Review: The Round House by Louise Erdrich

The Round House by Louise Erdrich
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Published: September 2013



Joe is thirteen years old and he and his family live on a reservation in North Dakota. When Joe's mom is attacked, she goes into lockdown in their house refusing to eat or speak to anyone about what happened. Joe doesn't think the adults are working hard enough to find out what happened to his mother, so he takes it upon himself to find out what is going on. Will Joe be successful in his attempts or will his mother stay shut down forever.

This was our book club selection for April. I have seen this book before, but wasn't really something that I was interested in reading.

I can't imagine what I would do if someone were to hurt the person who I loved most in the world. I remember one time when I was maybe 10 or 11 years old and I was staying with my grandmother for the day. She got a call from my mom that she had been in an accident and would be late picking us up. This was long before the days of cell phones. So when I finally saw my mother, her clothes were all ripped up from were the paramedics had checks for any external injuries. I was so scared I didn't know what to do.

Joe enlists the help of his friends and other members of the reservation to help find out what happened to his mother. This journey takes him from a boy to a man in ways he never would imagine. At the beginning of the book he's picking small trees from the cement outside of his house and by the end he's driving across the country with friends.

While this book wasn't the best for me, I encourage you to read it just for Joe's story.


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