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Elizabeth (Alaska)'s Reviews > The Painted Drum
The Painted Drum
by
by
Elizabeth (Alaska)'s review
bookshelves: author-erdrich-louise, library, twenty-first-century, women, xx-2017-reps, xx-2017-women
Mar 11, 2017
bookshelves: author-erdrich-louise, library, twenty-first-century, women, xx-2017-reps, xx-2017-women
When I stopped reading last night with just 30 or so pages to go, my eyelids refusing to stay open a moment longer, I thought this was divided into three parts. I thought how fitting: the story of the drum's reappearance, the story of the drum's creation, the story of the drum's power. So I was surprised this morning to find a Part Four. I had, perhaps erroneously, believed that the third part was also the story of the drum's purpose, but Erdrich gives me another glimpse and I think that purpose reaches further than I was able to see by page 240.
I want to thank my GR friend who encouraged me to read Erdrich in publication order. I might not have appreciated this novel without the foundation of her earlier works. I started just now to write "fully appreciated" but I suspect this nearly 100% Scots descent woman will never be able to "fully" appreciate Erdrich. Still, I am more open to her and her heritage than I could possibly have been 40 years ago, when I still lived with what I think of as somewhat Scots rigidity. Then, I would have thought almost disparagingly of people who could understand the wolves.
My time reading Erdrich is so special, I suspect my ratings are not a good barometer. Or maybe I read this at just the right spot in my life. Or maybe I've been reading some real junk lately. I might not have continued reading her if this were my first encounter with her, but it wasn't. Still, a very strong 4-star read (maybe even 5-stars, but I'm not stretching it today).
I want to thank my GR friend who encouraged me to read Erdrich in publication order. I might not have appreciated this novel without the foundation of her earlier works. I started just now to write "fully appreciated" but I suspect this nearly 100% Scots descent woman will never be able to "fully" appreciate Erdrich. Still, I am more open to her and her heritage than I could possibly have been 40 years ago, when I still lived with what I think of as somewhat Scots rigidity. Then, I would have thought almost disparagingly of people who could understand the wolves.
"And the wolf answered, not in words, but with a continuation of that stare. 'We live because we live.' He did not ask questions. He did not give reasons. And I understood him then. The wolves accept the life they are given. They do not look around them and wish for a different life, or shorten their lives resenting the humans, or even fear them anymore than is appropriate. They are efficient. They deal with what they encounter and then go on. Minute by minute. One day to the next. ..."Humans could take a lesson.
My time reading Erdrich is so special, I suspect my ratings are not a good barometer. Or maybe I read this at just the right spot in my life. Or maybe I've been reading some real junk lately. I might not have continued reading her if this were my first encounter with her, but it wasn't. Still, a very strong 4-star read (maybe even 5-stars, but I'm not stretching it today).
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Reading Progress
March 9, 2011
– Shelved
March 9, 2011
– Shelved as:
author-erdrich-louise
November 2, 2012
– Shelved as:
library
June 22, 2013
– Shelved as:
twenty-first-century
January 10, 2017
– Shelved as:
women
January 10, 2017
– Shelved as:
wish-list
March 9, 2017
–
Started Reading
March 11, 2017
– Shelved as:
xx-2017-reps
March 11, 2017
– Shelved as:
xx-2017-women
March 11, 2017
–
Finished Reading
