Reviews

Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich

ja3m3's review against another edition

4.0

This collection of interconnected stories centers on a group of Ojibwa people and their many layered relationships. Though Erdrich tackles the complexities of relationships between men and women the main theme is really the bond between family and how that love or lack of love can define who we are. This is a deeply moving testament to the idea that how we love is how we view the world. Highly recommend.

mastben11's review against another edition

3.0

It got better as it went along; not my favorite though.

surlymanor's review against another edition

4.0

"Her clothes were filled with safety pins and hidden tears"

The Painted Drum is my all time favorite Erdrich novel, Round House & Love Medicine come in tied for a close 2nd. I've only read 3 books by her & it seems that maybe all of her books would tie for second place. Because they are all just that good.

yrsbrn's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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

4.25

sayward18's review against another edition

informative 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

kendralu's review against another edition

I have been home sick in bed reading. For that reason, I am not going to give this book a rating. I would read, then doze and dream and I can't really distinguish what was written and what was my imagination enhanced by cold medicine. I can only say that like most Native American literature, this was tragic.

milktoast's review against another edition

5.0

Love Medicine is a really cool book. It somehow manages to function as a collection of short stories and a novel at the same time. Most of the chapters could stand on their own (indeed, I read "The Red Convertible" many years ago and loved it. I didn't even realize it was part of a novel until I read it in the book yesterday!) but together they weave a story that is thematic bound and compelling. It's a multi-generational story of two families living on a reservation and jumps around in time, perspective, and point of view.

Her writing is fantastic. The dialogue and characters are realistic and believable, but her wonderfully crafted style gives it a mythical quality. Highly recommended to anyone who likes multi-generational stories!

sweetlena96's review against another edition

3.0

Liked it a lot, just also found the family ties confusing and I don’t love shirt stories, which I realized as I was reading it, it is a collection of

cojack's review against another edition

3.0

3.5 stars. This was incredibly hard to follow. In fact, if it weren’t a book club book, I might not have finished it. I’m glad I did, because Erdrich writes some gorgeous, insightful passages. She shows characters from the POV of others and then their own POV, which is intriguing. I know it wasn’t meant to be a linear story, but still, I had a terrible time remembering who was who and how they were all connected until well past 1/2 way through the book. It was probably intentional on the author’s part, highlighting the complicated relationships and family trees within some Native American communities. I think Tommy Orange’s There, There is an urban riff on this, but I think he connected the dots better between his characters. If Erdrich had even titled the chapters after the main character/narrator, it would have helped immensely.

sadieregnier's review against another edition

3.0

Love "The Red Convertible" and the connections to the entire family web... however, the story often forced me to read slowly and was not the quick summer read I was hoping for.