The Sentence

Product Information

The immediacy of The Sentence -- clearly written in the moment, rather than just about it, might not be ideal -- there's something to be said for some distance to events -- but with Tookie fully immersed in the times and circumstances it feels convincing enough. Tookie certainly wants to shake her ghost, but, like a book she left behind, Flora seems pretty much unshakeably persistent. The Last Report on the Miracle at Little No Horse". National Book Foundation . Retrieved November 6, 2019. Not so weird, given a complicated and difficult childhood -- but it's no surprise that her (real) name comes to play a role in the story. We love a book that comes with its own syllabus. Have you read any of the books recommended at the end? What did you think?

The Antelope Wife was published in 1998, not long after her separation from Michael and his subsequent suicide. Some reviewers believed they saw in The Antelope Wife the anguish Erdrich must have felt as her marriage crumbled, but she has stated that she is unconscious of having mirrored any real-life events. Allen, Brooke (February 9, 2003). "Her Own Private North Dakota". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved November 6, 2019.

The pair's literary partnership led them to a romantic relationship. They married in 1981, and raised three children whom Dorris had adopted as a single parent (Reynold Abel, Madeline, and Sava [11]) and three biological children together (Persia, Pallas, and Aza Marion [16]). Reynold Abel suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome and in 1991, at age 23, he was killed when he was hit by a car. [17] In 1995, their son Sava accused Dorris of committing child abuse; [18] in 1997, after Dorris' death, his adopted daughter Madeline claimed that Dorris had sexually abused her and Erdrich had neglected to stop the abuse. [19] Louise Erdrich, author of LaRose, talks about her love of books". YouTube. Archived from the original on November 18, 2021 . Retrieved June 25, 2020. Much of the author’s message regarding that has to do with love, friendship, community, family, and nature, as well as gratitude for whatever life, health, and freedoms remain in our grasp. The protagonist, Tookie, is aptly able to appreciate all this, having spent time in prison for a youthful love-and-drug-addled offense. LH: Tookie steals a fruit van to transport the body and gets uncharacteristically all dressed up to impersonate an eco-undertaker. She succeeds in removing the body.

The Blue Jay's Dance: A Birth Year by Louise Erdrich". www.publishersweekly.com. n.d . Retrieved May 13, 2023. The book felt very jumbled as well that didn’t help. Lots of drawn-out conversations that didn’t seem to move the plot forward and then suddenly a major event would be introduced and skimmed over in a sentence which led to me saying ‘wait, what?’ and having to re-read. After reading a spoiler for the end of the book, I don’t think I particularly missed much - the reader asking a question about it also seemed to have missed an important plot point which meant the conclusion made little sense so I think I may have made the right decision in putting it down.Previously incarcerated for a decade for a crime she was set up to take the fall for, Tookie spent most of her prison time reading and upon release looking for employment in a bookstore. In the present day , she works for an independent bookstore in Minneapolis owned by “Louise” and is married to Pollux , a former tribal police officer and a caring and generous man who is also an authority in Native American traditions and rituals . After a regular (and slightly annoying) patron dies while reading a manuscript covertly taken from the bookstore , Tookie starts feeling a supernatural presence in the bookstore and believes that it is Flora’s ghost haunting the store. Initially she is the only one who feels the presence and there are some entertaining and funny moments but when an unpleasant encounter with Flora’s ghost leaves her unconscious, Tookie realizes that she needs to get to the bottom of why Flora refuses to leave. With the help of her colleagues she starts to explore the origins and content of the mysterious manuscript which Tookie and her friends believe played a part in Flora's death and find a way to rid the store of Flora’s ghost once and for all - all this while working in the midst of a pandemic and worried for her family’s health and safety .While she delves into the details of Flora’s life ,Tookie gains perspective on her own past , life choices and the importance of the people and relationships in her present life. Erdrich's interwoven series of novels have drawn comparisons with William Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha novels. Like Faulkner's, Erdrich's successive novels created multiple narratives in the same fictional area and combined the tapestry of local history with current themes and modern consciousness. [46] Birchbark Books [ edit ] Pulitzer Prize: 2021 Winners List". The New York Times. June 11, 2021. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved June 14, 2021.