2 stars

This week’s entry was picked for me as my February Book Club’s selection. Admittedly, it actually took me two weeks to read it, but finishing it up this week, I am counting it now. For those that know me well, I considered heavily (probably too much) if I should count this or not since I didn’t read this in an actual week and then I was quickly reminded that I had many more mundane things I could be fretting over and moved on.

So this is my third Erdrich undertaking, the first being The Master Butchers Singing Club (a literary marvel and masterpiece and all that good stuff that comes when you read something remarkable). Second, I tackled her first novel, Love Medicine, and fumbled big-time. I couldn’t get through it. The third and most current is THE LAST REPORT ON THE MIRACLES AT LITTLE NO HORSE, which falls somewhere between the two. And, just so you know, here on out I will refer to it as LITTLE NO HORSE because the title, while wonderful is just too much to type and I have too many acronyms I have to deal with in my 8-5 job, so TLROTMALNH was a headache-inducing proposition and so quickly off the blog posting page it falls.

All of my Erdrich readings have been due to my book club and I am not sure I would have picked her up otherwise. I love, love, LOVED The Master Butchers Singing Club and went into LITTLE NO HORSE with much anticipation, it being a National Book Award finalist and all. But unfortunately, the love affair faded rather quickly.

There is no doubt that Erdrich has crafted a truly unique story with LITTLE NO HORSE. She’s an extremely talented writer. To create a full community of feuding Ojibwe Indian families, their difficult life on desolate land and their desire for counsel and guidance from a dedicated priest (Father Modeste) is an achievement. She crafts a story of major transgressions, dark violence and closely held secrets. One where thought I would be quick to turn the page and slow to put down, but that wasn’t the case. Certainly, there were moments that were pretty spectacular and then there were more times than I expected that I found the book to drag on and, dare I say it?, where I was a little bit bored.

This is not a book to consume quickly. It takes a bit of time, focus and quiet. The sentence structure is long, the list of characters complex and, at times, it’s hard to follow. At least, that was my experience. And I don’t officially award books with prestigious honors or even seals; so who am I to say? I just read some of them and write about them on this little blog that a small contention of folks follow. So at the end of the day read it at your own risk and decide for yourself. And if you do that, let me know what you think.

Rating: 2 stars
Pages: 361
Genre: Fiction