colleen stinchcombe

The Round House by Louise Erdrich

Pleasant read. Which is weird to say about a book where a woman is raped and her teenage son tries to figure out who committed the crime and how to deal with it.

It was good, I read it, I enjoyed it. But now that I’m here writing about it I feel a little… less impressed. Things don’t line up as well, consequences for the characters are all over the place, the sense of what made the difference in their lives is kind of… poof. Not because I don’t remember but because it seemed a little outrageous.

But it’s good. The dialogue is strong. The sentences are strong. You’ll read it and like it as long as you’re not to invested in consequences or PTSD or a foundation for moral ambiguity.

It’s good for poolside or light reading. It’s great for teenagers or people who aren’t familiar with narratives dealing with Native Americans. It’s a good start, for sure. It’s a good insight into the laws Native Americans are dealing with regularly, particularly women. I just don’t know that through the eyes and “justice” of a 13-year-old-boy is the best way to go about it.