Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich

85 reviews

mariebrunelm's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful informative reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

An Indigenous bookshop ghost story, what more could you ask for?
In The Sentence, Louise Erdrich weaves the ordinary (as mundane or heart-wrenching as it can be) and the supernatural to create a rich tapestry of contemporary life as an Indigenous person in the USA, with a strong emphasis on community and a balance between darkness and light.
Tookie is a very grounded person, an ex-convict now working in a bookshop owned by… a certain Louise. They have their regulars, each one with their habits and particular tastes in books. One of them, Flora, dies at the beginning of the story, but she doesn’t seem ready to leave the bookshop.
Once the situation is set, the author sets out to detail the daily life of the bookshop and its daily haunting, through the eyes of a gruff but very endearing character, Tookie, who is very flawed but very loveable. I loved the balance of her prose that walked the line between prosaic and spiritual. In short chapters, she captured vivid scenes and interactions that made this book highly entertaining even though not a lot was happening. The touch of the supernatural was very welcome to add another dimension to the book. It was also very informational about Indigenous people living in Minneapolis and its surrounding area, without feeling like you were taught a lesson.
On the whole, this book felt very intentional, and forced me to slow down to savour every bite, which is very rare for me. I was in no rush to see what was happening next, and it brought me a lot of peace even though some parts were harrowing. I highly recommend this nuanced and multi-facetted book that holds a lot in a very readable format.
Rep: Indigenous characters, bi MC.
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jodie_dc's review

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emotional sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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stephe's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

The Sentence is beautifully, lovingly written, capturing the power that books and stories and memories have to reveal deep and painful truths—about ourselves, those around us, and our worlds. It also faithfully captures a moment in Minneapolis (and the world) in which deep pain and patterns of systemic abuse came bubbling up and out into the streets, all in the midst of the darkest times of the Quarantine Era. Having lived in Minneapolis during most of these events, it was hard to read at times. And yet, Tookie and the whole cast of characters brought so much life and depth and joy to the story that I finished it with hope that, together, we can reckon with that which haunts us and welcome healing into our lives.
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mouseyhare's review against another edition

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funny hopeful reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I don't know how to describe this book. Even though it took me 3 whole weeks to read, every time I picked it up it felt easy. Even though it's about COVID and George Floyd and people dying, it's still funny? It's weird.  It's not a happy book but it's not sad either. I recommend it.

I am bad at adding content warnings because I'm not sure how to describe them or how graphic they are but I tried to cover the ones I remembered. There is a pretty detailed description of the main character smuggling a dead body and her incarceration afterwards which I don't think is an option to mark in Storygraph. Oy.
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meemzala's review

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dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book made me laugh and cry. Tookie is so lovable and so complicated. This book has some of my favorite qualities of Louise Erdrich’s work: magical realism, intense relationships between women, nonfiction elements illuminating the history and current state of Native American affairs, and complicated LOVE. And humor! 
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katharina90's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective slow-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Started off strong but lost a bit of steam shortly after. The pace was too slow for my liking but I enjoyed the many themes that are explored in this novel.

It was also interesting to relive the events of 2020 from the perspective of an indigenous formerly incarcerated woman working at a small bookstore in Minneapolis. 
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glacialis's review

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challenging emotional reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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jennieliv's review

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emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Took a while to get into but loved the way it ended 
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danimcthomas's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

A wild swath of a book that covers so many issues in such a beautiful and nuanced way. Erdrich is a master.
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cassielaj's review

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I enjoyed this, though it was extremely heavy and challenging at times. Erdrich takes such a fascinating approach in this story, exploring the complexities and horrors of 2020 through the eyes of a fictional character whose own life has been filled with its own complexities and horrors. This story explores haunting both literal and figurative. It opened my eyes in many ways. Though the plot was circuitous at times, it mostly came together, supported by some excellent writing and living, breathing characters. Reading Erdrich’s author’s note about the importance of books and how people cling to them really cemented it for me. 
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