Lori's Reviews > The Sentence

The title is a triple entendre. To explain would be to spoil. And three things comprise alternately or simultaneously the foreground and background of The Sentence: the haunting of Birchbark, Louise Erdrich's real bookstore, by a fictional regular who won't leave; the murder nearby of George Floyd by then-Officer Derek Chauvin; and the encroaching virus covid-19 which, as Chauvin did to Floyd, will steal the breath from a disproportionate number of indigenous and black people in the U.S.

I've been a lover of Erdrich's work since her debut, Love Medicine, with its unforgettable first scene in which June Nanapush lays down in the snow and [redacted]. This and her prior novel are standalones but most of her fiction features recurring characters, families, across place and time. She's been a master of character. I was pleased while reading her trilogy to encounter some of the same characters from the Love Medicine series. Her books are low-key though tragic events occur. They're character-driven.

And so is The Sentence. It's a book I appreciate more having finished because what Erdrich was doing was not always clear and there were low-key scenes that seemed slow but turned out to be important. There's a lot here. I haven't even mentioned the books. So many fine books are mentioned, recommended, read, purchased, they're collected in an appendix. There's a bit of what Erdrich could probably collect into a full volume of Weird Things People Say About Indigenous Peoples in Birchbark Bookstore. And there's one particular character it was hard for me to close the book on. I know I won't be meeting them again, but they're with me. Not going anywhere because June hasn't. Well done, Louise. A strong, quiet book which takes place in the midst of unfolding, escalating drama and tragedy.