careinthelibrary's review against another edition
4.0
Another wonderful book in the Love Medicine series by Louise Erdrich. I thoroughly enjoyed my read of this. Four Souls dealt more with culture clashes, syncretism, and strategic code-switching and those are some of favourite themes for novels. Although I did really race through Four Souls, I have some hesitation arises from how this novel doesn't seem to stand up as a standalone. I'm not sure how you could read this book and find it rich in character development without having previously read Tracks. So I recommend first reading Tracks if you're interested in picking up this series. That being said, I did read Tracks, so I loved revisiting familiar faces. Nanapush, Margaret, Fleur. Seeing where they are further down the path of life. How they have changed since the loss of their land. Fleur was definitely a compelling character in Four Souls, but I missed her true perspective. I felt we were seeing her actions through the eyes of another for the majority of the novel. I wanted to be inside her head and understand her motivations and anxieties and I missed that intimate character study. However, the portions of the novel narrated by Nanapush were even more witty and sly than his portion in Tracks. He had me laughing out loud as his craftiness unfolding. Ultimately, whether or not this stands on its own two feet without Tracks, it was enjoyable for me and I am so glad I started reading this series.
half_book_and_co's review against another edition
5.0
4,5
Following the events of "Tracks", Fleur Pillager - taking on the name of her mother, Four Souls - leaves her home and arrives at the doorstep of John James Mauser, the man who has taken her land. It follows a story of righting wrongs, the tremendous steps Four Souls takes to do this, and the toll it takes on her. Like Tracks, this novel is not written from her perspective but told through the eyes of onlookers and participants who have their own stakes and own complex life stories. I find it really astonishing that Tracks was published in 1988 and Four Souls only in 2004 - they do fit so seamlessly. Erdrich is just one of the most enthralling storytellers I know, her craft is so astonishing, her sentences beautiful, and her characters full of life and full of life's complexities. And while she writes about the violence of colonialism, grief, and pain, she also imparts humour, shows tenacity and resistance - and especially in Four Tracks allows her characters to heal. Though this healing does not come easy either.
There are names that go on through the generations with calm persistence. Names that heal a person just for taking them, and names that destroy. Names that travel, names that bring you home, names you only mutter in the deep water of your sleep. Names that bring memory of painful attachments and names lost to time and the reckonings of chance. Names are throwaway treasures. Names hold the sweetness of youth, bring back faces and unsettling resemblances. Names acquire their own life and drag the person on their own path for their own reasons, which we can't know. There are names that gutter out and die and then spring back, distinguished. Names that go on through time and trouble, names to hold on your tongue for luck. Names to fear. Such a name was Four Souls.
Following the events of "Tracks", Fleur Pillager - taking on the name of her mother, Four Souls - leaves her home and arrives at the doorstep of John James Mauser, the man who has taken her land. It follows a story of righting wrongs, the tremendous steps Four Souls takes to do this, and the toll it takes on her. Like Tracks, this novel is not written from her perspective but told through the eyes of onlookers and participants who have their own stakes and own complex life stories. I find it really astonishing that Tracks was published in 1988 and Four Souls only in 2004 - they do fit so seamlessly. Erdrich is just one of the most enthralling storytellers I know, her craft is so astonishing, her sentences beautiful, and her characters full of life and full of life's complexities. And while she writes about the violence of colonialism, grief, and pain, she also imparts humour, shows tenacity and resistance - and especially in Four Tracks allows her characters to heal. Though this healing does not come easy either.
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