One of our most accomplished and prolific storytellers, Erdrich has woven a string of acclaimed novels from her Native American and German background. Her latest fiction returns to the Ojibwe reservation of A Plague of Doves for a coming-of-age story about a boy seeking justice after a terrible event has torn his family apart.
All Politics & Prose Bookstore in-store events are free and open to the public. All event titles are 20% off for members during the month in which the author appears at the store. There is ample parking available in the lot behind the store and in the surrounding neighborhood. If you can’t come to an event and still want an autographed copy of the book, you may purchase titles in advance either in the store, over the phone (202.364.1919 or 1.800.722.0790), or through Politics & Prose Bookstore website. When buying online, simply use the checkout comments field to indicate that you would like us to request the author’s signature at our event before shipping it to you. Event recordings on CD or MP3 are also available in the store and online.
Description
One Sunday in the spring of 1988, a woman living on a reservation in North Dakota is attacked. The details of the crime are slow to surface as Geraldine Coutts is traumatized and reluctant to relive or reveal what happened, either to the police or to her husband, Bazil, and thirteen-year-old son, Joe. In one day, Joe’s life is irrevocably transformed. He tries to heal his mother, but she will not leave her bed and slips into an abyss of solitude. Increasingly alone, Joe finds himself thrust prematurely into an adult world for which he is ill prepared.
While his father, who is a tribal judge, endeavors to wrest justice from a situation that defies his efforts, Joe becomes frustrated with the official investigation and sets out with his trusted friends, Cappy, Zack, and Angus, to get some answers of his own. Their quest takes them first to the Round House, a sacred space and place of worship for the Ojibwe. And this is only the beginning.
Written with undeniable urgency, and illuminating the harsh realities of contemporary life in a community where Ojibwe and white live uneasily together, “The Round House” is a brilliant and entertaining novel, a masterpiece of literary fiction. Louise Erdrich embraces tragedy, the comic, a spirit world very much present in the lives of her all-too-human characters, and a tale of injustice that is, unfortunately, an authentic reflection of what happens in our own world today.
