Next months book club pick.

Synopsis

The unsolved murder of a farm family still haunts the white small town of Pluto, North Dakota, generations after the vengeance exacted and the distortions of fact transformed the lives of Ojibwe living on the nearby reservation.

Part Ojibwe, part white, Evelina Harp is an ambitious young girl prone to falling hopelessly in love. Mooshum, Evelina's grandfather, is a repository of family and tribal history with an all-too-intimate knowledge of the violent past. And Judge Antone Bazil Coutts, who bears witness, understands the weight of historical injustice better than anyone. Through the distinct and winning voices of three unforgettable narrators, the collective stories of two interwoven communities ultimately come together to reveal a final wrenching truth.





Here's a little blurb that I attach to each book that I've registered:

Welcome to BookCrossing! It's a site for catching and releasing books and spreading the good karma of reading! Please make a journal entry when you FIND this book and let previous readers know how you came upon it. You may remain anonymous on this site if you like but it's very safe and spam free. We leave FREE books around for others to stumble upon...they read, and then re-release in a public place for someone else to enjoy. Of course you're welcome to keep the book if you prefer but it's more fun to watch them travel and to hear from them once in a while. I hope you enjoy the book but I especially hope you enjoy BookCrossing.

Many thanks, Poobah1
Make the *WORLD* your library!

Wow, I'm really struggling to get into this book. Erdrich's writing style is complicated and difficult for me to read. I have several of her titles on my TBR shelf as I've always "meant" to read her work. Erdrich is a local author and has a book store in Minneapolis that I plan to visit. She is loved by many and I will push on out of curiosity as well as my commitment to my book club. I feel I owe the other club members my effort to read the chosen title. In the four + years our club has been in existence I've only "not finished" 3 books. I aim to not make this one the fourth! I'll keep you posted.

This book was a difficult read for me. Erdrich is obviously a talented writer whose talents in this book are beyond my scope of understanding. I felt very confused and frustrated with the choppy, disjointed style as the book unfolds. I feel like if I read it again I may be able to pick up on what was happening better but if a book takes that much energy from me...then I'm surely not inclined to read it twice. I'm just sort of baffled right now. I will go to book club next week with an open mind and hopefully will come away feeling better than I do right now. I will make another journal following next weeks meeting.

Well, Book Club met last night and I can't say it improved my outlook this time. Only 3 out of our 8 members even finished it! Very disappointing. This is highly unusual as we take pride in the fact that *most* of the time we all read the book as well as all showing up for input. This was across the board a "very taxing" read. Of the 3 that successfully completed this book, the rank was 6,5,5. We agreed that this book appears to be a mixture of short stories kind of patched together resulting in a disjointed, hard to pull together novel. I, for one, have several of Erdrich's books on my TBR list and will attempt another in the future but I know that most of this group will not read more of her work. I'll do a wishlist search and if there are no takers, I'll set this one free in the wild.

Edited: No takers in the wishlist search. I will set this one aside for the Native American BookBox that is coming my way soon.

Back into my avail pile for release. The Native American Book Box got stalled by Ring88.

Left in the slot of a bottled water machine in Mpls airport, Gate G19, I think. Best wishes and I hope you enjoy the book.

To the lucky "Finder" of this book:

Hi and Thanks for picking up my book. You’ve stumbled upon a BookCrossing book. It’s a cool website for the catching and releasing of FREE books. I’ve stealthily stashed this book and you’ve come upon it. I may or may not have read this book (you can tell by the journal note above this one) but it’s yours now. Sometimes I just acquire books, don’t have a chance to read them and I set them free for others to share. Making the world a library! Scoot around on the site-it’s easy, safe and spam free. Please make a journal entry when you FIND the book and again when you re-release it. It’s a blast to watch them travel and to hear from them once in a while. It’s sort of like a message in a bottle and it passes on the good karma of reading! Have a great time with this book and I hope you like BookCrossing!

Cheers,
Poobah1 :^)

Books…Love ‘em and Leave ‘em.