Reviews - Future Home of the Living God

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Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich

2.07k reviews for:

Erdrich’s vivid and grounded writing made even the most dystopian parts of this books seem like reality- which we don’t seem far off from anymore. The characters were well crafted and genuine. Her beautiful world building revealed just enough at the exact right time. A truly essential book for our time.

mvindc's review against another edition

3.0

The premise was interesting, though not entirely unique--a combination of Children of Men and Handmaid's Tale, with a little bit of Oryx and Crake thrown in. We never found out what exactly caused humans (and other animals) to not be able to reproduce "true", but it destabilized society. Unfortunately, this was the most interesting part of the novel, and it was just sort of the backdrop. The main character never really grows or progresses throughout her trials. There's also a heavy influence from religious idols and scholars, but that never really clicked for me. Overall, I finished this book pretty quickly because I wanted to figure out what was going on, but it just left me disappointed--and nothing really resolved. Not worth it.

alhaider's review against another edition

3.0

Whoa! This book was really heavy for me. I can read pretty dark stuff but, Erdrich really goes for it with this book. While this book is brilliant and I think everyone should read it, it was hard for me to get through.

omcruz's review against another edition

4.0

So good, especially as read by the author on audio book. Only negative is how close it is to Handmaid's Tale, without acknowledgement. One would think the narrator would at least mention that text and the parallels.

myscatteredshelf's review against another edition

4.0

This was my first Louise Erdrich but won’t be my last. Cedar finds herself pregnant as the world is unraveling genetically. With a precarious pregnancy, a questionable father of the baby and a complicated family of origin, Cedar navigates this strange new world with grit. Erdrich creates an apocalyptic book with theological themes that are not overworked, drawing on the Christian mystics and northern Minnesota Native American mythologies to create an interesting reflection on motherhood, family, heritage and life. For me I found Erdrich’s gritty yet hopeful outlook in Future Home of the Living God strangely comforting.