A review by katiethesing
The Bingo Palace by Louise Erdrich

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

“An unknown path opens up before us, an empty trail shut behind. Snow closes over our tracks, then keeps moving like the tide. There is no trace where we were. Nor any arrows pointing to the place we’re headed. We are the trackless beat, the invisible light, the thought without a word to speak. Poured water, struck match. Before the nothing, we are the moment.”

This book made me grieve for lost land and with it lost life, tradition, identity, family - all things that land nurtures generation to generation.

Of the three Love Medicine books I’ve now read (moving backwards from The Last Report), this is the first where I’ve felt my reading and understanding would have been enriched by reading the earlier books first. I loved how this book and Tales of Burning Love were intertwined and that I was able to see the same events retold from different perspectives. 

One thing I adore about Louise Erdrich’s writing is that she describes snapshots and small moments with such beauty and lyricism that they stay with me long after reading, longer even then plot arcs and character names, like they’re my own memories.