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A review by emilyinherhead
The Round House by Louise Erdrich
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Joe, a thirteen-year-old Native boy whose mother goes practically catatonic after being raped, sets out to help his father solve the mystery of her attack and seek justice. This is not at all an easy book to read, but it sheds important light on the intricacies and injustices of actual laws surrounding the prosecution of rapes on Native American reservation lands.
The story has a slowness to it, with Joe’s days often filled with nothing besides working at the local gas station and ogling his uncle’s girlfriend’s boobs, or riding bikes with his friends and getting drunk on beers in a field somewhere. But underneath that is a sinister tension that slowly builds toward a moment of vengeance, and then the hollow grief that follows what was arguably inevitable and just.
I didn’t necessarily enjoy this book, but I can see why it won the National Book Award and I’ll be sitting with it and thinking about it for a while to come.
The story has a slowness to it, with Joe’s days often filled with nothing besides working at the local gas station and ogling his uncle’s girlfriend’s boobs, or riding bikes with his friends and getting drunk on beers in a field somewhere. But underneath that is a sinister tension that slowly builds toward a moment of vengeance, and then the hollow grief that follows what was arguably inevitable and just.
I didn’t necessarily enjoy this book, but I can see why it won the National Book Award and I’ll be sitting with it and thinking about it for a while to come.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence
Minor: Rape and Violence