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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Emotional resonance: 2 / 5
Social awareness: 3 / 5
Craft (structure/style): 2 / 5
Novelty (plot/ideas): 3 / 5
Accessibility: 4 / 5
Social awareness: 3 / 5
Craft (structure/style): 2 / 5
Novelty (plot/ideas): 3 / 5
Accessibility: 4 / 5
The story is intense enough that it had me edgy toward the middle, hesitating to take out the trash because I was supposed to be hiding inside the house! But Erdrich writes so beautifully that a sense of quiet calm also pervades the story, even at the end. This is dystopian fiction, so don't expect it to be cheery. However, I found that it was a good match for my mind-set in this particular #MeToo moment but without leaving me in a state of despair.
medium-paced
It was the setting of this book that stuck with me. The soft normalcy that the end of the world crept up felt too familiar. Every mention of climate, of winter, and of snow stuck to my heart. Otherwise, the characters felt distant and unlikeable. After spending so much time isolated with Ceder, her decisions were confusing and frustrating in a way that distracted from the story. It reminded me that as things crumble they'll do so in a way that's imperfect, messy, and incomplete. Maybe that was the point of it, because it left me wishing that things had been different.
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I'm slightly baffled at the mediocre and critical reviews of this book. Louise Erdrich is a masterful writer, and this book shows that ten times over. It holds the same speculative dread as Margaret Atwood's MaddAddam series, but has a poetic subtlety to it that makes it quiet and beautiful. Cedar's character becomes so clear in her diary entries. The book is chilling and all too plausible - even though we are limited in our view of the outside world as Cedar hides, the glimpses we catch make it all the more frightening. This was my first trip into Erdrich's writing after long intending to do so, and I'll definitely be reading her other work soon.
I saw a book critic ask if we need another of these Handmaid’s Tale type books and I’ll answer that yes, we most certainly do. We need these books for as long as women’s bodies are being politicized, regulated, and controlled.
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
dark
emotional
medium-paced