Reviews

Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich

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jenpaul13's review against another edition

3.0

In a not-so-unfathomable world, the government regulates women's body and their reproduction as evolution appears to be doing going in reverse. Louise Erdrich's Future Home of the Living God follows one woman's attempt to remain free from capture so she can have her child in peace.

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As the world around her changes and unrest among people intensifies with the uncertainty of humanity's future, Cedar Songmaker internalizes the change in a very personal manner as she's among the people the government would like to round up: pregnant women. Before telling her adoptive parents about her pregnancy, Cedar feels compelled to find her birth mother and learn more about her to better inform herself on her and her child's origins. After meeting her birth mother, Cedar goes back home only to find that pregnant women are encouraged and/or forced to report to medical facilities to provide "appropriate" medical care. Having hidden for much of her pregnancy with hopes of keeping off the radar until her child is born, Cedar offers an experience on the martial law outside of the norm as she winds up getting detained, escaping with the help of her mother, and getting detained yet again before she gives birth, where her diary of experiences and thoughts ceases.

Written in the style of a diary for her child to read, this novel documents the fleeting thoughts Cedar has relating to her fetus and her sense of identity as she learns more about her birth mother. The narrative was slow to build toward the dystopia the world as devolved to - for much of the beginning, the world appears to be a reflection of contemporary America as Cedar seeks out her biological parents, which makes the appearance of the dystopian elements a bit jarring in contrast to the story's initial presentation. There wasn't enough details in building the world of the narrative to take the interesting concepts presented (reverse evolution is so intriguing!) into a realm where the situation can be fully realized and developed.

pigeomita's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

brittburkard's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

bookishly_laura9813's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

cljohnson8's review against another edition

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4.0

I love Louise Erdrich so much and her Flannery O'Conner vibes

lukeknight's review

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2.0

Louise Erdrich's Future Home of the Living God is a novel with such immense potential, and I couldn't help but be immensely disappointed when it completely underdelivered. The story follows a pregnant woman in the midst of a biological apocalypse, and considers the importance of motherhood, Native American indigeneity and its interactions with Catholicism, and gender-based and racial oppression. In my opinion, this novel fails due to both its plot and its politics. The novel is absolutely riddled with plotholes- characters appear out of seemingly nowhere to advance the plot, characters are reintroduced only to disappear completely (in some cases literally only pages later), events that seem as if they should be significant are robbed of narrative value, and in one case there is an event so ridiculous and nonsensical that there isn't even an attempt to contextualize or develop it further. I was deeply interested in the religiosity of the novel, which focuses intensely on Catholicism and the protagonist's relationship to Catholicism, as well as Protestantism with the creation of a new Christian government, but ultimately this religiosity essentially just acts as a device to advance the plot without any proper resolution. As mentioned, the politics of the novel have the potential to be deeply concerning. There is a bizarre sense of gender essentialism present throughout the novel, which goes so far as to suppose that all women instinctually know some kind of 'song of motherhood.' Furthermore, there is an argument to be made that this book is anti-abortion, which I think is kinda cringe. Don't read this book, it is not very good.