Tracks, by Louise Erdrich
Dec. 20th, 2010 10:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shannon_aK. & I just finished reading Tracks by Louise Erdrich, and generally it was the book of hers that I've had the most mixed feelings about.
First of all, I was surprised that I don't think I've read it. I thought I'd read all of her first five books, but there was so much in this that was totally a surprise that I increasingly think I didn't. And, there was enough that I didn't like in this book, that I think I would have remembered.
My biggest problem in Tracks is the character Pauline, who becomes increasingly insane, unbalanced, and unpleasant as the book goes on. K. liked her at times because of her unpredictability, but I never did after very early in the book when she (one presumes) is scarred for life by rape and murder. Sadly, Pauline narrates all the even-numbered chapters in this nine-chapter book.
However, there was a lot I liked in the book too. It's set from 1912-1924 in the same Indian reservation as Erdrich's other books, and it makes a remarkably good prequel to Erdrich's Love Medicine without actually being obvious about it. But the main characters in Tracks are among the parents of the main characters in Love Medicine and the divides among the families in Love Medicine are explained and setup in Tracks.
So, I would have really liked it if not for Pauline (and perhaps for too much other unpleasantness and sadness and not enough of the humor that came forth in Erdrich's earlier works).
Erdrich has since written another book called Four Souls which continues directly on from Tracks (and which Erdrich wanted to make the other half of the book when she reprinted it). K. and I wanted to read that right away, but now I need to cleanse my palette a bit. So we're going to read some shorts by Butcher and Poe and then return to Erdrich in a week or two.
First of all, I was surprised that I don't think I've read it. I thought I'd read all of her first five books, but there was so much in this that was totally a surprise that I increasingly think I didn't. And, there was enough that I didn't like in this book, that I think I would have remembered.
My biggest problem in Tracks is the character Pauline, who becomes increasingly insane, unbalanced, and unpleasant as the book goes on. K. liked her at times because of her unpredictability, but I never did after very early in the book when she (one presumes) is scarred for life by rape and murder. Sadly, Pauline narrates all the even-numbered chapters in this nine-chapter book.
However, there was a lot I liked in the book too. It's set from 1912-1924 in the same Indian reservation as Erdrich's other books, and it makes a remarkably good prequel to Erdrich's Love Medicine without actually being obvious about it. But the main characters in Tracks are among the parents of the main characters in Love Medicine and the divides among the families in Love Medicine are explained and setup in Tracks.
So, I would have really liked it if not for Pauline (and perhaps for too much other unpleasantness and sadness and not enough of the humor that came forth in Erdrich's earlier works).
Erdrich has since written another book called Four Souls which continues directly on from Tracks (and which Erdrich wanted to make the other half of the book when she reprinted it). K. and I wanted to read that right away, but now I need to cleanse my palette a bit. So we're going to read some shorts by Butcher and Poe and then return to Erdrich in a week or two.