LaRose

LaRose

by Louise Erdrich (Author)

Synopsis

Late summer in North Dakota, 1999: Landreaux Iron stalks a deer along the edge of the property bordering his own. He shoots with easy confidence but only when he staggers closer does he realise he has killed his neighbour's son.

Dusty Ravich, the deceased boy, was best friends with Landreaux's five-year-old son, LaRose. The two families have been close for years and their children played together despite going to different schools. Landreaux is horrified at what he's done; fighting off his longstanding alcoholism, he ensconces himself in a sweat lodge and prays for guidance. And there he discovers an old way of delivering justice for the wrong he's done. The next day he and his wife Emmaline deliver LaRose to the bereaved Ravich parents. Standing on the threshold of the Ravich home, they say, 'Our son will be your son now'.

LaRose is quickly absorbed into his new family. Gradually he's allowed visits with his birth family, whose grief for the son and brother they gave away mirrors that of the Raviches. The years pass and LaRose becomes the linchpin that links both families. As the Irons and the Raviches grow ever more entwined, their pain begins to subside. But when a man who nurses a grudge against Landreaux fixates on the idea that there was a cover-up the day Landreaux killed Dusty - and decides to expose this secret - he threatens the fragile peace between the two families...

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 384
Publisher: Corsair
Published: 10 May 2016

ISBN 10: 1472151860
ISBN 13: 9781472151865

Media Reviews
Louise Erdrich is the most interesting American novelist to have appeared in years * Philip Roth *
Electric, nimble, and perceptive, this novel is about 'the phosphorous of grief' but also, more essentially, about the emotions men need, but rarely get, from one another. * Kirkus Reviews [starred review] *
Powerful and affecting, LaRose is the story of two heartbroken families and the fragile bond between them in the wake of a major loss. * Buzzfeed, Incredible New Books You Need To Read This Spring *
Louise Erdrich is a literary icon, and her newest book is just as beautiful as her previous award-winners . . . Pushed forward by the deep and complex emotions that surround grief and inheritance, this novel will take you on a phenomenal ride. * Bustle.com *
Edrich's prose style is hugely engaging, a lovely, tender unfurling of day-to-day concerns and emotions alongside the mystical world of seat lodges, visions and visits from long lost elders * Sunday Express *
A magnificent, sorrowful tale of justice, retribution, and love * Vanity Fair *
A chronicler of the continuing destruction of Native American communities, she writes beautifully about what Indian children used to learn from their parents * Herald *
Grief and guilt and unquenchable yearning overwhelm the pages ... Erdrich has considerable powers as a writer of tragedy and comedy ... it's wonderful * Literary Review *
Erdrich is a poet of lists, placing like and unlike together as if they were a series of Christmas lights, each individually illuminating, each gaining luster and brilliance from its placement, the whole blazing, incandescent . . . Perhaps the most important of Erdrich's achievements is her mastery of complex forms . . . Woven into the specificity of these narratives is Erdrich's determination to speak of the most pressing human questions * New York Times *
LaRose, [Erdrich's] 15th novel, is excellent. It is heartbreaking; it is nuanced; the prose is as strong and stark as the wintry western landscape it describes. The story is both simple and incredibly complex . . . Erdrich exposes the messy aftermath of a tragedy. She does so without sentimentality, without pity. Her themes are the limitations of love as a healing power as much as the healing power of love. It is important to say that Erdrich is one of the greatest living American writers, and LaRose is brilliant * Guardian *
Erdrich's 15th novel is one of rare beauty . . . an astonishing story . . . told by a storyteller both formidable and tender, her talent for description second to none * Observer *
Warm-hearted . . . a novel remarkable for its forgiveness and sheer magnanimity * Sunday Times *
Erdrich is the poet laureate of the contemporary Native American experience and this beautifully written novel incorporates ancient Ojibwe lore as part of a patchwork of narrative techniques. * Mail on Sunday *
Thrilling, mystical, compassionate, this story packs an emotional punch and gives a glimpse into the lives of modern native Americans and the traditions they hold dear. The story draws the reader in and keeps their attention effortlessly * My Weekly *
Erdrich is a writer of emotional intelligence, with a talent for old-fashioned storytelling. * The Times *
Brilliant . . . Characters, prose and plot all blend seamlessly together to draw the reader in. I was riveted from the first page. A fantastic read. * MyWeekly.co.uk *
Because she writes so powerfully about indigenous and immigrant lives in the United States, and because she will eventually win the Nobel Prize in Literature. * Sherman Alexie, TIME *
Author Bio
Louise Erdrich is the author of fifteen novels as well as volumes of poetry, children's books, short stories, and a memoir of early motherhood. Her novel The Round House won the National Book Award for Fiction. The Plague of Doves won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and her debut novel, Love Medicine, was the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award. Erdrich has received the Library of Congress Prize in American Fiction, the prestigious PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction, and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. She lives in Minnesota with her daughters and is the owner of Birchbark Books, a small independent bookstore.