The Round House

One of the biggest sucker-punches to the stomach that I have read in a long time.

Erdrich's prose, stunning to me. Descriptive, tugs you in, real, blunt without being crude. A new, major inspiration to my own. The lack of quotations around dialogue threw me off in the start, but it came to help draw me into the story even better by the end. Demonstrating the complex feelings of family, the consequences of actions, emotional and physical and intangible. This is definitely not a novel that you read in one fell swoop; after each chapter, I had to pause and let it sink its teeth into me a little deeper. It affected me in a personal manner, as well. Unveiled some wounds.

This is one of those novels that if you read it at the right time in your life, it'll linger with you. And even if you don't, it'll linger anyway, against your will. Maybe there were things I was dissatisfied with, but they feel unimportant and didn't chase me away because I can't remember them.

I also recommend this to anybody who wants to understand even a little the struggles of tribal law.