The Painted Drum

Love Medicine #8

by Louise Erdrich

“Haunted and haunting. . . . With fearlessness and humility, in a narrative that flows more artfully than ever between destruction and rebirth, Erdrich has opened herself to possibilities beyond what we merely see—to the dead alive and busy, to the breath of trees and the souls of wolves—and inspires readers to open their hearts to these mysteries as well.”— Washington Post Book World

From the author of the National Book Award Winner The Round House, Louise Erdrich's breathtaking, lyrical novel of a priceless Ojibwe artifact and the effect it has had on those who have come into contact with it over the years.

While appraising the estate of a New Hampshire family descended from a North Dakota Indian agent, Faye Travers is startled to discover a rare moose skin and cedar drum fashioned long ago by an Ojibwe artisan. And so begins an illuminating journey both backward and forward in time, following the strange passage of a powerful yet delicate instrument, and revealing the extraordinary lives it has touched and defined.

Compelling and unforgettable, Louise Erdrich's Painted Drum explores the often-fraught relationship between mothers and daughters, the strength of family, and the intricate rhythms of grief with all the grace, wit, and startling beauty that characterizes this acclaimed author's finest work.

Genres: Fiction, Native American, Historical Fiction, Indigenous, Book Club, Audiobook, Literary Fiction

304 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Louise Erdrich is one of the most gifted, prolific, and challenging of American novelists. Her fiction reflects aspects of her mixed heritage: German through her father, and French and Ojibwa through her mother. She is the author of many novels, the first of which, Love Medicine, won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the last of which, The Round House, won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2012. She lives in Minnesota.

source: Amazon

Reviews

[Will Byrnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a gripping, moving tale about Erdrich’s usual raft of multi-generational Native Americans. The story begins in present day New Hampshire when Faye Travers, an estate valuator, comes across the drum of the title, a large, ceremonial Native American artifact, and determines to return it to its rightful owners (not the owner of the estate she is handling).


Louise Erdrich-image from the LA Times - photo credit Hilary Abe

Back in time we learn the history of the man who made the drum, the stories of his family, three generations worth, and they are powerful tales indeed, tales of courage, hope, magic and sadness. Erdrich covers two very diverse places and cultures in this novel, from New Hampshire (where she lived for 10 years during and after her schooling at Dartmouth) to her native North Dakota. Children take a central place here, facing cruel situations, showing remarkable strength and courage. She crosses lines between this world and the next with deft grace, seeing the connections, both spiritual and physical between not only generations of people, but with the things that make up our world. Her imagery is rich and satisfying, her characters very human and her writing a delight. This is a very moving, satisfying read.


=============================EXTRA STUFF

Links to the author’s personal and FB pages. Erdrich's personal site redirects to the site Birchbark Books. She owns the store.


Other Louise Erdrich novels I have reviewed
-----2021 - The Sentence
-----2020 - The Night Watchman
-----2017 - Future Home of the Living God
-----2016 - LaRose
-----2010 - Shadow Tag
-----2012 - The Round House
-----2008 - The Plague of Doves

[Judy Croome · Rating 5 out of 5]

How does one even begin to review the writing of Louise Erdrich? Her words resonate with ancient mysteries and intricate complexities which draw me into her characters' lives time and time again. This novel is no exception.

In The Painted Drum we follow the story through the eyes of different people.

Faye Travers risks her moral rectitude and her career as an Estates agent by stealing an incredible Native American drum. It called to her with a single beat and she was overwhelmed by its mystical powers. Her grandmother was an Ojibwe and Faye takes the drum to return it to her tribe, its rightful owners. But before she hands it over, the drum works its magic on her. In a final healing catharsis, she is drawn to talking with her mother Elsie about the childhood death of her sister Netta. The novel concludes with Faye making life changing decisions.

There is also Bernard Shaawano, the grandson of the Ojibwe maker of the drum. He narrates the history of the drum, and we learn about the tragic life of Bernard's ancestor. He made the drum by following the instructions he received from his young daughter who sacrificed herself to save her mother, Anaquot. She came to her father in visions, and Erdrich’s masterful use of language and rhythm take us into the heart of a man’s grief for a daughter he loved so much he could not love the son who still lived.

The final section of the story relates the story of Ira and her three children. I won’t say more as this is the most powerful section of the book and I don’t want to spoil it. But here the drum comes full circle and, back in its rightful place, it throbs with life and hope.

Erdrich has a way of taking a reader deep into the mysteries that surround us: the soul of wolves; the breath of the trees; and the dead who live on in our dreams. Each word, each sentence, has layers of meaning. No matter how mundane the topic - a man mowing a lawn for his lover – everything is intricately linked and woven together, in much the same way that our individual lives are all part of the same fabric of existence. We are one with each other, Erdrich says, and we are one with all of life.

In The Painted Drum, her characters are flawed, but Erdrich does not judge them. Rather she shows them with unsentimental clarity and a deep understanding for the forces which drive people to do what they do. Erdrich's compassion is coupled with her skill and her wonderful imagination. Once again, she has written another masterpiece.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

As always, Louise Erdrich tells a fascinating story, related to the Ojibwe Native American tribe. I loved this story about how people all over the continent are connected together by a drum, and how this drum helps heal those who have suffered great loss. There are many recurring themes in this story, and the mother/daughter theme is the one that stood out most for me. The daughters sacrifice much for their mothers and yet there is compassion and understanding for the mothers as well. There is one quote from the book that I particularly liked, so I am going to write it down here, because I can:

"Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won't either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself that you tasted as many as you could."

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

You know, I think I'm just going to give up on Louise Erdrich. I liked The Master Butcher's Singing Club, and was okay with The Beet Queen and with parts of The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse. But with each of her books, it's a chore for me to read. It takes weeks, if longer occasionally. I pick them up and put them down. Sometimes, I'm rewarded with a line like "In her eyes I see the force of her love. It is bulky and hard to carry, like a package that keeps untying." (The Beet Queen), but more often than not, I keep wondering when I'm going to get fully engaged in the story. And there is so much intertwining between the books, that I find it hard to separate the stories in my mind. (It's also kind of annoying, because if I wasn't that enthralled with them initially, do I really want to have them suddenly crop up in another book? I mean, really!) Normally, I love stories that build on each other, but these somehow manage to leave me kind of like lukewarm oatmeal.

Anyhow, this was Louise Erdrich, telling a story again. The writing is well crafted, but the story didn't grab me. I really had hoped it would. I also just looked at a list of books by this author and see I have read 5 out of 9 of her fiction books. Obviously, I am a slow learner, but you can't say I didn't give her a fair shake. If she writes an astounding book you can't put down, please be sure to tell me.

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won't either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself that you tasted as many as you could.'

[Elizabeth (Alaska) · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I stopped reading last night with just 30 or so pages to go, my eyelids refusing to stay open a moment longer, I thought this was divided into three parts. I thought how fitting: the story of the drum's reappearance, the story of the drum's creation, the story of the drum's power. So I was surprised this morning to find a Part Four. I had, perhaps erroneously, believed that the third part was also the story of the drum's purpose, but Erdrich gives me another glimpse and I think that purpose reaches further than I was able to see by page 240.

I want to thank my GR friend who encouraged me to read Erdrich in publication order. I might not have appreciated this novel without the foundation of her earlier works. I started just now to write "fully appreciated" but I suspect this nearly 100% Scots descent woman will never be able to "fully" appreciate Erdrich. Still, I am more open to her and her heritage than I could possibly have been 40 years ago, when I still lived with what I think of as somewhat Scots rigidity. Then, I would have thought almost disparagingly of people who could understand the wolves.

"And the wolf answered, not in words, but with a continuation of that stare. 'We live because we live.' He did not ask questions. He did not give reasons. And I understood him then. The wolves accept the life they are given. They do not look around them and wish for a different life, or shorten their lives resenting the humans, or even fear them anymore than is appropriate. They are efficient. They deal with what they encounter and then go on. Minute by minute. One day to the next. ..."

Humans could take a lesson.

My time reading Erdrich is so special, I suspect my ratings are not a good barometer. Or maybe I read this at just the right spot in my life. Or maybe I've been reading some real junk lately. I might not have continued reading her if this were my first encounter with her, but it wasn't. Still, a very strong 4-star read (maybe even 5-stars, but I'm not stretching it today).

[Maxwell]

DNF @ page 50. I'm sure I'll come back to it some day. I really enjoy Erdrich's writing, but I picked this one up from the library on a whim and am just not in the mood for it right now.

[Cristina · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

[Britta Böhler · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5*

[Chana · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best thing about this book is the author's sense of humor. I almost choked on my coffee a few times when she came up with unexpected bits of funny. Her scene with Kit Tantro and the Winnebagos was really charming and laugh out loud funny.
What I didn't like was the abrupt change in time, location and character. For a simple book one had to be paying attention to not be saying, "who is John?"
I also wish I knew what happened with Morris and Ira, there is an unfinished feel to some of the character's stories. Kind of a short story feel as we move through the book.
Still, all in all, entertaining and artistically detailed. If I could guess which character the author is most like in her personality I would say Netta.
Also,I do want to give the author credit where credit is due; I felt the pain. I didn't want to be reminded of my own loss of a child but this book is about children, the loss of children, parental guilt and sorrow, the relationships of parents and children. There is definitely an ouch factor here.

[Linda Hart · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book with interesting characters unlike any in my own world, and I learned more about native American culture and folklore. This story involves a sacred healing drum and the three or four generations of people connected to it. It is told from different perspectives, some which is oral history handed down from generation to generation. Superb description, occasional humor, and crafted writing except for occasional confusing transitions between scenes and characters.
It falls short of a 5 star rating because of the persistent dark melancolic tone (which, thankfully Erdrich overcomes with a happy ending) and for about a dozen unnecessary uses of the "F" word near the end of the story, which always offends me. A truly skilled writer doesn't need to stoop to vulgarity in order to achieve a picture of any character or scene. When a writer resorts to the use of any "four letter" word I find myself thinking "wow, it will never be on a school reading list or become a classic." Can you imagine Steinbeck, Stegner, or Dostoevsky stooping to use that word?

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

Louise Erdrich is a Native American author of novels, poetry, and children's books featuring Native American characters and settings. She is an enrolled citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota, a federally recognized Ojibwe people. She is a prolific author and in 2021, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her novel The Night Watchman. I have read a few of her novels including The Night Watchman and always find them to be vivid portrayals of Native American life.

In THE PAINTED DRUM, Faye Travers, of mixed ethnic origin including Native American, is living in New Hampshire along with her mother, Elsie. They work together in Elsie's estate business where they buy artifacts after the passing of a family. At one such location, Faye comes upon a beautiful painted drum, a very powerful Native American object. This was found at the home of a family that descended from a former Indian Agent who had amassed a collection of artifacts. Since the family was white, Faye feels justified in taking the drum which she feels was stolen and returning to its rightful owners, the Ojibwe in North Dakota. The novel goes on to tell the story of the drum from its origins to the present and how it had affected the people who have come in contact with it.

This was a very moving novel telling of the hardships associated with the drum and especially how children were affected by their very hard lives in the cold and wildness of North Dakota. Erdrich shows the world of traditions and ancestry including both humans and animals such as wolves and ravens. I'll definitely be looking forward to reading more of Erdrich.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was falling asleep last night when I realized what a deft and meaningful thing Erdrich does in this book. By anchoring the book's beginning and end in the experience of Faye, a white woman (by culture, even if her bloodline does contain Ojibwe ancestors) Erdrich demonstrates how it's possible to love nature deeply, to revere the silence of open spaces, to believe in spirits and the agency of the dead - all without appropriating Native culture to do it. As the person who finds the drum of the book's title in a house that's preparing for an estate sale; as the person who returns the drum to Little No Horse reservation; as the person who commits to returning to Little No Horse for the drum's feast, Faye's in a perfect place to 'rediscover' her Native roots. Yet she doesn't do it - she actively ponders on the fact that she has no real connection to the reservation, and despite her grandmother being Ojibwe, she can see no way that *she* is Ojibwe. It's not a book about alienation, but rather about moderation and sense and culture and finding belonging in a host of places - and it's done with far greater subtlety than I'm summarizing here.

It's given me much to continue to think about!

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Initially I was enchanted with The Painted Drum. I found the first character’s musing interesting and the language in places was stunning. She described the eyes of a character as “peach-colored granite with specs of angry mica”. I was also intrigued by the theme of life and death, the presence of the dead in the lives of the living, particularly as influenced by Ojibwe thought.

But I was ultimately disappointed. Once the narration passed from Faye to the Ojibwe on the North Dakota reservation, I was bored. It was like every other story I’ve read by people fascinated by aboriginal peoples—reverent and wondering, but with little substantial to say. The stories were so typical as to be completely forgettable. It read like a mediocre public television documentary. I hate to say it but I didn’t care about anyone in the book except Faye. I was glad to get back to her in the end, but disappointed that she was settling for a relationship with the sculptor who seemed to me a huge big fake.

I was particularly disappointed with the novel as it focused on the theme of the influence of the dead on living people. Yes that was there, but there seemed little of interest attached to the theme, except for the notion that dead children came back or at least were perceived as birds. There was no Indian mythology that was either fascinating or that seemed to provide a meaningful lesson to non-indigenous people.

The writing was good, very good in places, but it wasn’t used to advance significant plot, themes, or characters. That writing is all that keeps me from rating this novel as frankly awful.

[Toko-pa Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m sad to have finished this extraordinary book. It is a lyrically written story of a drum as it travels through generations. We learn how it came to be made, how it was separated from its original maker, and how it carries the love and heartbreak of the Ojibwe people and ultimately resurfaces to heal all who come into contact with it.

It is equal parts haunting and exquisite; a marriage I am always looking for in a novel.

[John Mccullough · Rating 5 out of 5]

Native American story-telling tends to mimic classic Native American ways of thinking – walk around a circle and return to the beginning. And everything is related to everything. These are the basic themes of Erdrich’s “Drum” book.

Faye Travers and her mother live in rural New Hampshire and run an estate sale business. As such, they run into accumulations of things from disparate sources, mostly 19th century antiques (don’t call them “Victorian”) and then a few older and a lot of younger accumulations. Books, letters, trinkets, statuary, all running the gamut from stuff best fit for firewood to really, really monetarily valuable stuff. One of their neighbors is killed by another in a freak auto accident and Faye and her mother are called in to resolve the residue of several generations spread throughout an old house. This particular house holds a collection of materials gotten to pay off saloon debts at a reservation that coincidentally happens to be the reservation whence Faye’s half-Indian mother; thus, they know a bit about the materials in the home of the eccentric Tatro brothers.

The collection includes many choice items that are museum quality and Faye wrangles a deal with a museum for the collection. Except for a huge painted drum of which the family members are unaware. Faye steals the drum because it seems to have very special powers and “speaks” to Faye; she senses that the drum must be returned to the reservation and the “rightful owners” because of a history that it must have. And she is right.

Three different stories are interrelated by the drum, two contemporary and one old. The book draws on traditional Anishinaabe (Chippewa/Ojibway) beliefs, stories and themes which will be pretty foreign to most European readers. Drums – big “pow wow” drums – are considered sacred. They are treated with respect and awe as they have spiritual power. Before being used they are usually smudged and/or sprinkled with tobacco and prayers are said. Drums are the heartbeat of the people. So it is natural to First Nation way of thinking that a drum should be the main character linking people’s lives, even the lives of non-Anishinaabe.

People seem to either love or dislike the book. For those who dislike the book I don’t know if is the strangeness of the beliefs, or structure, or the way the story is written, or something else that puts them off. Despite this, almost everyone rightly admires Erdrich’s writing skills, descriptions of people, places, things, seasons, creatures, and most important – actions; in many Native American languages, verbs are the important or dominant words, not nouns as in English. She is a master story-teller and this is one of the long fireside (or fireplace) stories that one can read and enjoy. I did.

[Alana · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is definitely among the top five of the most pointless books I've read in the past 12 months, top ten most pointless I've ever read. We just get involved with the introductory character, then hear about her broken childhood, then suddenly we are thrust into another character's story that for a long while seems to have virtually nothing in common with the story line, then a long, drawn-out description of the making of the drum in which I zoned out so many times that I frankly did not care anymore. Suddenly, there are new characters that truly do have no connection whatsoever to the drum, then all of the characters are connected in a vague way near the end, but by then I didn't care at all about any of the characters or what happened to them. I suppose to some they would see the beauty in the traditions and beliefs of the tribe, but I just found the writing un-engaging and it nearly bored me to tears. I will try another book by this author that I have heard is better, but I don't have high hopes.

[Jane LaFazio · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I’m reading my way through all of Louise Erdrich’s books (this is the 11th) and I love her stories, her style, her touch of mysticism.
This is a great book!

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won't either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and hear apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself that you tasted as many as you could."

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

The bare bones of the plot summary in this book's jacket notes made me slow to begin reading, because they suggested an elegy. But although the story includes tragedy and sadness, the mood is far from elegaic. There are many interesting and lively characters and relationships, some based in the present time and others in recent history. Some of the characters show cruelty and depravity; all are flawed but all show redeeming qualities. Relationships aren't static, but evolve in interesting ways.

There is a richness about this book that I very much enjoyed. In addition to the events of the linked and unexpected plot lines, the author explores and develops her characters as they react to events. She conjures up the joys of living, the fluctuating relationship between events and memories, and even the boundaries between life and death. We see how beloved characters live on in the dreams and memories of the living; we see how spirits can be reborn and relationships change and develop. Besides being a master story-teller Erdrich's writing is magical - clear and graceful with memorable imagery.

[Vivienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this a beautifully written tale or rather series of tales around the theme of a Native American drum. The other running theme is death and bereavement as various characters come to terms with the tragic deaths of sisters and daughters.

Louise Erdrich's descriptions of nature and animals were breath-taking giving a real sense of being in nature even when tucked up reading in an armchair thousands of miles away from her setting. She also deals sensitively with the Native American lore entrusted to her; something she makes clear in her end notes.

This was a reading group selection and while attendance at the group was minimal due to a clashing event for some members, the novel proved a success with two of us while the others did not feel it was a bad book but expressed difficulties in relating to Faye as a character. It did generate a great deal of discussion, which always is a good outcome for a reading group's chosen book.

[Cheryl Klein · Rating 5 out of 5]

To say that this book helped me understand Native American identity seems like the worst kind of over-simplification--but by juxtaposing the stories of various struggling Ojibwe tribe members with those of local animals (ravens, wolves, a dog with "one hungry eye and one friendly eye" who escapes her yard but caries her heavy chain leash with her until her death), Erdrich shows how all kinds of creatures can maintain dignity and a lust for life in the face of innumerable cruelties. The mystery of the drum in the title--its origins and purpose--unfolds beautifully in stories layered on top of each other, from the 19th century to the current one. All her characters, right down to the ravens, are as complex and real as we all deserve to be.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Erdrich's a remarkable storyteller, but here her themes of relationships & grief are a bit sentimental & pat. Her writing's more engaging usually; maybe she was becoming tired with her characters. I love this author, but it would be a reach for me to rate this even a 3.5 (if there were such a rating), given her other outstanding novels.

[Amber · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book, was trudging through, and then a needless, cruel death put me over the edge and I had to leave it, unfinished.

[David A Townsend · Rating 4 out of 5]

Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won't either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on Earth. You are here to risk you heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself that you tasted as many as you could.

[Julietta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, this book was just as fantastic as all the others in the "Love Medicine" series by Louise Erdrich. Unfortunately for me, it was book 8/8. Also unfortunately, I'm so dang exhausted from Summer School that I don't have the energy to go into a full review.

Needless to say, this final tome did have all of the customary elements that I've grown to love in this author: accurately chiseled complex multi-generational characters, poetic dreamy otherworldly magical writing style, twisty turvy confusing thought-provoking plot and cinematic scenes that etch themselves into my brain. Doing a movie of Erdrich's books would be redundant since her pictures are so movingly and completely painted in the form of text.

Bravo, yet again!!

[Janelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book up while out of town in order to have something gripping to read on a long flight home. It did not disappoint.

Louise Erdrich is the master of interlocking storylines. I love seeing how her characters weave a web of relationships across time. In this novel, we meet the powerful Fleur Pillager (who features in other works, such as Tracks) as a baby. We also get a sense of how those who leave the reservation are still tied to it, whether or not they understand how.

The story begins in New Hampshire, where an estate sale specialist of Ojibwe descent steals a drum that turns up in the attic of an Indian agent's descendant. The drum is returned to the reservation, where its healing power is restored. We hear the story of how the drum was made years earlier, and we hear how several children are saved by it. The narrative moves from character to character, each affected by the drum in some way. There is a sense of great symmetry in this book. I almost feel I should re-read it and map the storylines in order to see it more fully.

But for now, I remain awash in Erdrich's language, which has the uncanny effect of focusing simultaneously on the minute and the grand. I marked a lot of passages that struck me; here is one good example from early in the novel. The narrator, Faye, is describing the road on which she lives:

From the air, our road must look like a ball of rope flung down haphazardly, a thing of inscrutable loops and half-finished question marks. But there is order in it to reward the patient watcher. In the beginning, the road is paved, although the material is of a grade inferior to the main highway's asphalt. When the town votes swing toward committing more money to road upkeep, it is coated with light gravel. Over the course of a summer's heat, the bits of stone are pressed into the softened tar, making a smooth surface for the cars to pick up speed. By midwinter, the frost creeps beneath the road and flexes, creating heaves that force the cars to slow again. I'm glad when that happens, for children walk this road to the bus stop below. They walk past with their dogs, wearing puffy jackets of saturated brilliance - hot pink, hot yellow, hot blue. They change shape and grow before my eyes, becoming the young drivers of fast cars who barely miss the smaller children, who, in their turn, grow up and drive away from here. (4)

The order that rewards the patient watcher... Erdrich's books are steeped in that. I often feel I only get a glimpse of the full effect.

There are so many other details that stick in my mind... the extreme poverty of Ira and her children, who resort to drinking cough medicine and sweeping crumbs from between the shelf paper and the shelf in order to stave off hunger; the anguish of a husband jilted by his wife, who lost their older daughter while running away from her husband and son; a father whose favoritism toward one daughter cost him her life and left the other haunted.

There was a time in my life when I could claim to have read all of Erdrich's works. Somehow a few have slipped past me in more recent years. I intend to backtrack and remedy that. I'd love to spend a summer rereading everything. Hmmmm.......

[Jgrace · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Painted Drum - Erdrich
4 stars

Faye Travers runs a successful estate liquidation business with her mother. She lives in a small New Hampshire town where she knows all the residents. They have history. She has history. And it all comes with a great deal of emotional baggage.The contemporary storyline is related in Faye’s voice, as a series of somewhat disjointed journal entries or internal conversations. Faye’s history contains the tragic childhood death of her sister and her father’s alcoholism. In middle age she has a shaky relationship with a local sculptor. A relationship that becomes more unstable when his daughter and a local man are victims of a reckless teenaged driver. Dysfunction, alcoholism, grief, and the ripple effects of tragic events; this is Erdrich. It takes time to see all the connections, but it will, eventually, all unravel.

One of the ripple effects of the contemporary storyline is Faye’s discovery of a ceremonial drum among the household effects of the first accident victim. She knows that the drum has great collector value, but knowing something of its history, she steals it and returns it to its rightful tribal owner. With the drum’s return, the narrator’s voice shifts to Bernard Shaawano. The story of the drum is Bernard’s family history. More dysfunction, alcoholism, grief, and the ripple effects of tragic events. But this time there is also healing, survival, and a sense of rebirth.

This was not an easy read. Erdrich’s narrators are telling a story, but they have no need for clear explanations or linear sequencing of events. There are gaps, and secrets, and generational connections that are assumed or go unexplained. Bernard’s story has traditional Ojibwe mysticism and legends melded to the poverty and injustice of the reservation. The loss of traditional knowledge is an additional thematic element.

As with other Erdrich books, I found myself thinking about this one long after I read the last page. I also found one passage after another to reread just for the sound of the words.

Some quotes:

“The contents of a house can trigger all sorts of revisions to family history.”

“The body of a drum is a container for the spirit, just as if it were flesh and bone. And although love between a man and a woman can fail, overreach itself, fall prey to suspicions, yet the drum lives on. The drum waits with the patience of unliving things and yet heals with life itself.”

“Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won’t either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up.”

“And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself that you tasted as many as you could.”

[Erin (roostercalls) · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won’t either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself that you tasted as many as you could.”
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When you’re a bookworm and you finish your book on the flight, you hope you’ll be so lucky as to land in a sprawling home with not just books packed into every room, but with a writing studio full of poetry, and an entire adobe book nook out back, one with a turquoise door, guarded by an anthill, and filled floor-to-ceiling with dusty volumes, all of them just waiting to be chosen.
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THE PAINTED DRUM was bizarrely/exactly what I needed, when I needed it. This is a story of the power of an object crafted with a soul; of trauma and healing across generations; and the boundaries between the earthly and the spiritual (though those are never quite what we think they are). Erdrich’s writing is gorgeous, one sentence after another that captivated me and fed my soul and left me feeling, by the end, like I’d had my heart washed clean. I can’t wait to pick up more of her work.
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Much love to @hlogghe’s mama, who gives so freely and sent me off into the mountains with this book after it leapt off her shelf and into my hands. Absolutely one of the best books I’ve read in 2019. And I’ve already passed it to another word-lover, so the chain continues.

[Andrea Homier · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love how Louise Erdrich writes. I always feel at home in her stories, in that I am "at home" listening to her tell a story. There's something about her style, the words she chooses and how she orders them, that is intimate and compassionate, clear-eyed and real, that makes her work some of my favorite. In that way, The Painted Drum does not disappoint.

I did appreciate this novel, but I had a hard time following the arc of the story. There are a lot of characters and almost all of them have some kind of major tragedy with which they are coping or involved in. Different sections and chapters are told from differing view points, and while it's clear that the drum is the commonality throughout, it's difficult to assess the various tragedies in the shifting contexts. Clearly they are horrific events, but what have they meant in the course of the characters' lives? Erdrich tells us, but it's hard to weigh each, as they come one after another fairly quickly. It's as if there isn't enough time and space to experience them fully. I would have liked this book to be much longer, lingering and coloring in the contexts of what these events meant. And in that way, I feel I could have more deeply understood the drum's healing power.