Love Medicine

Worth A Read

Had to read this for school and was not at all disappointed by the teachers choice. Contain well developed characters that readers will remember for a long time.

Worth your time -- a journey with gnerations of Native Americans

Love Medicine is a story of people bound by love and blood, who journey across generations and share their hopes and dreams, both realized and shattered.

Erdrich creates people different in culture, but universal in their humanity, who face challenges both different from and the same as we all encounter on our journey through this life.

It is both heartbreaking and uplifting. You want to know more about them all.

Memorable Characters Make This Book

When I started reading this book, I was struck by the similarities to Sherman Alexie's THE LONE RANGER AND TONTO FISTFIGHT IN HEAVEN, which I had read recently. Both are more a linked set of short stories than a novel, mostly told in first person from multiple viewpoints, set in an Indian Reservation--in the case of LOVE MEDICINE a Chippewa Reservation in North Dakota. Both books often feel bleak, filled with tales of suicides, alcoholism, and grinding poverty. (Erdrich's book was published about a decade earlier than Alexie's, and I wonder if she was an inspiration or at least an influence on his book).

I wasn't exactly happy at first to find those similarities--Alexie's book didn't impress me, and I thought that maybe I just preferred a more traditionally structured novel or it's just I'm not much of a fan of social realism. And well, both those things probably are true, but I wound up a lot more impressed with Erdrich--the tales, and her characters, felt much richer and packed a lot more of an emotional impact and in the end felt more than the sum of their parts; Erdrich felt the more reliable narrator. The prose is so gorgeous--often passages make you slow down to savor them and you feel this is one book you'll have to keep and return to read again.

Her book did take me a while to get into. At first I found the first chapter, with its plethora of related characters, confusing. When I completed that chapter, I was tempted to go back and create a cheat sheet and then saw the beginning of the book handily provided a genealogical chart.

What helped wasn't so much that though, but just reading--you eventually get to know the characters and how they all interrelate and for me those characters make the novel. Right after reading LOVE MEDICINE, I saw a mention of the work in a book on literature talk about how Lipsha Morrissey was the closest thing to a protagonist in the work, but for me the true center and the most unforgettable characters were the two matriarchs, Marie Lazarre Kashpaw and Lulu Nanapush Lamartine, around whom many of the other characters revolve in some way. Both are such strong-willed characters, you wouldn't dare feel sorry for either, and I think that's a lot of what kept LOVE MEDICINE from winding up feeling depressing, despite a lot of tragedy in this book. I was especially surprised to love Lulu in the end--believe me, for plenty of reasons, she's unlikely to strike most readers as sympathetic for much of the book. In the end, I was sorry to leave these characters.

To round out the comparison, although I found Alexie interesting for his window into into life in the modern American Indian reservation, his book didn't leave me wanting to read more of him. That's definitely not the case with Louise Erdrich.

A Spiritual Aspect to this Novel

I love Louise Erdrich's powerful use of language, but her characters are what I most admire. She portrays Native Americans with their strengths and weaknesses, and while we may not initially like many of the characters, they grow on us as we experience their stories. There is a potency, a history, a past and a connection. Despite lives ruined by government intervention, booze and hard luck, there is a resilience that generates our respect.

I write about spiritual books, or books that provide a connection to the divine without being religious. I find spirituality in Erdrich's characters: in the commitment to themselves, to each other, and to the returning home to their past. This is a practical spirituality, a belief in something greater than ourselves. Spirituality is not about naming a God or a Higher Being; it is living as if such an entity or belief exists and matters.

Louise Erdrich's characters have a reserve not immediately apparent in their lives, but as we watch them grow, that resilence is obvious. Their lives aren't easy. Their plight is one for which we deserve so much blame, a blame only alluded to in the novel and not the focal point of any of the short stories that weave this work together.

Despite all, these characters rise up as an admirable group, a group that deserves respect for that strength and reserve. Yes, that is the human spirit rising above the mundane. That is practical spirituality, a larger-than-life view.

Erdrich's characters love one another, they love family, and they love their tribal connections. That is what we admire. They never seem completely lost. Even when one commits suicide, we don't see desperation as much as understanding and acceptance. Is this because of their Indian ancestry? Do they inherit a past we can never fully comprehend or mimic? Are all peoples so strong? Perhaps. Perhaps not.
Her story is compelling; her characters force us to care. And we do. We want to be better people without realizing why, as we watch them rise above the human condition, no matter how depressing or abusive their lives.

We want to rise above a feeling that we should shoulder blame for allowing Native Americans to be confined to reservations, ripped from their culture, and forced into our schools only to be spit back again with limited resources and opportunities. Our challenge is to read about and accept that blame, but then move on to be a strong as our Native American role models in conquering the past while incorporating it into our consciousness. Erdrich's characters do that. So must we.

Interesting and Entertaining

It was somewhat difficult to keep the web of characters straight, but overall I really enjoyed this book.

The Trials of Life and Love

'Love Medicine' by Louise Erdrich is a collection of touching stories following many members of the Kashpaw family. The Kashpaws are all part of the same indian tribe, living up near the Canadian border in North Dakota. The stories portray the hardships and joys, loves and losses and everything in between that they come across in life. The novel begins with June, a Kashpaw who attempts to fill the void in her life with affection from men, who dies in a storm after having a brief encounter with a white man she met in a bar. Her death launches events and strings of memories to come flying back to both the elderly and younger generations of the tribe. Although the characters in the short stories can be somewhat confusing, it is apparent that the Kashpaw family rises above trajedy and sorrow with a stong love and dedication to one another. 'Love Medicine' is honest, heartbreaking and a one-of-a-kind novel that leaves the reader questioning life, while at the same time gives the reader a new kind of understanding that can only be gained through tough experiences. Each family member's journey is beautifully written. Erdrich gives the novel a flow that allows the reader to become enveloped in the stories, while at the same time the realistic characters, who seem like they could be anybody's crazy (but loving) family, keep the reader pleasantly aware of the bumps and twists in life that are as unique as the people who experience them.

The storytelling is addictive.

A friend recommended I read this and I'm glad he did. It's a mesmerizing way of looking at the world from a very different POV. The storytelling and narrative is similar to a couple of other women whose writing is equally addictive.

Great message for todays youth

This book deserves alot of respect, breaking down walls that others fail to climb. Louise Erdrich embodies literature with her tales of the heart and the "simple" complications of love. A must-read for the lost, depressed, or even the avid fan of great literature. Even part Indian as I am, I feel a close bond with the characters in the novel, due to Erdrich's rich development.

Tantalizingly Twisted

I found this book to be beautifully honest, reaching into an old, misunderstood culture in a new way. Erdrich, thankfully, is a person who is strong enough to step out of common stereotypes and that is what these heart-felt, intertwining stories show. It has been one of my favorite reads.

Powerfully complex

This novel is literally incredible; I could not put it down for an instant. Each story is told from a different character's point of view - each perspective is rich and varied. Erdich acknowledges the stereotype of the alcoholic Native American on the reservation, but refuses to allow that stereotype to dominate. Instead, she observes it within the framework of a larger story - a realistic story of family, love, and everyday life in a small community. I would recommend this novel to anyone of any age. Because of this novel, I will definitely go on to read many more of Erdich's works.

No spoonful of sugar needed

Erdrich weaves a seamless tale with characters so powerful some grab you by the neck. The novel is blended beautifully from start to end, and it will take you on a ride. This is my favorite Erdrich novel thus far.

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