The Painted Drum: A Novel | 
pickEast meets West (US, at least); modern meets ancient; living meet dead. So many comings together, but also some moving apart. Erdrich paints a picture neither romanticized nor bleak. We love her characters for their noble actions and in spite of their foibles. I love immersing myself in her worlds. #authoramonth @Soubhiville
pickI really liked this story. A slow pace read, character driven with stories within the story. Some expressions were beautiful. Faye‘s mother is half Indian. They are very close and they have a business to sell antique articles. She discovered this painted drum which apparently has healing powers. The story is around the history of this drum, secrets will be revealed. The story is so much full of traditions, beliefs. Apparently is part of a series⬇️
pickFabulous story!
pickI had to read this with a pencil nearby because there were so many beautiful lines. I started it before Christmas and it got set aside in the busyness of Christmas, birthdays, a new year, our anniversary and then Valentine's Day. I had today off, but my husband and son didn't, so it was a good, quiet day to come back and finish this. It reminded me a little bit of PEOPLE OF THE BOOK by Geraldine Brooks.
pickI LOVED this book! A wonderful book about family, the strained relationships of parent and child, and healing. Full of evocative landscapes and rich characters. Louise Erdrich is a Native American author, I initially picked this book up from #libby for a reading challenge but I‘m now a fan of her work and will be making my way through her catalogue.
so-soWhile the writing in this book is beautiful & evocative at times, and a couple of the characters were well drawn, for some reason I just couldn‘t get into the story or care much about it. There was something about the overall writing style that just didn‘t work for me, and the shifts in time & place & people didn‘t come together well, IMO. I wish we had stayed with Faye & Elsie the whole time, TBH. Not terrible but not a notable one for me. 2/5 ⭐️
I‘ve read one other book by Louise Erdrich and liked it well enough, but it wasn‘t very memorable or striking. But this sounds like it could be more up my alley. I mean, the synopsis says that it “explores the often fraught relationship between mothers and daughters” and that‘s a major buzzword (buzzphrase?) for me. #nowreading
While the author feels like she's rambling with this I find I am enjoying it, to my surprise.
Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won't either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love...to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth...And when it happens that you are broken...or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself you tasted as many as you could.
"You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself you tasted as many as you could."
pickFull of poignant tidbits and raw emotion, particularly grief, guilt, and love. I appreciated the interwoven tales illustrating how we both wound and heal one another. I also enjoyed the glimpses into Native American spirituality that encouraged me to consider my own connections the earth and my ancestors.
so-soMy first Erdrich book. The writing, without a doubt, is spectacular. This particular novel was written as a series of little vignettes that were sometimes a bit jarring in their abruptness. My favorite was the middle when the reader gets some history surrounding the painted drum. Good pick for folks looking for some light magical realism in addition to a bit Native American lore, but I'm told, a departure from the author's normal style.
I'm bad at losing bookmarks (most of the time in books that I DNF and I discover them months later) so I don't buy them a lot. These are my regulars - a bunch from a local used bookstore, some random items I appropriate for bookmark use and always at least one nerdy one!
And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself that you tasted as many as you could. (2/2)
Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won't either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. (1/2)
