Book: The Sentence
Author: Louise Erdrich
Pages: 395
Read on: Kindle
Read in: ~5 hours
Plot Summary: A small independent bookstore in Minneapolis is haunted from November 2019 to November 2020 by the store's most annoying customer.
Flora dies on All Souls' Day, but she simply won't leave the store. Tookie, who has landed a job selling books after years of incarceration that she survived by reading "with murderous attention," must solve the mystery of this haunting while at the same time trying to understand all that occurs in Minneapolis during a year of grief, astonishment, isolation, and furious reckoning.
Things I Liked:
1. The writing! I am a big, big fan of Erdrich's moving, evocative writing and I wanted to inhale her words and yet read the book slowly. Other readers can relate!
2. The premise of this book is revenant, timely and interesting. I love reading about different cultures and about lives of people different from mine. This book's key characters (like in several other of Erdrich's works) are of Native American origin and so, reading about their past, their culture, their beliefs and their lives was enlightening. Since this book is set between November 2019 to November 2020, we also get to see the various characters live through the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. While it was a little difficult to read and re-live the early days of the pandemic and the insane medley of hope, hopelessness, fear, paranoia, the not knowing and constant worry and anxiety! However, one you grit your teeth and get through with that, you'll come to see the sense of community. love and togetherness (socially distanced) that helped most of us survive that year!
3. The author has also beautifully woven in the murder of George Floyd and the events that followed in Minneapolis in the days after that. You feel the grief, helplessness and generations of suppressed rage of the Native American community that has endured police brutality for generations! Some of these recollections may be triggering but it is important to be triggered when it comes to generations of racial injustice. That is, honestly, the least we can do!
4. I feel in love with Tookie. She is tough, yet vulnerable. Loves books. Is ready to jump into any situation to help. She has dealt with a lot in her life, including spending time in prison for a ridiculous crime, and I love how resilient she is and how much heart she has.
5. The haunting in the book, while mostly funny, hides within it a heartbreaking story about a Native American woman's struggles after being captured by white colonisers. Tookie's attempts to unearth what is causing Flora, a loyal but annoying customer, to linger on in the bookstore, takes us through a lot of Native American oppression and the guilt and shame felt by some of the perpetrators.
6. Since this book is set in an independent bookstore, it is full of amazing book recommendations! I am happy to report that I've read a lot of the authors recommended by Tookie to an exacting, voracious customer labelled Dissatisfaction! I am going to find the other books, especially, those by Native American authors and read them.
This is a beautiful book about love, relationships, race, history, friendships and the stuff that haunts us. If you love all of these things AND books, then you'll love this book!
Rating: 5/5
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