Rating: - Erdrich has outdone even herself
I have always been a huge fan of Louise Erdrich, ever since she started out as a "local author" in my hometown area. Now I live in Europe and enjoy her books about where I grew up. This book is one of the best books I have ever read, hands down, by any author, and I am a very avid reader. She deftly manages several intertwining story lines, with well-developed characters and time settings - all without losing the reader; and for those who are paying attention it is a most satisfying and pleasurable read. Well done, Louise Erdrich, this book deserves a huge prize!

---

Rating: - Not what I was told this book was going to be
This seemed to be a series of short, disjointed stories, rather than an easy to follow novel. Too many characters to keep track of. Interesting Native American history though.

---

Rating: - Magnificent
I consider Louise Erdrich the finest writer there is. Having read all of her novels, I seem to imagine that she cannot improve on her earliest works. My relationship with "Love Medicine" is so strong that I am drawn to stroke the binding to stay connected with it. Here, in The Plague of Doves, she introduces us to another array of astonishing characters, none with the familiar names her readers have loved and cherished over the years. This time, I pulled out my atlas, convinced these towns must exist! I only have to hear the name of North Dakota to conjure up her characters. Even looking at the atlas and seeing these missing towns, I imagine they're still there if you just hold the maps the right way and look hard enough. I encourage all potential readers to go back and start at the beginning--meet the Kashpaws, the Nanapushs, the Morrisseys--or just start here and begin the journey in Pluto. As always, Louise Erdrich weaves a spectacular tapestry of love, revenge, loss, hope, and miracles. I simply loved this book!

---

Rating: - The Ways We Need Each Other
The Plague of Doves is a surprising novel, one that's made up of interconnected short stories with many different narrators that reveal hidden, important connections over several generations. The book will appeal most to those who love to listen to old stories . . . and the old people who tell them.

Pluto, North Dakota forms the center of interactions among Native Americans and the eager dreamers who want to build a better life on the plains. The book moves back to the first expedition where the theme of "we need each other is established." You'll find out that early cooperation soon turned to hatred and violence, after the white settlers decide that a family was murdered by the Native Americans who found the victims. Alliances and attractions rapidly splinter as intermarriage follows the violence.

While many might think that small-town North Dakota has to be pretty boring, Ms. Erdrich chooses to endow her characters with extreme quirks and strong appetites that lead them to places where you've probably never thought about going. Before you are down, you'll find your jaw dropping at least a few times when secrets are revealed and conflicts resolved in unexpected ways.

Ultimately, the book has another broad theme: Can we really know what happened in the past? Ms. Erdrich displays a world in which perspectives are extremely fragmented, people don't tell the truth, stories are embellished, and secrets are jealously guarded.

Look, too, for the theme of whether physical things matter in the long run.

I felt that Ms. Erdrich went too far in being sure that our jaws drop. To me, she wrote a story that seems beyond implausible so that I was often watching her write rather than feeling immersed in the story.

---

Rating: - Disjointed, but still Pretty Good
It's been some years since I last read a book by Louise Erdrich. She is a fine writer, and despite my hiatus, Plague felt comfortably familiar. Erdrich is sort of a Native American Toni Morrison. Well-turned phrases, interesting and touching vignettes, and a touch of comedy keep me coming back for more, but I sometimes feel that there is a layer to her narratives which is just outside my reach (I feel that way with Toni Morrison too; maybe I'm not clever enough to be reading these books). The stories were somewhat disjointed, reflecting the nature of their previous incarnations in literary-style magazines.