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ksherman712's review against another edition
adventurous
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I enjoyed book 2 in the Love Medicine series. I just did not want to put it down. The characters come to life and you have to know what happens next. Erdrich takes us on a 40 year journey with these characters, and I found it all to be quite interesting. I think Celestine is my favorite character because of steadiness and the mother’s love to exudes to Dot. Not much happens, but life just evolves around these characters.
nerdqueen666's review against another edition
3.0
A bit messy and too hard on itself, but erdrich is forever such a readable writer.
esotericareads's review against another edition
3.0
I read The Beet Queen by Louise Erdrich right after reading her Love Medicine, and that might have been a mistake. Because while this book is interesting, I just kept comparing it to Love Medicine, and wanting it to be something it wasn't. The plot started out as one thing, and went in a complete different direction than I was expecting. I kept waiting for there to be a cohesive theme or a takeaway that I could be moved by. I think the main problem was that I didn't enjoy the characters and I think that's essential to liking this book, since it's very character driven. What I did like? The queer characters in this book. I wasn't expecting that at all and I wish the book had been all about them. I'm still going to read everything Erdrich has ever written.
nnebeluk's review against another edition
3.0
A fairly entertaining read but one that failed to engross me in the story. I doubt even months from now I will remember having read it. While I appreciate the examination of small town living the characters just didn't draw me in and the plot felt disjointed. The chronic chronological skipping was disorienting and didn't seem to serve a purpose. We seen to learn more about a character from other's perspectives of them then their own thoughts. And so many plot points feel superfluous (like Mary and Karl's brother).
chrisiant's review against another edition
2.0
This book was pretty bleak. The writing was fine, but the characters all seemed sort of lost and miserable and tortured in various ways, and it was hard to find pleasure in reading about them. And I don't seek out happy endings, but the arc of this book was a little perplexing to me, and I wasn't quite sure why it ended where it did. I like the other book of Erdrich's I read a good deal, so this was kind of a disappointment. Maybe I'll try another.
wsperrazza's review against another edition
3.0
First Erdrich novel and really excited about it. But it was a bit of a let down. I did enjoy some of the plot turns - some really unexpected, almost magical realism components to the story that were intriguing. But I didn’t like any of the characters. And it was really a character-driven book.
taymckenzie's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
anatomydetective's review against another edition
4.0
I read this novel when I was a teenager, before I'd even heard of Erdrich. Even without the context of the previous novel ([b:Love Medicine|91440|Love Medicine|Louise Erdrich|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1442951349s/91440.jpg|1524121]) or the history of the area, I thought it was a pretty good story. Coming back to it with more knowledge of the period, as well as the author, only added to it.
sushai's review against another edition
5.0
I felt differing levels of certainty as I read this that I had read it before, and I still don't know for sure. Erdrich has never disappointed me with her realistic depictions of imperfect characters that can still draw compassion.
plantbirdwoman's review against another edition
5.0
It's only within the last year that I've begun reading the works of Louise Erdrich. Don't ask me why I waited so long. After all, The Beet Queen was published in 1986 and Love Medicine in 1984. She was always on my radar, but there are always so many books to read and so little time. Belatedly, I have entered Erdrich's world and I'm very glad to have finally made it here.
Louise Erdrich writes about ordinary people. They are not superheroes, or even heroes (for the most part) in the common understanding of the word. They are people who struggle to play the hand that Fate has dealt them through nature and nurture (or lack of nurture) as best they can. They go through life never really understanding their own motives or what makes them tick. Mostly, they are too busy making a living to give much thought to that. Even so, these characters sometimes have flashes of insight that just about literally take the reader's breath away.
In this, as in other of her books, Erdrich employs the method of the multiple perspective narration in telling the story. Whenever I read a book that uses this method, I am reminded of William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying where it was used so effectively. The Beet Queen measures up well to that iconic work.
The core of this story concerns three children, Karl and Mary Adare and their newborn baby brother, who are abandoned by their mother, Adelaide, who was in despair following the death of her lover and the loss of his support which left the little family destitute. Adelaide flies off with the Great Omar, a barnstorming pilot. Her baby is immediately kidnapped by a couple who have just lost their own baby. They bring him up as their own. Karl and Mary hop a freight train to Argus, North Dakota, where they have an aunt. However, along the way, Karl takes another path and ends up being raised in an orphanage. Mary actually makes it to Argus and is taken in, cared for and raised by the family. The rest of the book revolves around the events in Argus and in Mary's life and the lives of those who touch her. But Karl, who becomes a salesman, and the baby brother, who grows up to be a priest, will inevitably be drawn back into the tale.
The Beet Queen herself is Dot, a thoroughly unlovable character who is the progeny of Karl and of Mary's best friend, Celestine. Unlovable she may be but she is loved deeply by three of the book's characters, Celestine, Mary, and Wallace, friend of the two women and one-time lover of Karl. In fact, it is Wallace who delivers the baby Dot (whose real name is Wallacette Darlene) on a cold snowy night. Thereafter, his fate is forever tied to hers.
Erdrich writes lyrically, one might even say lovingly, of her characters. These are not attractive people, but she makes us understand the ties of sympathy, jealousy and betrayal that bind all the members of the Adare family and their Argus neighbors together. She makes us see ourselves in them and care about their fates, even as we may be repelled by the darker aspects of their personalities. We see in their story the impatient flow of history over forty years on the harsh landscape of North Dakota and we experience the lives of the hard yet vulnerable people who are able to survive there. This wonderful book brings the rich panoply of personal tales together for our enjoyment. I'm so glad that I have finally entered Erdrich's world and come to know these people.
Louise Erdrich writes about ordinary people. They are not superheroes, or even heroes (for the most part) in the common understanding of the word. They are people who struggle to play the hand that Fate has dealt them through nature and nurture (or lack of nurture) as best they can. They go through life never really understanding their own motives or what makes them tick. Mostly, they are too busy making a living to give much thought to that. Even so, these characters sometimes have flashes of insight that just about literally take the reader's breath away.
In this, as in other of her books, Erdrich employs the method of the multiple perspective narration in telling the story. Whenever I read a book that uses this method, I am reminded of William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying where it was used so effectively. The Beet Queen measures up well to that iconic work.
The core of this story concerns three children, Karl and Mary Adare and their newborn baby brother, who are abandoned by their mother, Adelaide, who was in despair following the death of her lover and the loss of his support which left the little family destitute. Adelaide flies off with the Great Omar, a barnstorming pilot. Her baby is immediately kidnapped by a couple who have just lost their own baby. They bring him up as their own. Karl and Mary hop a freight train to Argus, North Dakota, where they have an aunt. However, along the way, Karl takes another path and ends up being raised in an orphanage. Mary actually makes it to Argus and is taken in, cared for and raised by the family. The rest of the book revolves around the events in Argus and in Mary's life and the lives of those who touch her. But Karl, who becomes a salesman, and the baby brother, who grows up to be a priest, will inevitably be drawn back into the tale.
The Beet Queen herself is Dot, a thoroughly unlovable character who is the progeny of Karl and of Mary's best friend, Celestine. Unlovable she may be but she is loved deeply by three of the book's characters, Celestine, Mary, and Wallace, friend of the two women and one-time lover of Karl. In fact, it is Wallace who delivers the baby Dot (whose real name is Wallacette Darlene) on a cold snowy night. Thereafter, his fate is forever tied to hers.
Erdrich writes lyrically, one might even say lovingly, of her characters. These are not attractive people, but she makes us understand the ties of sympathy, jealousy and betrayal that bind all the members of the Adare family and their Argus neighbors together. She makes us see ourselves in them and care about their fates, even as we may be repelled by the darker aspects of their personalities. We see in their story the impatient flow of history over forty years on the harsh landscape of North Dakota and we experience the lives of the hard yet vulnerable people who are able to survive there. This wonderful book brings the rich panoply of personal tales together for our enjoyment. I'm so glad that I have finally entered Erdrich's world and come to know these people.