Diversity in All Forms! discussion

August Bonus Read-

American Indian Heritage Month

The Round House by Louise Erdrich

I haven't started this book yet... but I'm currently reading LaRose
by Louise Erdrich

Has anyone read this? It is super good and sad!

"North Dakota, late summer, 1999. Landreaux Iron stalks a deer along the edge of the property bordering his own. He shoots with easy confidence—but when the buck springs away, Landreaux realizes he’s hit something else, a blur he saw as he squeezed the trigger. When he staggers closer, he realizes he has killed his neighbor’s five-year-old son, Dusty Ravich.
The youngest child of his friend and neighbor, Peter Ravich, Dusty was best friends with Landreaux’s five-year-old son, LaRose. The two families have always been close, sharing food, clothing, and rides into town; their children played together despite going to different schools; and Landreaux’s wife, Emmaline, is half sister to Dusty’s mother, Nola. Horrified at what he’s done, the recovered alcoholic turns to an Ojibwe tribe tradition—the sweat lodge—for guidance, and finds a way forward. Following an ancient means of retribution, he and Emmaline will give LaRose to the grieving Peter and Nola. “Our son will be your son now,” they tell them.
LaRose is quickly absorbed into his new family. Plagued by thoughts of suicide, Nola dotes on him, keeping her darkness at bay. His fierce, rebellious new “sister,” Maggie, welcomes him as a coconspirator who can ease her volatile mother’s terrifying moods. Gradually he’s allowed shared visits with his birth family, whose sorrow mirrors the Raviches’ own. As the years pass, LaRose becomes the linchpin linking the Irons and the Raviches, and eventually their mutual pain begins to heal.
But when a vengeful man with a long-standing grudge against Landreaux begins raising trouble, hurling accusations of a cover-up the day Dusty died, he threatens the tenuous peace that has kept these two fragile families whole."

I love Louise Erdrich! Haven’t read LaRose yet tho.

Megan wrote: "I love Louise Erdrich! Haven’t read LaRose yet tho."

This is my first book by her and it is super good! Really heart-renching

I read "The Round House" in April and it's indeed a very good book! The mixture of hard-hitting reality and the more mystical Chippewa legends is well done. I had some issues with Joe himself - some actions of his rubbed me the wrong way - but he too is a realistic teenage boy.

What did you think of the ending Mariah?

I read this book a couple of years ago. I found their take on restorative justice fascinating. I've read many books of Louise Erdrich and this one was not one of my favorites. I found it contained many sections that were too slow that I just skimmed.

Lisa wrote: "I read this book a couple of years ago. I found their take on restorative justice fascinating. I've read many books of Louise Erdrich and this one was not one of my favorites. I found it contained ..."

I had similar problems with the pacing: especially around the middle the story dragged on and on. Around the ending it thankfully picked up a bit.
What is your favorite Erdrich book Lisa? My father recently read Future Home of the Living God and he really liked it.

I liked In the Bingo Palace.

just got Roundhouse, looking forward to listening to it. The first Erdrich book I ever read was Love Medicine, so I have a lot of affection for it, but my favorite fiction book so far might be The Antelope Wife. I'll have to reread it and see.

Started this today!

I just finished, it's really really good.

I'm not totally happy with the ending though, it makes me want a sequel

Do you think Linden did it?

Megan wrote: "I'm not totally happy with the ending though, it makes me want a sequel"

What did you dislike about the ending? What happened with the boys or how things ended with the rapist?

I think Linden did it, and the justice the boys created made sense, although it was very heavy. I was heartbroken about Cappy, although he did have a sort of Romeo and Juliet thing going on, and maybe it was better for him to die in a freak car accident while he was happy with his friends, driving all night to fight for his love, instead of being beat up by her dad and losing hope. I wanted there to be some sort of healing ritual in the Roundhouse to help them all release the darkness Linden exposes them all to. I was invested in all the characters and wanted to know more about how they got on. It was such a melancholy place to stop the story.