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timna_wyckoff's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed reading this. I loved the narrator, and the other characters were also fantastic (Eddy's articles were amazing!). However, I found the story itself weirdly inconsistent. Sometimes quite light, obviously sometimes very dark. Sometimes frighteningly or hilariously realistic, other times......not. I liked the *idea* of the going backwards both socially and biologically, but the biology wasn't very developed (perhaps thankfully) and I found it distracting.
kennonstewart's review against another edition
5.0
I liked this book much more than I thought I would. So much so that I had to come back and give it 5 stars.
This is my first Erdrich read and I wasn't sure what to expect. I didn't expect a Native person who reveled in their conversion to Catholicism. I didn't expect this tension to produce such lush imagery and symbolism throughout the book (and the gorgeous title). And I didn't expect Cedar's voice to be so austere and captivating. Her inner monologue reminds me a bit of Ling Ma's Candace from Severance with the religious iconography of the Book of Lamentations (Castellanos, not the original).
This makes for a harrowing, but delightful, read. I wish I would've considered it during the winter when the gloomy weather allows me to focus more on the characters and their personalities. Since I was reading it in sunshine, the sunshine definitely juxtaposed the dystopian themes. This is the fault of the reader, not the author.
This is my first Erdrich read and I wasn't sure what to expect. I didn't expect a Native person who reveled in their conversion to Catholicism. I didn't expect this tension to produce such lush imagery and symbolism throughout the book (and the gorgeous title). And I didn't expect Cedar's voice to be so austere and captivating. Her inner monologue reminds me a bit of Ling Ma's Candace from Severance with the religious iconography of the Book of Lamentations (Castellanos, not the original).
This makes for a harrowing, but delightful, read. I wish I would've considered it during the winter when the gloomy weather allows me to focus more on the characters and their personalities. Since I was reading it in sunshine, the sunshine definitely juxtaposed the dystopian themes. This is the fault of the reader, not the author.
mmilligan94's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I wanted more to the story. What were the new babies like? Too much was missing for me to get lost in the story or get invested in the characters. By the time Cedar had the baby I didn’t really care anymore. I like the unsettling, messy ending though.
puzzling_penwing's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.5
angelamichelle's review against another edition
5.0
[Very Handmaids-Tale-esque, dystopian, world run amok and evolution is progressing backwards. Main character is pregnant, but perhaps with a pre-human? In a weird hospital twice, hides, escapes, reunites with native birth mother.]
nderiley's review against another edition
3.0
This book could have been much better than it was. As other reviewers have pointed out, there are times reading the book where you feel like you are reading the Handmaid's Tale. The author could have really distinguished this book by delving into the de-evolution premise, but instead of it being a focal plot point, it was used as a mechanism for the crack down on women. Not a bad book, but not a great one
kgmittty's review against another edition
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I think I was hoping for more plot and character focus and while the concept was very cool in theory I don’t think it was executed in a particularly satisfying way.
The writing is beautiful, the message is both dark and clear, and the ending is heartbreaking. At the end I felt “what? That’s it?”. And that’s not a mark against the tragedy of the ending, which I can respect, but more of a complaint about all the nothing it felt like happened in the middle, with Cedar always seemingly waiting around for things to happen. And when things do happen there are bursts of plot followed by more… waiting.
I wanted to like this more and while I don’t think it’s a bad book, I guess I just wanted more out of it.
The writing is beautiful, the message is both dark and clear, and the ending is heartbreaking. At the end I felt “what? That’s it?”. And that’s not a mark against the tragedy of the ending, which I can respect, but more of a complaint about all the nothing it felt like happened in the middle, with Cedar always seemingly waiting around for things to happen. And when things do happen there are bursts of plot followed by more… waiting.
I wanted to like this more and while I don’t think it’s a bad book, I guess I just wanted more out of it.
tallyc1010's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Absolutely beautiful. A stunning introduction to Louise Erdrich and the kind of book that makes me want to write a paper unpacking it all. A dystopian Magnificat that at once captures the divinity and timelessness of pregnancy and the looming fear and decay of an increasingly troubled world.