39. Future Home of the Living God – Louise Erdrich
I’m usually a big Erdrich fan (see book 42, further down list) but this didn’t really work for me. There was simply too much going on and as a result the great premise of the dystopian story-line disappointed. Cedar Hawk Songmaker, the central character is a Native American woman who has been adopted by white, middle class Amercians and decides to track down her birth family. She is also pregnant. The story is set in the future, and an unexplained cataclysmic event means that evolution has reversed. Unfotunately, this idea is never really explored or explained, and remains in the background. All pregnant women are being rounded up and their children taken from them at birth. Cedar goes on the run, helped by her birth and adopted families. I feel that what makes other dystopian novels such as The Handmaid’s Tale great is the complete, detailed and horrifyingly convincing world Margaret Atwood creates. To succeed, a dystopia must be believable and fully fleshed out, but it wasn’t here. Not one of her best in my opinion.
40. What I Loved – Siri Hustvedt
Intriguing novel which someone suggested I read as I am a big Donna Tartt fan. Set in the New York art scene and spanning a twenty five year period from the mid- seventies to the late nineties, this novel follows the fortunes of two couples. It was nothing like Donna Tartt, but very enjoyable nevertheless. The first 100 pages or so were nothing special, and I was starting to wonder what the fuss was about. Then it really takes off after a key event impacts dramatically on all the characters. I could not put this one down. Gripping, sad, surprising – an unusual page turner.
41. Sight – Jessie Greengrass
A meditation on Motherhood, the invention of the x-ray, a brief history of psychoanalysis and the story behind autopsies and the study of anatomy. This was a bit too self- conscious for me. Very much a stream of consciousness, the sentence construction also seemed odd, almost like the words were in the wrong order, or it had been translated from another language, which made it a bit difficult to digest. I really had to concentrate to get through this one. There are some interesting observations made, particularly about making the decision making process she goes through when deciding whether to have a child, but sadly this felt like a chore to read.
42. The Round House – Louise Erdrich
This one sees Erdrich in the familiar territory (see review for book 39) I know and love and has been one of my favourite reads of the year. When thirteen year old Joe’s Mother is brutally raped, Joe must come to terms with the devastating impact this will have on him, his family and his friends. A moving coming of age tale about the harsh reality of life on a Native American reservation – Erdrich’s afterword contains the horrifying fact that 1 in 3 Native American women will be raped in their lifetime, usually by non-Native men, and that few will ever be prosecuted. Weighty and thought provoking, the book is also full of vivid characters with stories to tell – Joe’s elderly Grandfather Mooshum and his stories of life pre- reservation, the white woman Linda Lark who is adopted by a Native family when her own abandon her because she is disabled, Joe’s Uncle, who is described as a Native American Elvis and his ex-stripper wife Sonja. A fantastic read.