The Round House

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The Round House
Erdrich, L. (2012). The round house. HarperCollins.

Plot Summary
The mother of the main character Joe, is violently attacked near the reservation. This leads her husband and teenage son to try to seek justice and retribution each in their own way. His father is a judge in the reservations and is trying to find the offender. The case gets caught up due to a trouble in determining jurisdiction.  As the story continues the reader can see how Joe has to deal with the struggles and hardships of being a Native American. Joe and his father go through the story trying to fix their family and acquire justice. When Geraldine decides to testify the attacker is arrested only to be set free later. Joe takes it upon himself to punish the culprit. This results in him and his friend Cappy creating a plan to murder the offender.

Critical Analysis
This story of violence and revenge takes place around the 1980s on the Ojibwe reservation in North Dakota. The book demonstrates the culture of Native Americans especially how they were treated at the time as well as their laws and the laws they had to abide by. When Joe’s mom, Geraldine, is viciously sexually assaulted authorities cannot agree on what laws should be followed.  The quandary among state, federal, and tribal jurisdictions does not help the case. Geraldine struggles emotionally and physically throughout the book. She closes herself off and does not cooperate with any law enforcement even though it seems like she knows who the culprit is. Since the exact location is not known it was difficult for them to prosecute the offender. The reader can see the difficulties Native Americans had to go through on the reservation. There are mentions of tribal customs, beliefs, and even legends.

Review Excerpts
Goodreads Review, “One of the most revered novelists of our time - a brilliant chronicler of Native-American life - Louise Erdrich returns to the territory of her bestselling, Pulitzer Prize finalist The Plague of Doves with The Round House, transporting readers to the Ojibwe reservation in North Dakota.”

Publishers Weekly Review,  “Erdrich, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, sets her newest (after Shadow Tag) in 1988 in an Ojibwe community in North Dakota; the story pulses with urgency as she probes the moral and legal ramifications of a terrible act of violence.”

New York Times Review, “In “The Round House,” Erdrich has come back once again to her own indelible Yoknapatawpha, a fictional North Dakota Indian reservation and its surrounding towns, with their intricately interconnected populations.”

Connections
Student could do research on state and local laws. Similar books:

Erdrich, Louise. The Painted Drum. ISBN 9780060515119
Erdrich, Louise. The Beet Queen. ISBN 9780060835279

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