Genealogy Books - The Plague of Doves: A Novel

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Summary: What a Beautiful Book
Comment: It's very rare to find a combination of tremendous writing, complex narrative, and memorable
characters. Erdrich has managed this. In a book that moves from one point of view to another, it is
often easy to lose track of where and when you are. Not here. Erdrich's characters are so distinct,
their voices so strong and individual, that I never got lost. This is a story of a family, a
community, and a history, beautifully told. Definitely one of the top books I've read this year, and
in years. I signed on to order more of Louise Erdrich's work, but wanted to give this book my
enthusiastic recommendation first.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Time heals all wounds
Comment: Many reviewers have greatly praised this book. I have been a fan of Louise Erdrich for many years
and have most of her books. This one is extraordinarily complicated, and really requires that you
maintain a graph of the characters to understand their interelationships. The essence of the novel
is that over generations family feuds and racial prejudices can dissolve and unite people that might
never have grown together. It was a fasicinating read and obviously represented a great deal of
work by Louise Erdrich.

Customer Rating:

Summary: native American tales
Comment: there were wonderful tales, but it was difficult to follow the plot and keep track of the
characters. It is a great book for short stories, but more difficult as an ongoing tale. Maybe she
intended for it to simply be a collection of stories of her home town and extended family.

Customer Rating:

Summary: The Plague of Doves
Comment: The Plague of Doves is an astounding book. Louise Erdrich weaves in thoughts that make me stop and
travel within them before reading on.
You will care about the people and stay in fascination
as you delve into the events of their lives.
My favorite of her books, along with her
children's books, is The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse. 'The floorboards wept
(while being washed) at the playing of Chopin'....
I give Erdrich's The Blue Jay's Dance to
every woman I know who is having a baby. Truly beautiful and valuable.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Short stories tied together by lynching
Comment: The reader should be forewarned that THE PLAGUE OF DOVES is more of a collection of short stories
than a traditional novel. The "novel" is only loosely constructed around an early 20th century
murder of a farm family near fictional Pluto, North Dakota, after which three Ojibway men were
wrongfully accused and lynched.

Many of the same characters move in and out of the
various stories. The Milk family is the most compelling. Seraph Milk or "Mooshum," and his brother
Shamengwa were alive at the time of the lynchings. Mooshum's granddaughter, Evelina is a modern-era
voice. Mooshum was almost hanged along with the other three Ojibways. He has turned into a loveable
old man who offers comic relief in his dealings with the local Catholic priest. At one point, when
his brother Shamengwa dies, the Catholic priest gets them mixed up and delivers a eulogy for Mooshum
who is sitting in a pew grinning at the clergyman.

Evelina appeals more to our
heartstrings. She's a college student and parttime waitress at one of the few remaining businesses
in Pluto. She has a boyfriend, Corwin Peace, who is related to Cuthbert Peace, one of the three
Indians lynched after the farm family was murdered. He turns to taking and selling drugs, but is
saved by Shamengwa's violin, which has mystical properties. One of her teachers, Sister Mary Anita
Buckendorf, is a descendant of one of the German farmers who hanged Cuthbert and the other two
Indians. Evelina nicknames her "Godzilla" because of her unfortunate protruding chin, but regrets it
when Corwin begins to antagonize the nun as well. Evelina eventually goes to work at an insane
asylum where she falls in love with one of the female patients, complicating her relationship with
Corwin. Evelina's plot line is never fully resolved. Perhaps it will be in a future edition of the
NEW YORKER.

Erdrich works hard at establishing connections between the tormenters and
the abused over three generations. One of the tormenters' progeny even marries a descendant of one
of the hanged Indians. Erdrich manages to tack on an ending during which we find out who really
killed the farm family. The town doctor's identity also furnishes a surprising twist.

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