Each day we highlight one of the 36 finalists leading up to the April 8 announcement of the Minnesota Book Awards, presented by Education Minnesota. Today we feature 2017 Novel & Short Story finalist:
LaRose by Louise Erdrich
Published by: HarperCollins Publishers
Category Sponsor: Fitzgerald in Saint Paul
Erdrich’s latest novel is an emotionally haunting contemporary tale of a tragic accident, a demand for justice, and a profound act of atonement with ancient roots in Native American culture. After accidentally killing his neighbor’s son, Landreaux Iron follows an ancient means of retribution and gives his own son, LaRose, to his neighbor. As the years pass, LaRose becomes the linchpin linking the Irons and the Raviches, and eventually their mutual pain begins to heal, until a vengeful man threatens the tenuous peace that has kept these two fragile families whole.
About the Author
Louise Erdrich is the author of 15 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 is also a five-time Minnesota Book Award winner. She lives in Minnesota with her daughters and is the owner of Birchbark Books, a small independent bookstore.
Rave Reviews
“Incandescent…Erdrich has always been fascinated by the relationship between revenge and justice, but…LaRose comes down firmly on the side of forgiveness. Can a person do the worst possible thing and still be loved? Erdrich’s answer is a resounding yes.” — New York Times Book Review
“Remarkable…As the novel draws to a conclusion, the suspense is ratcheted up, but never at the expense of Erdrich’s reflective power or meditative lyricism…One of Erdrich’s finest achievements.” — Boston Globe
“I run out of adjectives quickly trying to describe this book—stunning, compelling, original…this is a skillfully woven story about modern life, tradition, circumstance and tragedy. Erdrich takes on loss, family friendship and social class expertly with beautiful imagery and underlying mysticism.”
— MN Book Awards judge
Beyond the Book
–Interview with NPR’s Ari Shapiro on All Things Considered.
–Erdrich discusses LaRose with Elisa Jaffe on Well Read TV