A review by miocenemama
The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich

5.0

I loved this book. I love how the main character came to respect and even adopt parts of Native culture. The main character assumes the identity of a priest she had met that she later finds had drowned on his way to serve the Ojibwe people. At this point, she has lost everything, including some parts of her memory. After surviving the flood herself and spending a miraculous night in which she emerges refreshed and fortified, she feels the call to serve God. She believes she can best do this by fulfilling the mission given to the drowned Father Damien. She goes intending to save souls but finds her own soul as the beliefs of the Ojibwe people begin to meld with her own. One thing I really appreciated was the Ojibwe attitude to sex and gender roles. Though Agnes tries desperately to hide her true gender, those who do guess it react in a matter-of-fact way, and, in one case, even help her to keep up the ruse. Through Father Damien's long life, we see the complicated lives of the people on the reservation including the loss of land, the devastation of introduced sickness, starvation, and some of the effects of imposed religious and government systems on the Native family structure. The book is full of love and turmoil. There is a sweetness to Agnes/Father Damien that allows him to come to love and appreciate his adopted people. He is challenged by a woman that some consider to be a saint, but he knows to be evil and spiteful. However, to reveal her true nature is to jeopardize his own secret. As he considers this, he fears not just for himself, but for what will happen to the children he has baptized and the marriages he has officiated. Father Jude, the priest that comes to investigate Sister Leopolda for possible sainthood, is changed by the stories he hears and the rush of emotions he feels for Lulu, one of the women that father Damien has watched grow up. The ending is tender, and I found myself loving these people with all of their faults, wisdom, and beauty.