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deelightfull's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
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
3.0
I'd really like to give this book a rating of "it's complicated". I appreciated the multilayered story telling, the fully fleshed out characters and the interesting themes. BUT there were other parts I just *didn't* get. I didn't love all of it. Uneven for me.
mlefever1's review against another edition
5.0
A pleasure to read. Interesting characters, descriptions, story lines and writing style. I really had to pay attention!
bries_books's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
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? It's complicated
3.5
sby's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
thelizabeth's review against another edition
4.0
Another in my lovely mission to read all of Louise Erdrich's books, all of them all of them. This one was a gift from my partner who doesn't know what he's doing other than that I want to read Louise Erdrich's books, therefore it is here up on my shelf, selected for no particular reason. In Erdrich's small sprawled universe, this falls across a great number of decades and stitches together some things familiar to us from other books with the insight of the famous Father Damien.
I will read anything Erdrich writes and this is why:
Y'all that's on PAGE FOURTEEN okay. It was so good I put the book right down for a minute. And by page fifty, at least one entire astonishing novel's worth of plot has been spent, but here it is merely a prologue. How does this author never exhaust herself of majestic language and exciting stories, while also never exhausting her readers? It is balanced and beautiful, written with the utmost skills available to any novelist, and such an indomitable pleasure to read. Pleasure, pleasure, pleasure.
Also, you might not expect a book about a staggeringly aged priest to contain several sex scenes of exquisite beauty, but that would make this your lucky day because it does. "He held her like a raft in a torrent." Lord, did he!
Sort of funny that this is a book about Catholicism, then, but that's okay and probably just part of the plan. And as a novel, it is actually fairly odd and much more disjointed than some of the author's other related works. The title comes from the inclusion of many of Father Damien's letters addressed to the Vatican about the theological struggles of reservation life, and these are not especially thrilling and they break up the author's flow, although they're clever enough.
Agnes, though, or Damien depending on the paragraph, is an enigmatic protagonist who is both prickly and brave, forthright and full of secrets. Although it isn't really spelled out, it's interesting putting this dual-identity story of a white woman into the context of two-spirit Native identities that blend gender roles. I expect that this intrigued the author, too. This was something I'd already heard of, so I had it in mind. I was also looking for deliberate patterns in the use of pronouns or names in the narration, but there isn't any; they are interchangeable throughout all of her and his life, Agnes and Damien.
There is also a fair amount of retreading, as we retell rather thoroughly one of the stories from Love Medicine, the seminal Sister Leopolda tale told to us there in Marie Lazarre's voice. And here, the first many lines of that story, "Saint Marie," are given verbatim as direct dialogue from Marie to Father Damien, a testimony. It's interesting, if you know the story, which I'd just reread in order to remind myself of what exactly Leopolda had done. That isn't necessary at all, it turns out, because they sort of do that thing here where they talk about the events so much it takes a little of the awe out of them.
But I liked Father Damien's antagonism with Sister Leopolda, and as always in this author's novels so much of the glory of the characters is in punctually-delivered generations-long backstory. Each little bead in the chain is a marvel. Yet I wondered a bit why she was driven to write this one, and all I can think of is that it does justice to (and obviously, gives an unexpected twist to) the often-mentioned outsider figure of Father Damien. She probably wanted to see if she could do that, as an author, and she did. I'm not positive that she had to, though, and as much as I enjoy reading her books I probably wouldn't suggest this as a primer.
Grateful for it, though!
I will read anything Erdrich writes and this is why:
"However, when it came to the Chopin, she did not use the flowery ornamentation or the endless trills and insipid floribunda of so many of her day. Her playing was of the utmost sincerity. And Chopin, played simply, devastates the heart. Sometimes a pause between the piercing sorrows of minor notes made a sister scrubbing the floor weep into the bucket where she dipped her rag so that the convent's boards, washed in tears, seemed to creak now in a human tongue."
Y'all that's on PAGE FOURTEEN okay. It was so good I put the book right down for a minute. And by page fifty, at least one entire astonishing novel's worth of plot has been spent, but here it is merely a prologue. How does this author never exhaust herself of majestic language and exciting stories, while also never exhausting her readers? It is balanced and beautiful, written with the utmost skills available to any novelist, and such an indomitable pleasure to read. Pleasure, pleasure, pleasure.
Also, you might not expect a book about a staggeringly aged priest to contain several sex scenes of exquisite beauty, but that would make this your lucky day because it does. "He held her like a raft in a torrent." Lord, did he!
Sort of funny that this is a book about Catholicism, then, but that's okay and probably just part of the plan. And as a novel, it is actually fairly odd and much more disjointed than some of the author's other related works. The title comes from the inclusion of many of Father Damien's letters addressed to the Vatican about the theological struggles of reservation life, and these are not especially thrilling and they break up the author's flow, although they're clever enough.
Agnes, though, or Damien depending on the paragraph, is an enigmatic protagonist who is both prickly and brave, forthright and full of secrets. Although it isn't really spelled out, it's interesting putting this dual-identity story of a white woman into the context of two-spirit Native identities that blend gender roles. I expect that this intrigued the author, too. This was something I'd already heard of, so I had it in mind. I was also looking for deliberate patterns in the use of pronouns or names in the narration, but there isn't any; they are interchangeable throughout all of her and his life, Agnes and Damien.
There is also a fair amount of retreading, as we retell rather thoroughly one of the stories from Love Medicine, the seminal Sister Leopolda tale told to us there in Marie Lazarre's voice. And here, the first many lines of that story, "Saint Marie," are given verbatim as direct dialogue from Marie to Father Damien, a testimony. It's interesting, if you know the story, which I'd just reread in order to remind myself of what exactly Leopolda had done. That isn't necessary at all, it turns out, because they sort of do that thing here where they talk about the events so much it takes a little of the awe out of them.
But I liked Father Damien's antagonism with Sister Leopolda, and as always in this author's novels so much of the glory of the characters is in punctually-delivered generations-long backstory. Each little bead in the chain is a marvel. Yet I wondered a bit why she was driven to write this one, and all I can think of is that it does justice to (and obviously, gives an unexpected twist to) the often-mentioned outsider figure of Father Damien. She probably wanted to see if she could do that, as an author, and she did. I'm not positive that she had to, though, and as much as I enjoy reading her books I probably wouldn't suggest this as a primer.
Grateful for it, though!
maddness22's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Gosh this book is super duper Catholic. But it's also just SO good. The way it plays and explains gender was phenomenal. It lost me a bit on the inner family drama stuff, but then it brought me back with the Father Damian stuff and gosh what a solid good read. I wouldn't recommend reading it without a background knowledge of both Catholicism and previous Love Medicine novels, but wow what a great time exploring complex relationships, complex Native American history, and complex gender identities. Such a super solid read.
rprkrshearer's review against another edition
5.0
I want to read everything Louise Erdrich writes until the day I die. I never wanted it to end.
mamaforjustice's review against another edition
5.0
Dint realize this was considered a number 6 of anything, guess so have a lot of reading to catch up on.
Loved it.
Loved it.