadow Tag by Louise Erdrich begins when Irene America discovers that her husband, a famous artist named Gil who's work is exclusively portraits of Irene, has been reading her diary. Instead of confronting him, Irene begins to keep a secret diary, the Blue Notebook, as well as continuing her Red Diary, hidden where Gil can read it and purposefully written to manipulate him. Shadow Tag alternates from excerpts of these two diaries to a third person narrative of the impact they have on the lives and marriage of Gil and Irene. Despite their relationship being on shaky ground they try to keep up appearances for their three young children. Irene relies more and more on alcohol to numb the pain of her marriage, which she wants to end, if only Gil will let her go. Maybe she can use the Red Diary to her advantage after all...

From the start, I loved the basic premise of Shadow Tag the instant I heard it, so wonderfully manipulative. In addition to the universal relationship issues Erdrich addresses, I found it interesting how she dealt with some uniquely Native American dilemmas, such as Gil's attempt not to be characterized solely as a Native American artist, but rather just an Artist. Shadow Tag is a dark and complex novel, and the characters, especially Gil and Irene, were equally so. As a reader, I didn't particularly like or connect to any of the characters, but Erdrich develops them so richly that I never doubted their existence and was completely intrigued to see what they would do next. The book deals with some interesting moral and emotional questions. That said, I do wish that Shadow Tag had revolved more around the diaries- they play a key role at the start and ending of the book, but seem to be somewhat forgotten in the middle- as I found that premise the most interesting.

Ultimately, Erdrich has written an intensely dark story with extremely complex characters. Although I found the middle of the book weaker than the beginning and ending, Erdrich definitely hooked me and I found myself both surprised and heartbroken how the novel finished. The book itself was depressing enough that I do not imagine myself rereading it, as it leads the reader to a pretty dark place, but as that was clearly the intent Erdrich has definitely succeeded. Despite that, I did find myself wishing that there were at least a few light moments to contrast all the dark. There are also some interesting observations when it comes to Native American culture, which is something I don't often read about and appreciated. Although the middle portion of the novel lacked the suspense present at the beginning of Shadow Tag it is well-written story with an intriguing premise and complex but dark characters- just don't read it with any expectation of redemption.

Release Date: February 1st, 2010
Pages: 288
Overall: 3.5/5
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This review was a part of TLC Book Tours. Click here to read what other tour hosts thought. For the purpose of this review I was provided with a copy of the book which did not require a positive review. The opinions expressed in this post are completely my own.