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amielizabeth's review against another edition
5.0
Goodness, what a book. I was lost in these characters' stories and couldn't put it down. Her writing is gorgeous and I plan on reading more of her work.
valentina_legge's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
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? Yes
5.0
abbie_ohara's review against another edition
5.0
“I want to lean into her the way when leans into the wind, but instead I walk upstairs and lie down in my bed alone.”
I will be leaving a brief summary of Snider Larson's literary review of the Native American literary canon here in case any avid lovers of Erdrich haven't read up on the constructions and intentions of Native American literature - it will bring so much insight to your next reading experience with Erdrich! Silko is another vey central writer to the canon that i recommend.
- just a few central themes are community, family, heritage, ancestry, identity race, territory, ethnicity, and history.
-there is an importance to Native American writing that focuses on revision of Western writing techniques and rhetoric; this helps the genre take on a more postcolonial tone that is critical of the white-washing of history and the settler colonialism that even today continues to violently oppress and erase the existence of Native Americans. (*although, it is important to keep in mind as readers that the novel is a western invention and any western dialogue or narrative is difficult to challenge within the confines of its own historical and intellectual mode of thinking - this makes the Native American literary canon an interesting point of study within postcolonial thinking - we must remember a famous quote by Audre Lorde, Harlem Renaissance poet and feminist, in her book Sister Outsider For the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change. And this fact is only threatening to those women who still define the master's house as their only source of support.")
- another central theme is the impact of acculturation (continuing and embracing pre colonial Native American tradition and culture) versus the effects and impacts of assimilation (leaving behind pre colonial traditions and moving more towards white customs and culture, typically a means of survival for many communities facing the violence of white supremacy)
- A quote by Larson now "Native American people are in the process of identifying or re-identifying features that distinguish them as individuals and in relationship to others. In doing so, they are tied to elements of history, property, and identity. At the present time, Native Americans are a minority defined by the majority culture and as a result they are dependent on notions of identity developed by others. This is in direct opposition to their former historical, place-oriented notion of themselves."
- Larson then explains and deconstructs the long and violent implications of Land-Claim lawsuits filed by the East coast Indians in the late 1960s and 70s - the cases did NOT seek to settle land disputes, but rather became focused on defining what Native American identity is. This is problematic because this happened by white judges and juries, in a white system of law that is very much constructed by the west and whites and oriented to serve the narrative of white supremacy (anyone interested in the colonialism and racism of US law can read George Jackson Blood in My Eye). The definition negatively impacted the course of being for Native Americans and made it very hard for them to keep their land, something essential to identity. Not only were their rights even more stripped away by these definitions, but their sense of community and self were challenged and fractured.
- many authors such as Erdrich and Silko write to reclaim and redefine their identity in this contemporary world, one that is very much so a post-apocolyptic one for Native Americans who have suffered through a genocide and cultural erasure.
- this can be seen in the Beet Queen most strickingly in its fractured narrative. All the characters seem very much isolated from one another in how they see themselves and others. They feel disconnected from each other in this narrative move that Erdrich makes. "Fractured narration" is a very common theme throughout Native American literature
- another prominent theme is the shadow of history that can be taken away from each character's story. Just one example of this is Russell: many native Americans were drafted to fight in US wars, even though Native Americans are supposedly citizens of sovereign nations and not US citizens. They have been historically drafted at higher rates per capita than white people. Because white people killed all the native Americans, there communities are very small, but what is left of their communities have been exploited by the American military industrial complex. Native American men were more likely to have served in the war than white American men. They also were more likely to be killed in action or injured in these wars because they, along with African American males, were placed on the front lines. So, we can see how the most disenfranchised groups in America are ironically forced to fight for the "liberties" and "freedoms" of the American public. Then they do not receive any liberties or freedoms themselves, but return to their communities handicapped, impoverished, and oppressed. This is just one example of the kind of historical allusions present in the Beet Queen.
I will be leaving a brief summary of Snider Larson's literary review of the Native American literary canon here in case any avid lovers of Erdrich haven't read up on the constructions and intentions of Native American literature - it will bring so much insight to your next reading experience with Erdrich! Silko is another vey central writer to the canon that i recommend.
- just a few central themes are community, family, heritage, ancestry, identity race, territory, ethnicity, and history.
-there is an importance to Native American writing that focuses on revision of Western writing techniques and rhetoric; this helps the genre take on a more postcolonial tone that is critical of the white-washing of history and the settler colonialism that even today continues to violently oppress and erase the existence of Native Americans. (*although, it is important to keep in mind as readers that the novel is a western invention and any western dialogue or narrative is difficult to challenge within the confines of its own historical and intellectual mode of thinking - this makes the Native American literary canon an interesting point of study within postcolonial thinking - we must remember a famous quote by Audre Lorde, Harlem Renaissance poet and feminist, in her book Sister Outsider For the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change. And this fact is only threatening to those women who still define the master's house as their only source of support.")
- another central theme is the impact of acculturation (continuing and embracing pre colonial Native American tradition and culture) versus the effects and impacts of assimilation (leaving behind pre colonial traditions and moving more towards white customs and culture, typically a means of survival for many communities facing the violence of white supremacy)
- A quote by Larson now "Native American people are in the process of identifying or re-identifying features that distinguish them as individuals and in relationship to others. In doing so, they are tied to elements of history, property, and identity. At the present time, Native Americans are a minority defined by the majority culture and as a result they are dependent on notions of identity developed by others. This is in direct opposition to their former historical, place-oriented notion of themselves."
- Larson then explains and deconstructs the long and violent implications of Land-Claim lawsuits filed by the East coast Indians in the late 1960s and 70s - the cases did NOT seek to settle land disputes, but rather became focused on defining what Native American identity is. This is problematic because this happened by white judges and juries, in a white system of law that is very much constructed by the west and whites and oriented to serve the narrative of white supremacy (anyone interested in the colonialism and racism of US law can read George Jackson Blood in My Eye). The definition negatively impacted the course of being for Native Americans and made it very hard for them to keep their land, something essential to identity. Not only were their rights even more stripped away by these definitions, but their sense of community and self were challenged and fractured.
- many authors such as Erdrich and Silko write to reclaim and redefine their identity in this contemporary world, one that is very much so a post-apocolyptic one for Native Americans who have suffered through a genocide and cultural erasure.
- this can be seen in the Beet Queen most strickingly in its fractured narrative. All the characters seem very much isolated from one another in how they see themselves and others. They feel disconnected from each other in this narrative move that Erdrich makes. "Fractured narration" is a very common theme throughout Native American literature
- another prominent theme is the shadow of history that can be taken away from each character's story. Just one example of this is Russell: many native Americans were drafted to fight in US wars, even though Native Americans are supposedly citizens of sovereign nations and not US citizens. They have been historically drafted at higher rates per capita than white people. Because white people killed all the native Americans, there communities are very small, but what is left of their communities have been exploited by the American military industrial complex. Native American men were more likely to have served in the war than white American men. They also were more likely to be killed in action or injured in these wars because they, along with African American males, were placed on the front lines. So, we can see how the most disenfranchised groups in America are ironically forced to fight for the "liberties" and "freedoms" of the American public. Then they do not receive any liberties or freedoms themselves, but return to their communities handicapped, impoverished, and oppressed. This is just one example of the kind of historical allusions present in the Beet Queen.
renatasnacks's review against another edition
4.0
Oh gosh, another great book. It's interesting; this, Tracks, and Love Medicine are very different in some ways, and yet they all had the same lovely style of prose. It's obvious they are by the same author, and yet she's not confined at all to any one "type" of book, even though she's writing about the same families of characters.
I don't have anything smart to say, except that it is gorgeous and sad and hopeful and you should pretty much go read it, and her other books, right now.
I don't have anything smart to say, except that it is gorgeous and sad and hopeful and you should pretty much go read it, and her other books, right now.
laneamagya's review against another edition
4.0
I'm reading Erdrich's books all out of their published order, and this is the first I've read that takes place on the distant edges of the Ojibwe community, rather than swirling around within it. The novel follows Mary and Karl Adare from their abandonment as children through their adult lives. As is often the case in Erdrich's novels, each of the major characters is broken in some sense. That may be an understatement for Karl and Mary, and for Dot, Mary's niece.
The two strongest foils to Mary and Karl are Celestine, Mary's best friend and sister to Russell Kashpaw, and Wallace Pfef, closeted lover to Karl and friend to Celestine and her cobbled-together family. And they were the two characters who most intrigued me. Celestine is open, forgiving, loving, but never quite appreciated by family or friends. Wallace is similar--long-suffering suitor to the mercurial and cruel Karl, businessman, quiet friend, and stand-in father. Both are steamrollered by the Adares time and time again, and both maintain a sense of dignity throughout. Sita, the cousin whose place Mary usurps in the family and the family business, crumbles under the Adare onslaught while Wallace and Celestine find a way through it.
The book is ultimately about parenthood. Karl and Mary suffer without it. Karl fails at it. Celestine struggles to make up for a missing father and to fight against an interfering aunt. Wallace tried to replace his missing lover as best he can--as a godfather plus. And Dot refuses guidance and love and her nest.
The book is sad, and lovely, and good.
The two strongest foils to Mary and Karl are Celestine, Mary's best friend and sister to Russell Kashpaw, and Wallace Pfef, closeted lover to Karl and friend to Celestine and her cobbled-together family. And they were the two characters who most intrigued me. Celestine is open, forgiving, loving, but never quite appreciated by family or friends. Wallace is similar--long-suffering suitor to the mercurial and cruel Karl, businessman, quiet friend, and stand-in father. Both are steamrollered by the Adares time and time again, and both maintain a sense of dignity throughout. Sita, the cousin whose place Mary usurps in the family and the family business, crumbles under the Adare onslaught while Wallace and Celestine find a way through it.
The book is ultimately about parenthood. Karl and Mary suffer without it. Karl fails at it. Celestine struggles to make up for a missing father and to fight against an interfering aunt. Wallace tried to replace his missing lover as best he can--as a godfather plus. And Dot refuses guidance and love and her nest.
The book is sad, and lovely, and good.
careinthelibrary's review against another edition
3.0
I read this in just a few days as part of the #erdrichmedicinereadalong that I'm taking part in. Erdrich never writes mediocre. Every chapter is brilliant. Characters have purpose to fulfill in the plot. This one, compared to the other three we've read, was not my favourite. It did seem to lack that spark of wow factor that Erdrich usually imparts in her books. I'm not sure what it was, but this one wasn't as good as Tracks, Four Souls, or Love Medicine to me. The themes of blended families and rivalry...they weren't as strong as themes in other Erdrich books. Either way, I'm glad to meet new faces, see familiar ones again, and continue to expand the scope of the Love Medicine series.
askxtine's review against another edition
3.0
I don't know how I feel about this book. I read it quite quickly but the whole time I kept thinking "where is this going?". It covers 50+ yrs of life of people who seem to take a bad situation and keep making it worse. I guess the last chapter paid off, but boy did it take a long time to get there.
acton's review against another edition
2.0
My latest read is The Beet Queen, by Louise Erdrich, a unique tale, and I must honestly say that I'm not sure how I feel about it.
It starts out by introducing us to Adelaide, a "kept woman," who has three children to a married man. When this man suddenly dies, it is a catastrophe for her, and one day she abandons her three children in a most unusual and surreal way. Those children, Karl, Mary, and a baby boy, end up going three separate ways.
So, in the beginning, anything can happen to these three children; the future is full of both danger and potential. Because of the way they were abandoned, I expected the rest of the story to be something akin to a folktale, such as Water for Chocolate, but I was wrong. The story is told by several characters in turn, and all of them are people who have made very strange decisions in their lives. Actually, I felt that both Karl and Mary were released into the world to become blights on other people's lives, causing heartbreak, jealousy, and animosity.
In the end, though, that might have been the point: relationships are emotional, sometimes painfully so, but somehow, people stick together and live with all the feelings, good and bad. They also seek out whatever family they have, so that they can subject them to these feelings without relenting. In fact, near the end of this book, there's a long-suffering dying woman who would really like to not have the company of Mary and Celestine (an old friend-turned-relative), and winds up retreating to her late husband's rec room, where she starts sleeping on the pool table. Now, that's a novel idea: a bed with pockets in every corner, so you don't have to get up for anything!
At the end, I thought that maybe Adelaide's granddaughter was going to escape in the same way she did, but--that's not to be. And so it ends on a happy note, with at least one person realizing that someone desperately loves her.
Louise Erdrich has created some mighty interesting characters for this novel, and also wrote a few very funny scenes. And I kept reading, despite the fact that I had no idea where this story was headed. Erdrich is a talented writer and I might read some of her other books in the future.
It starts out by introducing us to Adelaide, a "kept woman," who has three children to a married man. When this man suddenly dies, it is a catastrophe for her, and one day she abandons her three children in a most unusual and surreal way. Those children, Karl, Mary, and a baby boy, end up going three separate ways.
So, in the beginning, anything can happen to these three children; the future is full of both danger and potential. Because of the way they were abandoned, I expected the rest of the story to be something akin to a folktale, such as Water for Chocolate, but I was wrong. The story is told by several characters in turn, and all of them are people who have made very strange decisions in their lives. Actually, I felt that both Karl and Mary were released into the world to become blights on other people's lives, causing heartbreak, jealousy, and animosity.
In the end, though, that might have been the point: relationships are emotional, sometimes painfully so, but somehow, people stick together and live with all the feelings, good and bad. They also seek out whatever family they have, so that they can subject them to these feelings without relenting. In fact, near the end of this book, there's a long-suffering dying woman who would really like to not have the company of Mary and Celestine (an old friend-turned-relative), and winds up retreating to her late husband's rec room, where she starts sleeping on the pool table. Now, that's a novel idea: a bed with pockets in every corner, so you don't have to get up for anything!
At the end, I thought that maybe Adelaide's granddaughter was going to escape in the same way she did, but--that's not to be. And so it ends on a happy note, with at least one person realizing that someone desperately loves her.
Louise Erdrich has created some mighty interesting characters for this novel, and also wrote a few very funny scenes. And I kept reading, despite the fact that I had no idea where this story was headed. Erdrich is a talented writer and I might read some of her other books in the future.
abbiecoh's review against another edition
5.0
“I want to lean into her the way when leans into the wind, but instead I walk upstairs and lie down in my bed alone.”
I will be leaving a brief summary of Snider Larson's literary review of the Native American literary canon here in case any avid lovers of Erdrich haven't read up on the constructions and intentions of Native American literature - it will bring so much insight to your next reading experience with Erdrich! Silko is another vey central writer to the canon that i recommend.
- just a few central themes are community, family, heritage, ancestry, identity race, territory, ethnicity, and history.
-there is an importance to Native American writing that focuses on revision of Western writing techniques and rhetoric; this helps the genre take on a more postcolonial tone that is critical of the white-washing of history and the settler colonialism that even today continues to violently oppress and erase the existence of Native Americans. (*although, it is important to keep in mind as readers that the novel is a western invention and any western dialogue or narrative is difficult to challenge within the confines of its own historical and intellectual mode of thinking - this makes the Native American literary canon an interesting point of study within postcolonial thinking - we must remember a famous quote by Audre Lorde, Harlem Renaissance poet and feminist, in her book Sister Outsider For the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change. And this fact is only threatening to those women who still define the master's house as their only source of support.")
- another central theme is the impact of acculturation (continuing and embracing pre colonial Native American tradition and culture) versus the effects and impacts of assimilation (leaving behind pre colonial traditions and moving more towards white customs and culture, typically a means of survival for many communities facing the violence of white supremacy)
- A quote by Larson now "Native American people are in the process of identifying or re-identifying features that distinguish them as individuals and in relationship to others. In doing so, they are tied to elements of history, property, and identity. At the present time, Native Americans are a minority defined by the majority culture and as a result they are dependent on notions of identity developed by others. This is in direct opposition to their former historical, place-oriented notion of themselves."
- Larson then explains and deconstructs the long and violent implications of Land-Claim lawsuits filed by the East coast Indians in the late 1960s and 70s - the cases did NOT seek to settle land disputes, but rather became focused on defining what Native American identity is. This is problematic because this happened by white judges and juries, in a white system of law that is very much constructed by the west and whites and oriented to serve the narrative of white supremacy (anyone interested in the colonialism and racism of US law can read George Jackson Blood in My Eye). The definition negatively impacted the course of being for Native Americans and made it very hard for them to keep their land, something essential to identity. Not only were their rights even more stripped away by these definitions, but their sense of community and self were challenged and fractured.
- many authors such as Erdrich and Silko write to reclaim and redefine their identity in this contemporary world, one that is very much so a post-apocolyptic one for Native Americans who have suffered through a genocide and cultural erasure.
- this can be seen in the Beet Queen most strickingly in its fractured narrative. All the characters seem very much isolated from one another in how they see themselves and others. They feel disconnected from each other in this narrative move that Erdrich makes. "Fractured narration" is a very common theme throughout Native American literature
- another prominent theme is the shadow of history that can be taken away from each character's story. Just one example of this is Russell: many native Americans were drafted to fight in US wars, even though Native Americans are supposedly citizens of sovereign nations and not US citizens. They have been historically drafted at higher rates per capita than white people. Because white people killed all the native Americans, there communities are very small, but what is left of their communities have been exploited by the American military industrial complex. Native American men were more likely to have served in the war than white American men. They also were more likely to be killed in action or injured in these wars because they, along with African American males, were placed on the front lines. So, we can see how the most disenfranchised groups in America are ironically forced to fight for the "liberties" and "freedoms" of the American public. Then they do not receive any liberties or freedoms themselves, but return to their communities handicapped, impoverished, and oppressed. This is just one example of the kind of historical allusions present in the Beet Queen.
I will be leaving a brief summary of Snider Larson's literary review of the Native American literary canon here in case any avid lovers of Erdrich haven't read up on the constructions and intentions of Native American literature - it will bring so much insight to your next reading experience with Erdrich! Silko is another vey central writer to the canon that i recommend.
- just a few central themes are community, family, heritage, ancestry, identity race, territory, ethnicity, and history.
-there is an importance to Native American writing that focuses on revision of Western writing techniques and rhetoric; this helps the genre take on a more postcolonial tone that is critical of the white-washing of history and the settler colonialism that even today continues to violently oppress and erase the existence of Native Americans. (*although, it is important to keep in mind as readers that the novel is a western invention and any western dialogue or narrative is difficult to challenge within the confines of its own historical and intellectual mode of thinking - this makes the Native American literary canon an interesting point of study within postcolonial thinking - we must remember a famous quote by Audre Lorde, Harlem Renaissance poet and feminist, in her book Sister Outsider For the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change. And this fact is only threatening to those women who still define the master's house as their only source of support.")
- another central theme is the impact of acculturation (continuing and embracing pre colonial Native American tradition and culture) versus the effects and impacts of assimilation (leaving behind pre colonial traditions and moving more towards white customs and culture, typically a means of survival for many communities facing the violence of white supremacy)
- A quote by Larson now "Native American people are in the process of identifying or re-identifying features that distinguish them as individuals and in relationship to others. In doing so, they are tied to elements of history, property, and identity. At the present time, Native Americans are a minority defined by the majority culture and as a result they are dependent on notions of identity developed by others. This is in direct opposition to their former historical, place-oriented notion of themselves."
- Larson then explains and deconstructs the long and violent implications of Land-Claim lawsuits filed by the East coast Indians in the late 1960s and 70s - the cases did NOT seek to settle land disputes, but rather became focused on defining what Native American identity is. This is problematic because this happened by white judges and juries, in a white system of law that is very much constructed by the west and whites and oriented to serve the narrative of white supremacy (anyone interested in the colonialism and racism of US law can read George Jackson Blood in My Eye). The definition negatively impacted the course of being for Native Americans and made it very hard for them to keep their land, something essential to identity. Not only were their rights even more stripped away by these definitions, but their sense of community and self were challenged and fractured.
- many authors such as Erdrich and Silko write to reclaim and redefine their identity in this contemporary world, one that is very much so a post-apocolyptic one for Native Americans who have suffered through a genocide and cultural erasure.
- this can be seen in the Beet Queen most strickingly in its fractured narrative. All the characters seem very much isolated from one another in how they see themselves and others. They feel disconnected from each other in this narrative move that Erdrich makes. "Fractured narration" is a very common theme throughout Native American literature
- another prominent theme is the shadow of history that can be taken away from each character's story. Just one example of this is Russell: many native Americans were drafted to fight in US wars, even though Native Americans are supposedly citizens of sovereign nations and not US citizens. They have been historically drafted at higher rates per capita than white people. Because white people killed all the native Americans, there communities are very small, but what is left of their communities have been exploited by the American military industrial complex. Native American men were more likely to have served in the war than white American men. They also were more likely to be killed in action or injured in these wars because they, along with African American males, were placed on the front lines. So, we can see how the most disenfranchised groups in America are ironically forced to fight for the "liberties" and "freedoms" of the American public. Then they do not receive any liberties or freedoms themselves, but return to their communities handicapped, impoverished, and oppressed. This is just one example of the kind of historical allusions present in the Beet Queen.