tsukatta

This is a fabulous book, different in style from Erdrich's previous novels, and wonderfully playful. It would be easy to peg this as magical realism, but it's really not - rather, it's rooted in the Ojibwe world, where spirits and animals and places have agency as much as humans do. (There's a chapter, at one point, written by a dog, and oh my goodness, it's one of the best things I have ever read.) There's a depth to this book that's missing from Love Medicine, and while the characters struggle with many of the same problems - alcoholism, injury, loss, suicide - The Antelope Wife is a book that communicates resilience and humor rather than darkness. The ending is also just wonderfully done - a tying up of every string in the story without it feeling remotely trite. I can't recommend this enough.

2022-11-14 14:16