hold on to the land

The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)
Genre: historical fiction
Review: Louise Erdrich wrote this book to honor the work of her grandfather, the titular night watchman of a jewel bearing plant, was also a Chippewa tribal chairman who took the fight against the Indian Termination Policy all the way to Washington DC in 1954.  Thomas, his fictionalized counterpart has a great story to tell.  I only wish Erdrich has let more of his voice through, and not muddied the water with so many ancillary characters.

To be fair, the other characters give a fuller picture of life on the reservation.  Perhaps if this book had been presented as a series of interlinked short stories, with Thomas's story to anchor it at the end, it would have worked better.  Instead, we jump from one person to another, or see the characters interact in stilted, forced tones and situations.  The pieces all add up to a picture of the fragility of life on the reservation, and the danger posed by the Indian Termination Act, but it's a choppy picture, and one that doesn't make for a very satisfying story.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

couldn't keep them straight

The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich

Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: historical fiction

Review: With Louise Erdrich as the author of this book, it pretty much goes without saying that the writing is excellent. But I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I'd been able to keep the characters straight. The book jumps from narrator to narrator and generation to generation, and I just didn't have a chance. Often the new narrator is someone only distantly connected (by relationship, all the action takes place in the same general area) to a previous narrator, and I kept asking Who is this person? Am I supposed to have any prior knowledge of this person's relationships with anyone I've already met? Although each character and each narrative section was very well done, it became very frustrating to try to read this as a cohesive story.