Scan barcode
bucket's review
4.0
I have a favorable impression now that I've finished, but in the beginning I really wondered if I would like this. There are so many characters within the first ten or so pages and I absolutely could not keep them straight - especially since they are all inter-related in various ways. As the book went on, I figured out which ones mattered here and ignored the rest, but before I got to that point I did a lot of looking back. I wonder if this problem would have been less apparent if I had read the other novels Erdrich has written about these characters in Argus, ND. I have the sense that some of them are only mentioned in this novel because they are featured in another novel and readers would be interested to get a little bit of an update. Since this isn't a series though, this novel really should have stood alone a little better in the beginning. I did love the magic of this novel - Lipsha's communications with his mom, Zelda's power, and the fear of Fleur. All of these things could be read as reality or symbolically and I really enjoyed that dichotomy.
Themes: modern Native American culture, gambling, visions, superstition, crime and poverty as inescapable cycles, love, luck, dancing
Themes: modern Native American culture, gambling, visions, superstition, crime and poverty as inescapable cycles, love, luck, dancing
katiethesing's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
“An unknown path opens up before us, an empty trail shut behind. Snow closes over our tracks, then keeps moving like the tide. There is no trace where we were. Nor any arrows pointing to the place we’re headed. We are the trackless beat, the invisible light, the thought without a word to speak. Poured water, struck match. Before the nothing, we are the moment.”
This book made me grieve for lost land and with it lost life, tradition, identity, family - all things that land nurtures generation to generation.
Of the three Love Medicine books I’ve now read (moving backwards from The Last Report), this is the first where I’ve felt my reading and understanding would have been enriched by reading the earlier books first. I loved how this book and Tales of Burning Love were intertwined and that I was able to see the same events retold from different perspectives.
One thing I adore about Louise Erdrich’s writing is that she describes snapshots and small moments with such beauty and lyricism that they stay with me long after reading, longer even then plot arcs and character names, like they’re my own memories.
book1jenn's review
2.0
Louise Erdrich has beautiful writing. However, I did not enjoy this particular novel. I found it very hard to get into. I found myself loving one chapter and disliking the next. This is my second Erdrich novel. I enjoyed the first one much better. I am a fan of Erdrich and will continue to read her novels. This was just a tough book for me to get through, I thought about not finishing it many times, but I really hate not finishing a book once I start. I own a few other novels by her that I am going to try reading at another time!
jeslaine's review against another edition
5.0
Erdrich's writing is the type I'd love to emulate. In the series, this book doesn't disappoint.
kaceyclaire's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
wcsheffer's review against another edition
4.0
Louise Erdrich is a talented storyteller with looping prose that easily envelopes the reader in snow, sun, or the grasses of her North Dakota setting. The Bingo Palace is the 4th in her loose series starting with Love Medicine which follows the intertwining lives of a Native Americans living on and off of a fictional reservation. This volume specifically focuses on Lipsha Morrisey the son of rebellious June Morrisey and criminal constantly on the lam Gerry Nanapush. It mostly details his love for Shawnee Ray Toose and the complications that come with loving her but like any true love story a whole lot of other people are involved including Lyman Lamartine, the entrepreneur of the reservation. I found the love story to be at times too much, I found myself frustrated at Erdrich getting so caught up in writing a story of a man's unrequited/complicated love for a woman, a plot point that many reader are all too familiar with but true to form Erdrich got me back in the story through multiple narrators, illuminating every day complications with relationships, and soaring descriptions of the prairie. I thought the strongest part of the book is the chapter told from the perspective of Redford, Shawnee Ray's young son. I also found myself most interested in the book when the characters had to confront estranged family and the legacies of growing up on a reservation. It was a beautiful book full of exquisite characters and looping plot lines but I did not think that it was as good as Love Medicine. I do not hesitate to recommend Erdrich to anyone and I fully believe that she is one of the greatest authors America has produced.
kaneelkip's review against another edition
4.0
Enjoyed this far more than I thought I would. Great read.
knkoch's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
More...