BoundbyWords: BLOG TOUR: The Round House by Louise Erdrich

Title: The Round House

Author: Louise Erdrich
Genre: Literary/Historical Fiction
Publisher: Harper Collins

Release Date: Oct 2/2012

Adquired: Print ARC provided by publisher

Goodreads: ADD

Purchase: Amazon/Indigo/Book Depository

One Sunday in the spring of 1988, a woman living on a reservation in North Dakota is attacked. The details of the crime are slow to surface as Geraldine Coutts is traumatized and reluctant to relive or reveal what happened, either to the police or to her husband, Bazil, and thirteen-year-old son, Joe. In one day, Joe's life is irrevocably transformed. He tries to heal his mother, but she will not leave her bed and slips into an abyss of solitude. Increasingly alone, Joe finds himself thrust prematurely into an adult world for which he is ill prepared.

While his father, who is a tribal judge, endeavors to wrest justice from a situation that defies his efforts, Joe becomes frustrated with the official investigation and sets out with his trusted friends, Cappy, Zack, and Angus, to get some answers of his own. Their quest takes them first to the Round House, a sacred space and place of worship for the Ojibwe. And this is only the beginning.

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The problem, and benefit really, of reading as frequently as I do, is that there now seems to be an emotional window open inside of me, that won't be easily shut. The last 10-15 books I've read have been a barrage on the heart-emotions at their highest peak. I've felt things so close to the core of my heart, that I've been physically distraught at times, mindlessly elated at others. The Round House tipped the scale at heart breaking. There were moments, while reading this book, that I just wanted to stay at home, under my covers, and silently grieve with the characters; not go to work until I KNEW that they would be okay. When was the last time you read a book like that!?...

Joe has lost his mother. Not to death, but to a violent attack that has rendered her mentally immobile. Bazil has lost his wife, and all semblance of the life he use to share with his family-every routine, every innocent touch, every warm embrace that use to be just that...an act of love. Now every movement jolts her, every hug creates a terrified reaction, and it all but kills him. A tribal judge by occupation, Bazil, with the enlisted help of his son Joe, set out on a heated mission to catch the person who destroyed their family.

I'm reeling. I'm STILL physically, and mentally engaged in the story I put down this morning. Joe was one the most powerful child narrators I've ever experienced. The first few chapters of the book, following the attack, were like swallowing rocks. I felt like my insides were being turned out as Joe described his mother's state, described the things HE was feeling..what he thought his father was going through. At times it seemed like Joe was narrating as an adult, but then his dialogue and thought process would then become youthful again, so I was slightly thrown off in that respect. But so small, SO SMALL was that qualm, that I hate that I even mentioned it.

I loved that The Round House explored the traditions and lifestyle of a reservation. I am so completely ignorant to the culture and practices of Native tribes, and appreciated the fact that I could use fiction as a means to learn more. I gained so much knowledge from this book, in the facts it provided, and in the unbelievably beautiful prose the facts were given to me in.

The Round House was PHENOMENAL. It deserved every piece of that gold National Book Award sticker plastered on the front cover.

Recommended for Fans of: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Contemporary, Cultural Fiction, Controversial Fiction.