Reviews with content warning for Miscarriage - Future Home of the Living God

This past weekend I absolutely devoured this dystopian read by a beloved Indigenous author. I read Erdrich's earlier novel Love Medicine, and though I enjoyed it as well, this one was much more fast paced and absorbing.⁣⁣
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This novel follows Cedar Hawk Songmaker, a 26 year old woman who is pregnant during very strange, end of days times in which evolution is going backwards, affecting the viability of babies and all animals are devolving. Cedar was adopted by Minneapolis liberals, never seeking out her birth parents until she becomes pregnant and seeks out family medical history and Ojibwe roots. This novel is written exclusively in second person from Cedar's perspective to her unborn child.⁣⁣
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This book is SO GOOD! I enjoyed it so much and absolutely sped through this novel, reading it in just over 24 hours which is very unusual for me. It seems like this book had some mixed reviews, which I could see (Erdrich doesn't fully explain the mechanism/implications of reverse evolution in this world). However I was 100% here for the personal impact of a broader disaster, i.e. how it impacted her personally. Since pregnant women are required to turn themselves in to be studied in a hospital per government request, Cedar is impacted by this policy. I loved the surging hope, the unique and memorable cast of characters and the tense and urgent vibe. Some of the camaraderie here reminded me of Girl, Interrupted. Some other comps are Bird Box and The Handmaid's Tale.⁣⁣
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I highly recommend this novel if you are looking for a propulsive dystopian read and enjoy the focus on the personal impact of the end of days rather than the minutiae of such downfall. I give this one ⭐⭐⭐⭐, though I may rate it higher depending on the long term resonance.⁣⁣
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"I don't know why it is given to us to be so mortal and to feel so much. It is a cruel trick, and glorious."⁣⁣
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"This is how the world ends, I think, everything crazy yet people doing normal things."⁣⁣
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"Where will you be my darling, the last time it snows on earth?"⁣⁣

Content Warnings

kelseak96's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I'm recognizing that I'm not a big fan of this-is-how-the-world-ends books... That being said, I appreciate how ambiguous Erdrich left so much of the political context in this book, because I bet the end of the world is a lot of confusion, grey areas, and the average person not knowing what's happening as it all collapses. I definitely have a lot of questions lingering, but nothing that feels unfulfilled, necessarily. I feel like I knew exactly as much as the narrator did, which isn't much. Per usual, Erdrich's writing about nature and families are some of the best there is, all of the characters were complex and fairly sympathetic, and the story itself is a beautiful blend of heartbreaking and inspiring.

Content Warnings

willohreadz's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

btaylorb's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

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