I am reviewing this advanced Reader copy both for Harper Collins First Look Reviews and for ELLE Magazine's Readers' Jury for the November issue.

Erdrich's style of prose flows like a lyrical ambling river. During the sections about Faye, I found myself reading more slowly, seeped in the thickness of the writing, as if I was floating on the surface but ever aware of the depth beneath me. The sections of the drum's history, however, moved with a swiftness, a steady current carrying me through generations. I found myself unable to put the book down, as if the beating drum was propelling me forward. The book closes with a calmness, as if the river flow is emptying into a giant pool where one can find all the answers if left long enough.

I passed this one on to my mother-in-law. Enjoy!

I got this one back from my mother in law. Here is a description of the book from Amazon:

Though Erdrich's latest lyrical novel returns to Ojibwe territory (Four Souls; Love Medicine, etc.), it departs from the concentrated vigor of her best work in its breadth of storytelling. Erdrich essays the grief that comes when the sins of parents become mortal for their children. Native American antiquities specialist Faye Travers, bereaved of her sister and father, ambivalently in love with a sculptor who has lost his wife and loses his daughter, stumbles onto a ceremonial drum when she handles the estate of John Jewett Tatro, whose grandfather was an agent at the Ojibwe reservation. Under its spell, she secrets it away and eventually repatriates it to that reservation on the northern plains—the home of her grandmother. The drum is revived, as are those around it. Gracefully weaving many threads, Erdrich details the multigenerational history surrounding the drum. Despite her elegant story and luminous prose, many of the characters feel sketchy compared to Erdrich's previous titans, and several redemptions seem too pat. But even at low voltage, Erdrich crafts a provocative read elevated by beautiful imagery, as when children near death fly off like skeletal ravens.

To the lucky finder of this book...

Thank you for taking the time to visit us at Bookcrossing. If this is your first visit to our site...welcome & I'm sure you'll find it fun!

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Enjoy the book!

On Saturday, April 16th around 12:30 Eastern Time, I walking in the rain and photographing the Museum and as I took a picture of the beautiful purple flowers, I found this book. It has traveled back to Vancouver, WA with me and I plan to read it, then release it back into the wild so it can continue it's journey.