The Sentence: It's such an unassuming title (and one that sounds like it belongs to a writing manual); but, Louise Erdrich's latest is a deceptively big novel, various in its storytelling styles; ambitious in its immediacy. At the end of the sacrament of Confession, the priest says, “I absolve thee from thy sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” If only forgiveness were all that was needed. Read two literary novels, one thriller, a memoir and a non-fiction, and sin no more. Many books and movies had in their plots some echoes of my secret experiences with Flora. Places haunted by unquiet Indians were standard. Hotels were disturbed by Indians whose bones lay underneath the basements and floors—a neat psychic excavation of American unease with its brutal history. Plenty of what was happening to me happened in fiction. Unquiet Indians. What about unquiet settlers? Unquiet wannabes?...Maybe the bookstore was located on some piece of earth crossed by mystical lines. To my dear Goodreads friends that adored this book, I apologize for having to sit out this particular dance. It’s not that I loathed it; I just didn’t feel particularly moved by it. I didn’t want to get out of my chair and let loose. The rhythm threw me off quite often, and the character of the tune was just too angular for my taste. I prefer something a bit more lyrical. The two biggest problems that created such dissonance for me: a ghost and a pandemic. Pulitzer Prize: 2021 Winners List". The New York Times. June 11, 2021. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved June 14, 2021. The extraordinary writer, Louise Erdrich, writes a beautifully crafted and haunting character driven novel that captivates, a blend of fact, fiction and magical realism, that resonates deeply with our contemporary world, the fear, pain and trauma of the pandemic, the brutal murder of George Floyd, the BLM protests, and the ghosts and horror of American history when it comes to Native Americans. It pays homage to books, littered as it is with numerous references to books, and to readers and independent bookstores, Erdrich herself owns one, Birchbark Books in Minnesota, indeed she makes an appearance in the novel. The flawed Tookie is Ojibwe, and the story begins with a mad caper which has Tookie taking the body of Budgie from Mara across state lines for Danae, a friend, only to find herself betrayed and reluctantly arrested by a tribal cop, Pollux.

https://www.france24.com/fr/info-en-continu/20231106-le-prix-femina-remis-%C3%A0-neige-sinno-pour-triste-tigre LE: I write first drafts in longhand. I don’t keep one book or journal; I mostly scrawl on various scraps of notebook paper scattered throughout the house.into the book and Tookie has already been to jail, gotten the bookstore job and been married. How did you find the pacing? Was the initial part rushed? Or was it simply meant to set the scene for the more recent events? World Fantasy Convention (2010). "Award Winners and Nominees". Archived from the original on December 1, 2010 . Retrieved February 4, 2011. The Sentence is also a very immediate book -- straight out of our time (at this time), a chronicle of the Covid- and George Floyd-years. She comes to work in a bookstore -- owned by a woman named Louise (and, yes, that clearly is the author, and the bookstore naturally resembles her own) -- which is certainly a good fit, and a good environment for her.

Knoeller, Christian (2012). "Landscape and Language in Erdrich's "Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country" ". Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment. 19 (4): 645–660. doi: 10.1093/isle/iss111. ISSN 1076-0962. JSTOR 44087160. Kaufman, Leslie (November 14, 2012). "Novel About Racial Injustice Wins National Book Award". The New York Times . Retrieved November 15, 2012. A book begging to be read on the beach, with the sun warming the sand and salt in the air: pure escapism. Master Butchers Singing Club (Erdrich) - LitLovers". www.litlovers.com . Retrieved November 6, 2019.Louise Erdrich, author of LaRose, talks about her love of books". YouTube. Archived from the original on November 18, 2021 . Retrieved June 25, 2020. Louise Erdrich, The Round House – National Book Award Fiction Winner, The National Book Foundation". Nationalbook.org. October 24, 2012 . Retrieved October 23, 2013. Reread with my book club and have changed my rating to a 4* based on Ms. Erdrich's wonderful writing. It was a case of the wrong book at the wrong time for me -- now that the nightmare that is/was Covid isn't as intense, I was able to appreciate the book more

The joy of Erdrich’s novels lies in the way her characters live so richly, and are as present to the reader as our own friends and relatives are." - Erica Wagner, The Guardian

Reader Reviews

Salahub, Jill (November 9, 2017). "Native American Heritage Month: Louise Erdrich". Colorado State University . Retrieved June 6, 2019.

I am an ugly woman. Not the kind of ugly the guys write or make movies about, where suddenly I have a blast of blinding instructional beauty. I am not about teachable moments. Nor am I beautiful on the inside. I enjoy lying, for instance, and I am good at selling people useless things for prices they can’t afford. Of course, now that I am rehabilitated, I only sell words. Collection of words between cardboard covers”. a b "Adopted daughter sues Michael Dorris estate, alleging sex abuse". AP NEWS . Retrieved November 6, 2019. Louise Erdrich – John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation". Gf.org. Archived from the original on August 19, 2014 . Retrieved October 23, 2013.Dorris and Erdrich separated in 1995, and Dorris died by suicide in 1997. In his will, he omitted Erdrich and his adopted children Sava and Madeline. [19]