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| Book Signing with Louise Erdrich at IFOA Festival: Photo By Nathan Adler |
I finally met my favorite author, Louise Erdrich at the International Festival of Authors at the Fleck Dance Theatre Harbourfront Centre (October 28, 2012)
Book Review: The Roundhouse
By: Christine McFarlane
Written By: Louise Erdrich
Published By: Harper Collins Canada
317 Pages
Louise Erdrich, the author of fourteen novels, as well as
volumes of poetry, short stories, children’s books, and a memoir of early
motherhood has written another great book “The Roundhouse.”
The Roundhouse is a brilliant novel that illuminates the
harsh realities of contemporary life in a community where Ojibway and white
live uneasily together. Louise Erdrich writes about tragedy, the comic, a
spirit world very much present in the lives of the characters, the Coutts
family, and a tale of injustice that is, unfortunately, an authentic reflection
of what still happens on reserves across North America.
The story begins in the summer of 1988, when Geraldine
Coutts living on a reservation in North Dakota is attacked. After not coming
home right away from a run to the tribal offices on the reserve, Joe and his
father go out to find her. As they are driving around looking for her, they see
her car tear past them in a cloud of dust. Thinking that there is nothing
wrong, they laugh, follow her car back to their house and take their time to
park the car and walk up the hill to greet her.
It is when they notice that Geraldine is still sitting in
the driver’s seat, and not moving; that they realize something is wrong. Joe’s
father opens the car door and sees the blood. Prying his wife’s hands from the
steering wheel and lifting her from the car, they jump into the car once again
and bring Geraldine to the hospital.
It is heartbreaking to read about the journey to the
hospital and how 13-year-old Joe is transformed from a kid to a caregiver in a
matter of seconds, as he holds his mom in the car and tries to soothe her.
After a stay in the hospital, Geraldine is understandably traumatized and
reluctant to relive or reveal the details of what happened to anyone.
The Coutts family dynamic shifts after the attack. Where
Geraldine was once a very active tribal council member on the reserve, the attack
leaves her lying in bed and slipping further into an abyss of solitude and
depression, that Joe and his father cannot seem to help her out of. Joe’s
father struggles with anger and grief and tries in vain to heal his wife, and
increasingly alone, Joe finds himself thrust prematurely into an adult world in
which he is ill prepared to cope with.
It is when Joe’s father, who is a tribal judge invites Joe
one night into his study to read old cases with him, in order to try and find
clues of who his wife’s attacker is, that more and more questions pile up. Joe,
tiring of just reading and not doing anything, goes to his friends, Cappy, Zack and Angus to see if they
can get some answers on their own. This takes Joe and his friends to the Round
House, a sacred space and place of worship for the Ojibway.
Louise Erdrich’s novel “The RoundHouse” is very deep and
thought provoking. It’s a book that pulls you right into the Coutts family and
how a young boy deals with a terrible crime that forever transforms his family.
(Previously Published on FirstPerspective.ca)
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