Tracks
Book - 1998
"[Erdrich] captures the passions, fears, myths, and doom of a living people, and she does so with an ease that leaves the reader breathless."--The New Yorker
From award-winning, New York Times bestselling author Louise Erdrich comes an arresting, lyrical novel set in North Dakota at a time when Indian tribes were struggling to keep what little remained of their lands.
Tracks is a tale of passion and deep unrest. Over the course of ten crucial years, as tribal land and trust between people erode ceaselessly, men and women are pushed to the brink of their endurance--yet their pride and humor prohibit surrender. The reader will experience shock and pleasure in encountering characters that are compelling and rich in their vigor, clarity, and indomitable vitality.
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From Library Staff
From Library Staff
"Set in North Dakota at a time in this century when Indian tribes were struggling to keep what little remained of their lands, Tracks is a tale of passion and deep unrest. Over the course of ten crucial years, as tribal land and trust between people erode ceaselessly, men and women are pushe... Read More »
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Add a CommentErdrich excels in creating narrators with such disparate world views and personalities that there’s a clash between even the alternating chapters they tell. Here, in a novel set in a time when Native Americans were losing their lands in Minnesota, she presents a cast of astonishingly individual characters in a surprisingly brutal story. Her poetic style blends simple realism with explosive episodes that seem to be spun of pure magic.
There are two narrators in Tracks, Nanapush and Pauline, every other chapter jumps back and forth between the two, telling the same story in two very different views. Nanapush has very traditional views and ties to his family while Pauline has Christian views and is rapidly losing her mind during the course of the story.
This is the first Novel by Louise Erdrich that I have read, but it is definitely not the last!
I am jumping in Four Souls immediately!
A story set as indigenous people are trying to keep their land and are struggling as they are caught between traditional beliefs and Christianity. All of Erdrich's books are interesting and thought-provoking.
The book precedes Love Medicine, so it adds a lot more fullness to the family saga. It also explains some puzzling family relationships. There are tears and laughter, as in all Erdrich's books: loss of the Indian ancestral land is especially offset by the fun story twists and laughter that old Nanapush brings in. Very intense juxtaposition of old indian beliefs and christianity. Great read.