Fleur

by Louise Erdrich

Short story. Chapter from the novel, Tracks. Published independently in Esquire.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Classics, Read For School, Native American, Literary Fiction

Unknown Binding

First published August 1, 1986

About the author

Karen Louise Erdrich is a American author of novels, poetry, and children's books. Her father is German American and mother is half Ojibwe and half French American. She is an enrolled member of the Anishinaabe nation (also known as Chippewa). She is widely acclaimed as one of the most significant Native writers of the second wave of what critic Kenneth Lincoln has called the Native American Renaissance.

For more information, please see http://www.answers.com/topic/louise-e...

From a book description:

Author Biography:

Louise Erdrich is one of the most gifted, prolific, and challenging of contemporary Native American novelists. Born in 1954 in Little Falls, Minnesota, she grew up mostly in Wahpeton, North Dakota, where her parents taught at Bureau of Indian Affairs schools. Her fiction reflects aspects of her mixed heritage: German through her father, and French and Ojibwa through her mother. She worked at various jobs, such as hoeing sugar beets, farm work, waitressing, short order cooking, lifeguarding, and construction work, before becoming a writer. She attended the Johns Hopkins creative writing program and received fellowships at the McDowell Colony and the Yaddo Colony. After she was named writer-in-residence at Dartmouth, she married professor Michael Dorris and raised several children, some of them adopted. She and Michael became a picture-book husband-and-wife writing team, though they wrote only one truly collaborative novel, The Crown of Columbus (1991).

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.

She is the author of four previous bestselling andaward-winning novels, including Love Medicine; The Beet Queen; Tracks; and The Bingo Palace. She also has written two collections of poetry, Jacklight, and Baptism of Desire. Her fiction has been honored by the National Book Critics Circle (1984) and The Los Angeles Times (1985), and has been translated into fourteen languages.

Several of her short stories have been selected for O. Henry awards and for inclusion in the annual Best American Short Story anthologies. The Blue Jay's Dance, a memoir of motherhood, was her first nonfiction work, and her children's book, Grandmother's Pigeon, has been published by Hyperion Press. She lives in Minnesota with her children, who help her run a small independent bookstore called The Birchbark.

Reviews

[Zai Zai · Rating 3 out of 5]

weird fiction is the bomb... the flower read that way for me... it's a nibble of story that packs a great message that mirrors society in an encompassing umbrella of a woman's experience... i just felt that the weirdness or what not shouldn't have impacted the flow of the story... just maybe enhanced it... didnt feel all the way there for this one

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mean, what can I say? I saw the ending happening after the first foreshadowing. The writing style and narrative were perfect. 10/10 recommend!

TW: sexual assault

[Mert · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 Stars (%65/100)

It is essentially a short story from Erdrich's book Tracks. I have not read the whole book I really enjoyed Fleur. The story is usually labeled as magical realism and I really like the elements of that genre. (it might be a genre) The supernatural is subtle but still very important. I loved the character of Fleur and the story was very easy to read. Since I liked this story a lot, I was quite excited to read Erdrich's Shadow Tag. I did not really like that book but I might give her a chance later in the future.

[Ankara Cabeza Lázaro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh the male ego...so fragile, so dangerous.

[Anastasia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm gonna be honest... I didn't understand anything. It's like I've read something incoherent. But I think it's because the English was too unfamiliar here, and it's not my native language.

[vatana is trying to read · Rating 4 out of 5]

This certainly doesn't count as a book. It's merely a short story I tracked down to read because Leigh Bardugo said she loved it and that it changed her life. And well, Leigh Bardugo is my Queen so.

I believe this story is labeled as "magical realism". I haven't read many of the like or at least not as a full novel. They usually are in the form of short stories such as this and a story Leigh wrote as part of the anthology Summer Days and Summer Nights. When I do, however, I find myself pulled into and engrossed in one even if it is sometimes confusing or if things make little sense.

So yes, I really, really enjoyed this.

[Cally Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

For some reason I read this for my science fiction class this semester. Nothing against literary magical realism about rape, but I need a warning of at least three days to prepare myself.

[Alba Alonso · Rating 2 out of 5]

2'5*

[Lorena B. Robles · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5* ⭐

[Isabella · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was very short and interesting, a good short story for class.

[mervin.d · Rating 4 out of 5]

those men are annoying like damn y’all’s egos are so fragile

[Joanne van der Vlies · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Fleur's hoarse breath, so loud it filled me, her cry in the old language, and my name repeated over and over among the words."

[Jeanne Mardegan · Rating 5 out of 5]

fleur was a baddie, but pauline was the ultimate misandrist (a diva after my own heart)

[Anna Sokolowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read for ENGL 288 (and loved it)

[Norai B. M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good, I just wished we could have seen more about Fleur.

[Maryse · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting short story. I really appreciate the magical realism of it all. It was dark and insightful yet a little heart warming

[⊹ ࣪ ˖ ꒰ঌ alis ໒꒱ ⊹ ࣪ ˖ ( taylor’s version ) · Rating 3 out of 5]

hester prynne is that you

[Athena · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Fleur" is the second chapter in the novel "Tracks" by Erdrich.
Fleur Pillager is a strange girl with a connection to the spirit world after she had drowned twice. She defies the feminine stereotypes but she doesn't challenge them until she plays cards with the men.
In feminist literature there is typically a part in the story where the female gets taken advantage of, and mistreated or abused, just because she is a female. The reader has to be reminded of this because it aids in telling a story about the time it was written, and because it creates hope that said female will find strength, overcome the obstacle, and exact revenge on her enemies. Readers will not be disappointed with Fleur.

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Louise Erdrich is my favorite author. I have read all of her novels and a collection of short stories. I was very happy to see this new short story. The Flower draws the reader in like Louise's other works. I am looking forward to reading her new novel LaRose when it is released in May 2016.

[Jason Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

mysterious

[Melita · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story was neither here nor there for me. It probably would have been better without the magical realism.