A review by rhughes7
The Painted Drum by Louise Erdrich

3.0

I read this book because I really enjoyed Erdrich’s memoir Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country, and found her voice intimately honest. In the Painted Drum, however, I was struck by a strangely jerky and disconnected tone. The story is told through different narrators, who do not initially seem to fit together, but are all impacted by the drum. I thought the connections were a little bit loose, which made for a series of short stories rather than a cohesive narrative. At first I did not like the book at all, but about two thirds of the way through, the plot picked up and I found it more enjoyable by the end.