I finished Reading The Roundhouse by Louise Erdrich in early October of this year. The Round House is narrated by Joe Coutts, a Chippewa, (Ojibwe) lawyer who is recounting his thirteenth year when his mother was brutally raped by a white man at a sacred ceremonial meeting place on the reservation, called "the round house." The round house is situated on an area under tribal legal jurisdiction, but they are not allowed to prosecute whites who live near the reservation. The Round House was based on real-life facts about racial attacks on residents of reservations in America. Joe turned to his friends to help him deal with his mother's withdrawal from the world and also to help him find her rapist. The ending is stunning.
I loved the descriptions of Chippewa life in this story, especially their ceremonies. Erdrich also does a wonderful job of fleshing out the characters and making them seem real. This is the first novel I have read by Erdrich, but after reading The Roundhouse, I plan to go back and read some of her former books which include Love Medicine, Miracles at Little No Horse, and The Plague of Doves. The Round House won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2012, and The Minnesota Book Awards for Novel and Short Story. I would definitely recommend this book, especially if you like historical fiction.
Reviewed by Becky
The Round House. Fiction. By Louise Erdrich. New York: Harper, 2012. Pp. 336. Hardcover.
Louise Erdrich's Blog
Chippewa Men's Fancy Dancing at Pow Wow 2011
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