Sunday, May 10, 2015

The Round House, by Louise Erdrich


Winner of the 2012 National Book Award for Fiction

Joe, 13, lives with his parents on the Ojibwa Indian reservation in a North Dakota.  When Joe's mother is brutally raped, the family is devastated and the investigation into the crime grinds to a halt when Joe's mother retreats into herself and refuses to talk about the event.

As he watches his mother's slow and agonizing recovery, Joe becomes even more determined to find the rapist and somehow bring him to justice. With the help of his two best friends and some unintended inspiration from a battle-scarred former-Marine-turned-Catholic-priest, they do learn the identity of the rapist.  

But the events that follow are both bittersweet and tragic and will change all of their lives forever.

The book is more than a good mystery.  It also paints a picture of a wonderful, close-knit family and  skillfully weaves an understanding of the Indian culture that is so much a part of the lives of the tribe. This is a wonderfully written story from start to finish. —by Gail Stilwill


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