emharperscott's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
ibebrie's review against another edition
3.0
This book was hard for me to get through, the dark and real portraits of the characters, with few redeeming characteristics made the sad plot even more sad. If I wasn't so obsessed with finishing every book I start, I probably would have put this one down. I found it quite slow, even for a book that is character driven.
jcpdiesel21's review against another edition
3.0
Ever since I read and was enthralled by [b:The Round House|13602426|The Round House|Louise Erdrich|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1352999408s/13602426.jpg|19195697], I have been meaning to read more by Erdrich, and this most recent book of hers provided the perfect opportunity complete with a very intriguing synopsis. Erdrich's signature gorgeous writing is on full display, and she skillfully works her knowledge of Ojibwe culture and spiritual practices into the framework of her story from the present day characters' everyday lives to the various tales of LaRoses from previous generations. Everyone and everything immediately associated with the opening tragedy provide a unique, heartbreaking take on loss and grief as the two families come together and attempt to find a way to heal over a period of many years. The multiple subplots devoted to secondary and tertiary characters didn't work for me; these have the effect of diminishing the core story's impact. Erdrich builds to a climax a bit too early, resulting in the book petering out in a quiet final chapter that provides closure, but doesn't feel entirely satisfying. Good, but I was expecting something with a little more punch.
thecatwhowalksbyhimself's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
5.0
readingwithhippos's review against another edition
4.0
LaRose is beautiful and wonderful and touching and true in all the ways Louise Erdrich's books always are. In another author's hands the subject matter could be unbearably heavy—a family loses a child in a terrible accident, and another family gives up their own child to the family who has lost, in order to try to right an impossible wrong. Even though there is a traditional basis for such practice in the families' Native American culture, the results are as messy and complicated as you would guess.
For me, Erdrich's writing is so beautiful (yet somehow also totally unassuming and unpretentious), I'll line up for each new release no matter what she's writing about.
And by the way...if you haven't yet read Erdrich's 2012 novel [b:The Round House|13602426|The Round House|Louise Erdrich|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1352999408s/13602426.jpg|19195697], it's a similar powerhouse of heartrending themes and stunning, jaw-dropping prose.
More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com
For me, Erdrich's writing is so beautiful (yet somehow also totally unassuming and unpretentious), I'll line up for each new release no matter what she's writing about.
And by the way...if you haven't yet read Erdrich's 2012 novel [b:The Round House|13602426|The Round House|Louise Erdrich|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1352999408s/13602426.jpg|19195697], it's a similar powerhouse of heartrending themes and stunning, jaw-dropping prose.
More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com
anoraborealis's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
By the end, I was just crying and crying. I already know I like Louise Erdrich and I know to follow her jumping plots because they will eventually flow into each other. This alternate form of justice, atoning for the loss of a child by offering your own, makes for such an emotionally wound-up premise. I loved that we got to hear from the other siblings more, especially Maggie, and how they contended with being second in their mother's hearts.
nglofile's review against another edition
3.0
In the month since finishing this book, I've been struggling to articulate my response. I came to it with an established adoration for Erdrich's writing, and I expected to be led on a journey that plumbed depths of characterization and theme. Those qualities are unquestioningly on offer, but I was conflicted in where those energies were directed.
Perhaps expectation is set up to miss the target, as it's always difficult to tease any complex book's content. The premise of LaRose is well-documented, and selfishly I'd wanted to read more of what would lead a family to follow an ancient tradition of giving up their child, the origins/context of the tradition itself, and perhaps more balance in the struggles of each immediate family member involved. We see stories from elsewhere in the community, something that I will rarely count as a negative, but many times the plot felt sprawling and muddled. I tried to trust that the ending would knit everything together in a way that illuminated the approach, and there were steps in that direction. I'm just not certain it made up for the tedium of some of the sidetrips, including the passages that swirled back to a sequence of ancestors named LaRose. I understand this was to establish the otherworldly echoes of those who bore the name, including the present-day boy, but it was difficult to hold back impatience at the disruptions.
An easy trap for reader response is to compare a work to the version we wanted to read rather than the one we read, and I've obviously succumbed. It's why I held off. However, this was my honest experience, and I offer it with the acknowledgment that perhaps I wasn't in the right place to fully appreciate what this book has to offer. Even with my reservations, I still recognize the narrative's power. However, if this had been my first Erdrich, I wouldn't immediately be drawn to other works, and that saddens me.
audiobook note: Initially I was disappointed to learn that Louise Erdrich recorded the audio adaptation. Not only am I wary of author narrators in general, I'd been holding out hope that Graham Greene, who read The Round House with mesmerizing resonance and empathy, would also be voicing this work. Frankly, I still found myself imagining his voice with this text, but Erdrich gained favor. Her reading embodies a careful humility in addition to her (obvious) understanding of the emotional beats of the work. It wasn't an exceptional performance, but it was effective, and I'm glad I didn't permit personal disappointment to rob me of her grounded and graceful reading.
Perhaps expectation is set up to miss the target, as it's always difficult to tease any complex book's content. The premise of LaRose is well-documented, and selfishly I'd wanted to read more of what would lead a family to follow an ancient tradition of giving up their child, the origins/context of the tradition itself, and perhaps more balance in the struggles of each immediate family member involved. We see stories from elsewhere in the community, something that I will rarely count as a negative, but many times the plot felt sprawling and muddled. I tried to trust that the ending would knit everything together in a way that illuminated the approach, and there were steps in that direction. I'm just not certain it made up for the tedium of some of the sidetrips, including the passages that swirled back to a sequence of ancestors named LaRose. I understand this was to establish the otherworldly echoes of those who bore the name, including the present-day boy, but it was difficult to hold back impatience at the disruptions.
An easy trap for reader response is to compare a work to the version we wanted to read rather than the one we read, and I've obviously succumbed. It's why I held off. However, this was my honest experience, and I offer it with the acknowledgment that perhaps I wasn't in the right place to fully appreciate what this book has to offer. Even with my reservations, I still recognize the narrative's power. However, if this had been my first Erdrich, I wouldn't immediately be drawn to other works, and that saddens me.
audiobook note: Initially I was disappointed to learn that Louise Erdrich recorded the audio adaptation. Not only am I wary of author narrators in general, I'd been holding out hope that Graham Greene, who read The Round House with mesmerizing resonance and empathy, would also be voicing this work. Frankly, I still found myself imagining his voice with this text, but Erdrich gained favor. Her reading embodies a careful humility in addition to her (obvious) understanding of the emotional beats of the work. It wasn't an exceptional performance, but it was effective, and I'm glad I didn't permit personal disappointment to rob me of her grounded and graceful reading.
sariereads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Racism, Sexual assault, Colonisation, and Gun violence
Moderate: Alcoholism and Cursing
teresac's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
gorecki's review
5.0
No other writer has been able to touch and move me as deeply as Louise Erdrich has, is doing, and will keep doing. Many have come close, but none other's words and stories have resonated as deeply in me as hers have. As someone who has read all of her novels, (all but one), I have always thought that there will come a moment when I would grow accustomed to her style and stories. That I will no longer feel that throwing-your-eyes-wide-open pang as when I read my first book by her, The Plague of Doves. How happy I am that I was wrong and that such a moment will never come.
LaRose is an incredible novel about loss, retribution, and healing. During a hunting accident, Landreaux Iron shoots Dusty, the son of a friend and neighbor. Following old traditions and trying to make omends, he offers his own son, LaRose, to fill in the place of Dusty and become a part of Peter, Nola and their daughter Maggie's family. This accident opens new and old wounds in both families and people around them, and takes us on a journey across generations of Ojibwe healers who at one point or another took a new name and were known as LaRose. Starting from the first LaRose, whose real name was Mirage and who saved her husband's life and fought the consumption that years later took her from her loved ones, to the fifth LaRose in the bloodline, who fought loss and saved the lives of both his families.
Louise Erdrich is a remarkable writer who has once again created a novel with just the right amount of myth, magic, and love to create a touching story that is original, heartwarming, and inspiring. Something more - it left me three sentences that have found me at a time when I believe I need them most. In a way, LaRose healed me as well as all the characters in this book:
Sorrow eats time.
Be patient.
Time eats sorrow..
LaRose is an incredible novel about loss, retribution, and healing. During a hunting accident, Landreaux Iron shoots Dusty, the son of a friend and neighbor. Following old traditions and trying to make omends, he offers his own son, LaRose, to fill in the place of Dusty and become a part of Peter, Nola and their daughter Maggie's family. This accident opens new and old wounds in both families and people around them, and takes us on a journey across generations of Ojibwe healers who at one point or another took a new name and were known as LaRose. Starting from the first LaRose, whose real name was Mirage and who saved her husband's life and fought the consumption that years later took her from her loved ones, to the fifth LaRose in the bloodline, who fought loss and saved the lives of both his families.
Louise Erdrich is a remarkable writer who has once again created a novel with just the right amount of myth, magic, and love to create a touching story that is original, heartwarming, and inspiring. Something more - it left me three sentences that have found me at a time when I believe I need them most. In a way, LaRose healed me as well as all the characters in this book:
Sorrow eats time.
Be patient.
Time eats sorrow..