The Sentence

By: Louise Erdrich

Narrated by: Louise Erdrich

In this stunning and timely novel, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award–winning author Louise Erdrich creates a wickedly funny ghost story, a tale of passion, of a complex marriage, and of a woman's relentless errors.

Louise Erdrich's latest novel, The Sentence, asks what we owe to the living, the dead, to the reader and to the book. A small independent bookstore in Minneapolis is haunted from November 2019 to November 2020 by the store's most annoying customer. Flora dies on All Souls' Day, but she simply won't leave the store. Tookie, who has landed a job selling books after years of incarceration that she survived by reading ""with murderous attention,"" must solve the mystery of this haunting while at the same time trying to understand all that occurs in Minneapolis during a year of grief, astonishment, isolation, and furious reckoning.

The Sentence begins on All Souls' Day 2019 and ends on All Souls' Day 2020. Its mystery and proliferating ghost stories during this one year propel a narrative as rich, emotional, and profound as anything Louise Erdrich has written.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

Revelatory and compelling read

This is my first by this author, and will not be my last, although I do hope she doesn’t narrate all of her books. The only way I could get through this with the author narrating was to run it at 1.3 speed. She’s a wonderful writer, but in reading her own stuff it’s so clear that she treasures every word, every phrase, every notion because she reads way more slowly than necessary. It’s either that, or she has some kind of reading disability? In either case, whatever the reason, she really should not be reading her own material. There are wonderful narrators out there with a Native American background who would get everything right. That said, this is a really beautiful, often hilarious, often moving story, up to the minute in its details, profound and entertaining at once.

Loved this book!

Great story and narration. Another of her books I didn’t want to end.
Thank you, Louise.

Captivating

I loved the arc of discovery and character development. Beautiful writing & and exquisite story telling.

Boring Narration

I loved the book. However, I wish the author wasn’t the narrator of her own book. Her narration made the book so boring & I constantly had to rewind as her voice and style of narration would put me to sleep. I will not be recommending the Audible version of the book to anyone. Get the physical book or read it in Kindle.

Must listen!

Louise Erdrich reading her book The Sentence is a humorous, irreverent, balm to the soul.

A Sentence

The stunningly sweet and profound ache of being alive, in the form of a novel.

A great story - and well performed.

I was surprised so many were critical of the narrator. I am a long time fan of Louise Erdrich and loved her narration. I am originally from the Twin Cities, and I found her pacing and voice true to the native and Minnesota accents.

Beautiful story!

Love the wit, the political insights, the kindness…and all the books mentioned! So fun. A big fan of Louise Erdrich.

Her voice is utterly perfect!!!

History, mystery and love. All in one. The characters were so full. Narrator my friend. Awesome

Thought provoking

This book was well written and thought provoking. I found myself laughing, crying, and shouting while reading. I often took time to stop reading and just think about the words I read. I was forced to think about the year 2020 and everything we went through as a country.