Redemption! A Review of Erdrich’s The Round House

My first Louise Erdrich experience wasn’t a good one. It was Lit 210 in college. All students were required to take a class at the 200 level; this is the one I chose.

I’ve always enjoyed reading and felt I had a good grasp on the themes of what I read. Until this class. My prof was a TA from Italy with a decent grasp of English but an accent so thick 95% of the class was lost from the first word. The remaining 5% were lost a little later on when we learned that our TA’s thoughts, insights and opinions about the novel, short story or poem were the only ones that were correct.

Poor Louise Erdrich’s poetry fell victim to my dislike of this prof. I’m very happy that she’s now redeemed in my mind.

The Round House
By Louise Erdrich 

Review

The Round House began with a very mundane recollection that made the book seem incredibly real. It was sort of an “It was just an ordinary day…” beginning. Of course, the day ended up not being ordinary, but it’s so real. It’s natural to recall little, seemingly random details from childhood.

At it’s most basic level, this is the story of one teenage boy’s summer, but it goes deeper than that. It’s a coming of age, a confessional, an explanation and a justification. And it’s fantastic!

Rating

Writing 5 out of 5 stars

Erdrich’s writing is clear and engaging

Character Development 5 out of 5 stars

The development/growth of the characters definitely seemed realistic and natural.

Storytelling 5 out of 5 stars

The story was intriguing and kept me thinking until the end.

Total 5 out of 5 stars

Have you read The Round House? What did you think? Did you have a teacher ruin a book/author for you? Did the dislike last?