A review by kamckim
The Painted Drum by Louise Erdrich

3.0

This is a 2005 book by Erdrich. The writing is strong, but I didn't relate to the "bookends" of the story that begin with Faye and her mother. As the reviews state, they live in New Hampshire and find a drum that connects them to their Ojibwe past on a reservation in North Dakota. The story didn't come alive until part two, "North of Hoopdance." These are the stories told about the drum from Bernard, to whom they deliver the drum. Bernard's are the compelling stories in the novel. I think Erdrich does much better with characterization and storytelling when she directly (re)creates the Native peoples (although I like Father Travis in her later novels). This story was a bit open-ended and didn't really speak to me existentially the way some of her other novels do. However, it did end on a hopeful note about new beginnings and possibilities. The good news is, Erdrich's novels have intertextuality that allows a reader to enter a world unto itself. If you've read many of her novels, you start to feel like you know everyone on the reservation. Don't let that stop you, though, because each novel stands alone as a single story as well. This one is just not my favourite, and I think her later novels are better than her earlier work.