Beidler, Peter G., and Gay Barton. A Reader's Guide to the Novels of Louise Erdrich. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1999. Print.
The book, A Reader’s Guide to the Novels of Louise Erdrich, goes into great detail regarding how complex and confusing Erdrich’s novels may be to new readers or read the books out of order. The author compares Erdrich’s writing to that of William Faulkner’s. Erdrich and Faulkner are compared because they both write about “imaginary landscapes.” Erdrich is also very good at producing fictional characters, which is a difficult thing to do at times.
Erdrich is a one of a kind writer. She has the ability to tie the style and language of modern writers as well as bring in “narrative elements from the Ojibwe oral traditions.” Not all fiction writers can do this with their writing. A complex thing about Erdrich’s novels is that her characters appear in every story. If you haven’t read one of her books for awhile, then pick up another and don’t remember the history of the character, you may be slightly confused and lost. There is also a map that helps you understand where all the towns and cities where her novels took place. The authors go into great detail about the geography of Erdrich’s stories. They also went as far as to include genealogy charts of all of the characters to help readers understand the family relationships and keep the characters straight. They do so for Erdrich’s first ten novels. They also compiled a list of the Ojibwe words and phrases that were used in Erdrich’s novels and translated them.
The authors of this book chose to write this in order to help the readers of Louise Erdrich to have a guide to help understand if they have become lost. They figured if the well known critics were to be confused at points in her books, then why wouldn’t students who have to read her novels?
I believe this book would be a great resource to the reader’s who may have been a bit confused at how Erdrich illustrates her novels. I found it to be very interesting. The authors took a lot of time and energy to compile things from all ten of her novels in order to help others. I would definitely suggest this book for readers who become interesting in Louise Erdrich’s writing.
I have read most of her books in order and it is still hard to keep track of all her families and characters. They are all inter-related and you find out interesting things about their histories and family ties with each book. But they have all been worth reading so far.
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