Louise Erdrich’s older books, such as this one, read like
folklore that has been passed down through the Ojibwe tribe for generations,
rather than a novel that has sprouted from her imagination. For me, these books are challenging in that
the pace is on a par with molasses. Here
we have multiple narrators and two semi-related storylines. Fleur Pillager signs on as the laundress for
the wealthy man who acquired her land by paying the back taxes and then
stripped it of all the trees. Fleur
becomes his wife, bears him a son, and then plots how to regain her
property. She is the adopted daughter of
Nanapush, whose unfounded jealousy drives him to some shenanigans, which
spectacularly backfire, against the man he suspects of trying to steal his
wife. Side stories abound, and although
it is culturally enlightening, this is just not the kind of book that I can
sink my teeth into.
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