Book Club Discussion: The Sentence by Erdrich

[ufcasey]

This is being posted a day early because a hurricane is headed my way so I probably won't be online tomorrow

This month's book club discussion is for The Sentence by Louise Erdrich. As always, feel free to answer any/all/none of the discussion questions - you can always just talk about your overall impressions of the book.


Optional questions:
1. Were you ready to read a book about these topics (COVID and the murder of George Floyd)?
2. What did you learn about Indigenous peoples from this book?
3. Which characters were you most drawn to and why?
4. What is the significance of the novel’s title? How does Erdrich play with the title throughout her novel, and what larger message does this express?

[ufcasey]

Tagging people who might have read this book:
Gato, charlatti

[Gato]

It's been a while, but I remember The Sentence as such a fun book, despite the sometimes serious subject matter.

1. Yes, I was ready to read it. The book is so wide-ranging, covering criminal justice (or injustice), the afterlife and ghosts, how bookstores are run (including a stand-in Louise Erdrich character that the author pokes fun at), marriage and children, native culture, in addition to all the stuff that happened in 2020. So much good stuff packed into 400 pages.

2. Because my husband is Cherokee, I'm not remembering what I learned vs. what I already know, but definitely I learned more about Ojibwe practices.

3. I really loved Tookie. Erdrich is a master at creating specific characters with interesting histories. I loved her relationship with her husband (or long-time partner? I forget) and his kid. I loved the cranky ghost!

4. Oh, gosh, many months have gone by, and of course there is the tie in with the ghost, but I think "the sentence" refers to life itself, in addition to Tookie's time in prison. What do we do with our time, how do we grow beyond the boundaries that our childhood creates for us? Or can we? How do love and friendship help us with this?

[charlatti]

I have this sitting on my shelf but forgot to actually read it in time! I’ll post once I’ve read it.

[dearprudence]

I was not ready for the Covid content, it's still too soon for me. But I also had a hard time with the Spanish Flu in The Murmur of Bees, so clearly I need a couple hundred years. I do appreciate the way in which Erdrich documented the time though and I think this will be an even more powerful novel in the future because of it.

I love love loved the relationship between Tookie and Pollux. I would have been happy to just read a story about the two of them.

[dearprudence]

Sept 27, 2022 9:15:50 GMT -5 Gato said:

4. Oh, gosh, many months have gone by, and of course there is the tie in with the ghost, but I think "the sentence" refers to life itself, in addition to Tookie's time in prison. What do we do with our time, how do we grow beyond the boundaries that our childhood creates for us? Or can we? How do love and friendship help us with this?

I also think Erdrich pointed out a really interesting sense of power that can be associated with words. "The Sentence" in its prison reference refers to one sort of power that held Tookie in place. "The Sentence" in the journal had the power to change Flora and Tookie's worldview.

[charlatti]

I tried. I remember now why I disliked the Erdrich book I had to read in college: I really just don’t like her writing style. I don’t feel like I know the characters enough to care about what’s happening, and I skimmed ahead to the pandemic intro and realized I don’t want to read about that either. So it’s a DNF for me.

[mrspez07]

I enjoyed parts of this and then had periods where it was a slog and I considered not finishing it. I felt the writing pace was very inconsistent. I think it is one I will think about for years to come though, and I can see it being a novel that will be a great example of the perspective of the time and place and experience of Covid and BLM.
I liked how Tookie grows into herself and you get to also know her better. I liked many of the secondary characters especially her step-daughter.
The title was perfect for the story. Sentence as in prose/writing/verbal word and sentence as purgatory for the ghost and Tookie’s time in jail were all wonderfully explored.

[aurora]

Oct 1, 2022 15:14:45 GMT -5 charlatti said:

I tried. I remember now why I disliked the Erdrich book I had to read in college: I really just don’t like her writing style. I don’t feel like I know the characters enough to care about what’s happening, and I skimmed ahead to the pandemic intro and realized I don’t want to read about that either. So it’s a DNF for me.

I also didn't finish. I returned it maybe 20% of the way through the audiobook. It might be the kind of book that is better to read than listen to, but I just didn't engage enough with any characters to want to try.