The Round House

A Novel

By: Louise Erdrich

Narrated by: Gary Farmer

Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

National Book Award, Fiction, 2012

One Sunday in the spring of 1988, a woman living on a reservation in North Dakota is attacked. The details of the crime are slow to surface as Geraldine Coutts is traumatized and reluctant to relive or reveal what happened, either to the police or to her husband, Bazil, and 13-year-old son, Joe. In one day, Joe's life is irrevocably transformed. He tries to heal his mother, but she will not leave her bed and slips into an abyss of solitude. Increasingly alone, Joe finds himself thrust prematurely into an adult world for which he is ill prepared.

While his father, who is a tribal judge, endeavors to wrest justice from a situation that defies his efforts, Joe becomes frustrated with the official investigation and sets out with his trusted friends, Cappy, Zack, and Angus, to get some answers of his own. Their quest takes them first to the Round House, a sacred space and place of worship for the Ojibwe. And this is only the beginning.

Written with undeniable urgency, and illuminating the harsh realities of contemporary life in a community where Ojibwe and white live uneasily together, The Round House is a brilliant and entertaining novel, a masterpiece of literary fiction. Louise Erdrich embraces tragedy, the comic, a spirit world very much present in the lives of her all-too-human characters, and a tale of injustice that is, unfortunately, an authentic reflection of what happens in our own world today.

©2012 Louise Erdrich (P)2012 HarperCollinsPublishers

More!

Keeps you wanting more! I liked the story a lot. I just feel like I'm left with more questions than answers. Happy i took the time though!

Louise Erdrich hits one out of the park

For me, this novel was about as close to perfect as contemporary fiction gets. It's beautifully written, well-voiced, full of memorable characters, and a rich snapshot of life on a North Dakota Indian reservation in the late 1980s. The narrator, Joe, is a grown man remembering a few life-shaping months of his early teens. The book begins with Joe and his father, a reservation judge, coming upon Joe's mother, who has just been assaulted and raped. The situation soon grows in complexity -- Geraldine takes to her bed and can't (or won't) recall who attacked her, and because the attack occurred somewhere close to the reservation boundary, it's unclear whose legal jurisdiction it falls into.

With his mother in legal and emotional limbo, and the police seemingly disinterested, the young Joe takes it on himself to solve the crime, though he proceeds in a typically fumbling, distractible adolescent manner. What follows is a story that's a lot of things at once. It's a mystery, a coming-of-age story, a drama of family and best friends, and a reflection on the history of a people struggling to maintain control of their own laws and culture within the larger framework of American society and its systems. Through Joe's young eyes, we come to grasp the weight of a complex past on the present day. I was in awe of the subtle purity with which Erdrich makes these separate pieces connect, ultimately bringing her protagonist towards terms with his reality and his identity.

As I said, the characters are wonderful. There's Joe's soft-spoken, intelligent father, Bazil. There's Joe's best friend, Cappy, the boy we all remember from adolescence who seemed to be a step ahead of us in confidence and experience, if not always wisdom. There's an ex-Marine priest, who has a singularly painful reason for choosing his vocation. There's an old man whose nocturnal tales confuse (or perhaps not) real events and tribal mythology. There's one of the dirtiest-minded old grandmas I've ever encountered in fiction. Erdrich's craft as a writer is such that I felt that I knew these people well and could picture their backstories and relationships within a couple pages of meeting them. (If I have a complaint at all, it's that the villain's pretty one-dimensional, but that wasn’t a big issue for me.)

The central, recurring theme in The Round House is that of overlapping worlds. I knew I was in love with the writing a few chapters in, when Joe explains Star Trek: the Next Generation from the perspective of reservation boys. In this personal way, Erdrich explores several other blurred boundaries, such as that between the Indian world and the white world, the way both Christian and native beliefs have personal meaning, the difficult crossing between childhood and the adult world, and the conflict between personal justice and the importance of rational, impartial law. I loved the way she brought these separate threads together in the raw, but beautifully symbolic final chapters. This is the novel that many aspiring writers attend MFA programs in search of, but few pull off.

To me, Gary Farmer did a good job with the audiobook narration, though some listeners might find the halting intonation of his Native American accent a little reminiscent of William Shatner. The only other book of Erdrich's I've read before was A Plague of Doves; while it was good, this is the one to start with.

Not your usual intense mystery

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Round House?

The teenage boys watching a video they liked by peering through the priest's window into his home.

Any additional comments?

I listened to the audio version of this book. It was an OK story that was well told but just not my usual intense mystery/thriller. This was a slight mystery/drama set in the late 80's on an Indian reservation and told from a 13 year old boy's perspective. I will say there are some very funny moments with the 13 year old boy and his buddies.

What was all the hoopla about?

I fell for it. I thought the story slogged along and this was one of the worst narrators ever. So many times, I had inserted a mental period only to discover that it was a mistimed, inappropriate pause. The only reason I finished was I didn't have the good sense to download a backup for my roadtrip. Thumbs down!

Great writer and great narrator

Most of the story is told from the perspective of a twelve year old boy who I grew to love, flaws and all (due in part to the skillfull narration). The author has obviously done her research and her description of the complexities of life on a reservation are very realistic. The only parts I did not enjoy were the sidebars where she told a story within the story. I think she was trying to write in an "authentic" native voice but the sidebars were very distracting. It was really hard to discern the message she was trying to convey with them.

Another brilliant Louise Erdrich story.

Ms Erdrich's prose takes you in to her world so intimately that you feel like you're actually sitting on the sidelines watching as the story unfolds. I loved every moment of being in that world. The life of a teenaged boy on an Indian reservation so unfamiliar - and yet the inevitable unfolding of the human drama so familiar, gives the story a resonance that lasts long after the last word. I also loved (as always) her mastery of the writing craft - there's not one extraneous or redundant word. A story I'll definitely read/listen to again.

Great book and narration

Would you listen to The Round House again? Why?

I love Erdrich, and the story was at once sad, captivating and redeeming. Farmer did a great narration. I love his easy way of speaking.

What other book might you compare The Round House to and why?

I don't know what to compare this book to. But it's just as good as Wild and Beautiful Ruins in its own way. The writing is literary but not dense. Totally enjoyable to listen to.

What about Gary Farmer’s performance did you like?

I loved his drawl. Perfect for a story about the Reservation.

If you could rename The Round House, what would you call it?

Indian Found

Likeable enough

A 80's Brighton Beach Memoirs on the reservation. The Round House seemed as if Brighton Beach Memoirs was used as this books blueprint. The author took it across country and in an effort to advance it 50 years added drugs, guns and violence.

Such is the way of the world.

The tribal lore and the ways of life on the reservation were interesting. I even enjoyed Gary Farmer's authentic reading. It was the reoccurring unbelievable major events that haunted me throughout and took away from the story.

What I most had difficulties with is the lack of medical care the mother once she came home from the hospital. Days and days went by where I kept screaming, "Get the poor woman some medical attention PLEASE!" It was hard to listen to it go on for a month or better. You cannot tell me that an educated man would buy a new clock before taken his emaciated troubled wife to a doctor.

Once unbelievably starts in a book, then you start questioning everything and the story gets sidetracked.. So the author wants me now to believe at none of the half a dozen or so banks this floozy drags an unrelated teenager into, with tens of thousands of cash, no one investigates...make her show proof of origin, call the IRS? Then within a month all but one of the accounts is drained of over two hundred thousand and banking officials aren't investigating money laundering? In 1988 there is no way that would happen. Not to mention that the author mentions many times the lack of groceries but, wants us to believe that 12 different banks are within reach.

Yes, they are silly little things but, when the reader can't see it happening - it can't be visualized.

Strong story, narration was not a problem

The headline is not intended to damn this audiobook with faint praise. The story is great, and I almost decided not to "read' this book on Audible because of some prior reviewers suggested the narration detracted from the story. But I am glad I did listen to it. The performance was an expression of the narrator's voice and seemed entirely appropriate. I thought the book offered an interesting window into the culture on the reservation and the relationships in the family and with their friends and relations as they deal with the horrific assault on the mother and its aftermath. Terrific story, well-plotted. Overall, the audiobook was great, well worth the time invested in listening.

Extraordinary

I’ve listened to books by Erdrich a few years ago and really thought they were poetry and wisdom. This book is by far the best.