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A review by jennyshank
The Red Convertible: Selected and New Stories, 1978-2008 by Louise Erdrich
4.0
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2009/jan/08/the-red-convertible-selected-and-new-stories/
Home › Entertainment › Books
The Red Convertible: Selected and New Stories, 1978-2008
By Jenny Shank, Special to the Rocky
Published January 8, 2009 at 7 p.m.
Louise Erdrich revisits familiar themes and images in her new collection.
* Fiction. By Louise Erdrich. Harper, $27.95. Grade: A
Plot in a nutshell: The Red Convertible collects a selection of 30 years' worth of stories by Erdrich, demonstrating that while she was a very good storyteller at the beginning of her career, writing with a poised voice, creating memorable characters, and packing her stories with convincing detail, her craft has improved with time, and her tales have grown funnier, rawer, and more heartbreaking in recent years.
Many of these stories evolved into the 11 novels Erdrich has written so far, and the collection reads like an expansive, crazy-quilt version of her novels. In those books, Erdrich typically includes multiple perspectives and moves from one discrete story to the next to form the larger tale. In this collection, characters recur and move through time, so that little girls in one story become grandmothers in the next. Characters of American Indian, French, and German heritage intermingle, with explosive results.
Erdrich revisits certain themes and images repeatedly, such as butcher shops, motherhood, and doomed, passionate love, but each story is fresh, and there are a number of singular details that will linger in readers' minds, including a wild moose chase (Le Mooz), a breast-feeding adoptive father (Father's Milk), a middle-schooler's hideous dress (The Dress), and a souped-up van offered as a bingo hall prize (The Bingo Van).
Sample of prose: From The Antelope Wife: "Some dancers, you see them sweating, hear their feet pound the sawdust or grass or the Astroturf or gym floor, what have you. Some dancers swelter and their faces darken with the effort. Others, you never understand how they are moving, where it comes from. They're at one with their effort. Those, you lose your heart to and that's what happens to me."
Pros: Erdrich's characters are unforgettable, from the irrepressible, hefty outlaw's wife Dot Adare to the mysteriously powerful Fleur Pillager, to the randy prankster patriarch Nanapush, and the naked, piano-playing ex-nun Agnes DeWitt.
Cons: Erdrich writes in the preface, "Every time I write a short story, I am certain that I have come to the end . . . But the stories are rarely finished with me." In fact, most of these stories evolved into novels, so Erdrich fans already may be familiar with them.
Final word: In her patch of the northern plains centered around Minnesota and North Dakota, Erdrich has created her own Yoknapatawpha, peopled with characters whose bloodlines intertwine and rivalries endure for generations.
Home › Entertainment › Books
The Red Convertible: Selected and New Stories, 1978-2008
By Jenny Shank, Special to the Rocky
Published January 8, 2009 at 7 p.m.
Louise Erdrich revisits familiar themes and images in her new collection.
* Fiction. By Louise Erdrich. Harper, $27.95. Grade: A
Plot in a nutshell: The Red Convertible collects a selection of 30 years' worth of stories by Erdrich, demonstrating that while she was a very good storyteller at the beginning of her career, writing with a poised voice, creating memorable characters, and packing her stories with convincing detail, her craft has improved with time, and her tales have grown funnier, rawer, and more heartbreaking in recent years.
Many of these stories evolved into the 11 novels Erdrich has written so far, and the collection reads like an expansive, crazy-quilt version of her novels. In those books, Erdrich typically includes multiple perspectives and moves from one discrete story to the next to form the larger tale. In this collection, characters recur and move through time, so that little girls in one story become grandmothers in the next. Characters of American Indian, French, and German heritage intermingle, with explosive results.
Erdrich revisits certain themes and images repeatedly, such as butcher shops, motherhood, and doomed, passionate love, but each story is fresh, and there are a number of singular details that will linger in readers' minds, including a wild moose chase (Le Mooz), a breast-feeding adoptive father (Father's Milk), a middle-schooler's hideous dress (The Dress), and a souped-up van offered as a bingo hall prize (The Bingo Van).
Sample of prose: From The Antelope Wife: "Some dancers, you see them sweating, hear their feet pound the sawdust or grass or the Astroturf or gym floor, what have you. Some dancers swelter and their faces darken with the effort. Others, you never understand how they are moving, where it comes from. They're at one with their effort. Those, you lose your heart to and that's what happens to me."
Pros: Erdrich's characters are unforgettable, from the irrepressible, hefty outlaw's wife Dot Adare to the mysteriously powerful Fleur Pillager, to the randy prankster patriarch Nanapush, and the naked, piano-playing ex-nun Agnes DeWitt.
Cons: Erdrich writes in the preface, "Every time I write a short story, I am certain that I have come to the end . . . But the stories are rarely finished with me." In fact, most of these stories evolved into novels, so Erdrich fans already may be familiar with them.
Final word: In her patch of the northern plains centered around Minnesota and North Dakota, Erdrich has created her own Yoknapatawpha, peopled with characters whose bloodlines intertwine and rivalries endure for generations.