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Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich

3.66 AVERAGE

whatsnack_'s review against another edition

4.5
emotional reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
emily_nelson's profile picture

emily_nelson's review against another edition

4.0
I've unintentionally been on a "motherhood" kick when it comes to media I'm into - in addition to binging the Handmaid's Tale, the last three books I polished off (History of Wolves, Stay with Me, and now FHOTLG) all deal with the myriad facets of motherhood as a social and biological construct. What makes a mother, biological birth or maternal love? Who does a baby "belong" to? How much of motherhood is truly a choice, in the end? When is motherhood an imperative, or should it always be a choice? Louise Erdich deftly explores these questions and more, taking them to their logical extreme by placing her main character Cedar Songmaker, a pregnant adopted Ojibwe woman, in the midst of a biological apocalypse. Evolution is going backwards, and as pregnancy becomes a government concern and organized society falls apart, Cedar is faced with a series of defeats and tests of faith (as a Catholic, as a woman, as an American) that culminate in a very shattering and heart-wrenching odyssey. Fair warning though, if you are like me and very sensitive to close-to-home political shit, this might be a hard read - even though this was written ahead of the Trump presidency, a lot of Erdich's predictions are so spot-on that I had to set the book down and walk around a few times to calm down before continuing.

beccann253's review against another edition

3.0
(Audiobook). This was really hard for me to get through. There is really no explanation or conclusion to the events, and the main character just annoyed me.

ly_do's review

2.75
challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No

kkbwink's review against another edition

4.5
adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

jessbuehler's review against another edition

4.0
slow-paced
stitch_ohana's profile picture

stitch_ohana's review against another edition

2.0
dark sad tense slow-paced

jobatkin's review against another edition

4.0
I thought the dystopian science of this, with the premise of evolution going backwards, was unclear and confusing, but the story was still really interesting and gripping. It had strong elements of similarity to [b:The Handmaid's Tale|38447|The Handmaid's Tale (The Handmaid's Tale, #1)|Margaret Atwood|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1578028274l/38447._SY75_.jpg|1119185] with the overblown religious fanaticism, subjugation of women and restrictions around pregnancy, but also many unique aspects. Cedar is a young woman adopted into a liberal white family from a Native American background, and her journey to reconnect with her roots is I think the best and most interesting part of the story, coming as it does from her pregnancy in the midst of increasing genetic mutations. The characters were unique and interesting and unpredictable, the setting was a good mix of realistic and imagined and I liked many things about the story including the suspense, thoughtfulness, and focus on family and love and faith.

ruinedbyreading's review against another edition

3.5
challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

amarastafford10's review against another edition

4.5
dark emotional sad tense