From the Bookshelf of 2013 Hub Reading Challenge…
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What Members Thought
I feel bad adding this to my "Read' shelf because I didn't actually read the entire thing. It took me a month just to force myself past page 100 and I finally gave up trying to enjoy this book. I know I am in the minority here but I did NOT like this book. The plot had the potential to be amazing, but Erdrich's style of writing (no quotation marks) was entirely distracting. The characters, who could have been so richly constructed, given their backgrounds and relationships, were instead diluted
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While I think this was about a really important topic--the staggeringly high rate of violence against Native American women--and I found much of the information about tribal and federal law to be fascinating, I'm not as sure how I felt about using Joe as a frame to tell this story. I didn't really feel like he and his friends rang true as teenage boys. And, honestly, the fact that Erdrich doesn't use quotation marks drove me crazy. But overall I am glad I read this book.
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I love Louise Erdrich, though not all of her titles stand up as well as this one. She's such a master of words, of characters, of dialogue, of human motivation and emotions. It's wonderful to pick up a book and slightly know the world already, but still be surprised. This book has elements of a true crime novel, a family saga, a cultural exploration, and a coming of age story. How does she do it?
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Joe's mother is raped and almost murdered by a white man because she had information he wanted destroyed. When Lark, the man who committed the crime and killed his girlfriend as well is set free due to lack of evidence, Joe takes the law into his own hands. This thirteen year old Native American boy tries to find the evidence to convict Lark, but when he can't he decides to kill him and exact his own justice. A sad and disturbing book, it tells the story of many cases in which Native American wh
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I stand chagrined. I've been reading Erdrich on and off since Love Medicine, but nothing really moved me nearly as much. So it took ( how many awards.) to convince me to give it a shot. Wow, this is one of my favorite books now! The characters, the horrible crime, the quest to solve the mystery and avenge the crime...incredible. Be warned, however, this story cuts deeps.
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So much about this book that I absolutely did NOT see coming. Kind of slow, kind of creepy, kind of unrelentingly sad.
Nov 12, 2012
Allison
marked it as to-read
Feb 02, 2013
Donna
marked it as to-read
Feb 03, 2013
Candice M (tinylibrarian)
marked it as to-read
Shelves:
award-winners,
hub-challenge-2013
Jun 03, 2013
Ms. Pansulla
marked it as to-read
