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A review by jenpaul13
Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich
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.
To read this, and other book reviews, visit my website: http://makinggoodstories.wordpress.com/.
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.
To read this, and other book reviews, visit my website: http://makinggoodstories.wordpress.com/.
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.