Marian

Really a 2.5. Slow start. End was good but still took too long to get to.

I can't believe that I never read this book in school. Great read – still as relevant today as it was 80 years ago!

I usually love anything by Louise Erdrich, but I struggled with this one. It was like three separate stories that wouldn't come together (a dystopian novel about the harm we are doing to the earth; a second about the way we treat women's bodies; and third a story about the poor way Native American's have been treated and how they will possibly not only survive but thrive because of what we have done to the environment). Strangely, even though I didn't really care for it I wanted to know more at the end. Too much was left unsaid. And characters just disappeared without a second glance, which didn't seem to affect anyone greatly. It is appropriate for our time and I could see where she was going with a lot of her ideas, but I didn't think that it held together.

Slow start and I really did not like the main character. His lack of depth and self pity for a white privileged male (albeit gay) who is traveling the world was very off putting. I cannot believe that this won the Pulitzer Prize. The writing style was unique, but that was the only interesting thing.

Really this should be zero stars. DNF. The constant references to phallic energy and all of the mansplaining put me over the edge.