Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich

3 reviews

megatza's review

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense slow-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

4.5

 

Genre: Contemporary fiction, magical realism

We start with a sentence. Tookie, an indigenous woman from Minnesota, is sentenced for stealing a body and carrying it across state lines, its armpits packed with crack. In prison, she salvages her sanity by reading, and when her sentence is reduced to seven years time served and she returns to life, she finds a job at a bookstore (owned by author Louise Erdrich). The primary narrative of the story takes place from All Souls Day 2019 through the same day in 2020, as the ghost of one of a former customer haunts the store. Tookie and her colleagues try to determine why Flora is restless and how to shepherd her soul to a peaceful respite. 

Part magical realism, part exploration of indigenous culture, and part reflection on the turmoils of 2020, and part ode to books and literature, The Sentence is a clever novel in Louise Edrich’s signature style. Her writing meanders, glancing off deeper meanings, until she circles right to the point at the end, punching you in the gut with the true essence of life. (If you’ve never read a book by Erdrich, this is typical to her slow burn style.) 

This book tackles A LOT, from a prison sentence for an indigenous woman (an over-convicted population), to police violence with the murder of George Floyd as it directly impacted the streets of Minneapolis where the book happens, to the early days of the pandemic, to the usurption of indigenous identity and land. But it does so from an oft-silenced lens, and I appreciate Erdrich’s refusal to shy from difficult topics. 

I’m not sure this is a great starting point if you’ve never read a book by Erdrich, and for many readers there may be too many triggers from 2020. Even as an avid #PlagueNovelPals enthusiast, this book has very uncomfortable moments of confrontations with covid. But if you are prepared, this book is exquisite, and Louise Erdrich reads the audiobook. 

 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Addiction, Xenophobia, and Grief

Minor: Police brutality

prettycloud's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.75

This book feels like the pandemic: just when you think you've found the rhythms of normal life, you feel the uncertainty as threads come loose bit by bit until the whole thing unravels. It's a powerful look at the way that unraveling gave people in the US a new understanding of our own complacency, caused people to question the facts of life we'd come to accept. The energy that flowed into anti-racism work in that summer of 2020 feels vibrant and real in this book without being too trite. And it does not shy away from the nuances of systemic and interpersonal racism!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Medical content, Police brutality, Alcohol, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Grief, Body horror, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Domestic abuse, Toxic friendship, Torture, Slavery, and Sexual content

Minor: Colonisation, War, and Racism

This book addresses the horrors of colonialism and historic wrongs, but it doesn't twist the knife or delight in violence. The characters in the present experience common experiences during the first year of COVID, from generalized pandemic anxiety to

police violence and hospitalization from the virus

. The main character had previously endured police and other violence during her incarceration, which she describes in the beginning of the book and which forms part of a later conflict. No one in the present tense of the book abuses drugs or alcohol, but the main character's mom was an addict and neglected her, and she does describe this.

amandabcook's review

emotional reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Cultural appropriation, Drug use, Medical content, Police brutality, Forced institutionalization, Racism, Body horror, Colonisation, Confinement, and Xenophobia