The Sentence: A Novel

Louise Erdrich is one of if not my favorite writer. That being said, let me tell you that this book was a five-star read and will definitely be on the list of my favorite books of 2022.In this novel we follow Tookie, an indigenous woman who makes a dumb mistake and ends up going to prison. She is sentenced to 60 years. Her crime involves a dead body and transporting it across state lines but we get the feel right off the bat that Tookie is not a criminal, she is not a bad person, she was simply naive and was trying to help a friend.Everybody seems shocked by her crime and sentencing, only Tookie does not seem surprised. “I was on the wrong side of the statistics. Native Americans are the most oversentenced people currently imprisoned”. While in prison, Tookie reads as much as she can. Books become her salvation.But because of her tribe’s defense lawyer, her sentence is commuted and she is released from prison. Tookie then starts working at a local bookstore in Minneapolis, whose owner is a woman named Louise, and tries to rebuild her life. Erdrich lives in Minneapolis and also owns a bookstore much like the one in this novel.One of the customers of the bookstore is a white woman, who claims Native heritage, named Flora. But Flora suddenly passes away and her ghost refuses to leave the bookstore. That sort of sets off the ghost story in the book. But The Sentence is much more than just about an Indigenous woman or a haunted bookstore. It reflectson the city’s upheaval in 2020 amid the pandemic and the police killing of George Floyd.I loved how Erdrich portrayed the feeling of confusion at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, how scary it was when nobody knew exactly how it was transmitted, how it would change our lives. And in the middle of the pandemic, her city — and the whole country — is hammered by the terrible death of Jorge Floyd by the police, and with the Black Lives Matter protests that erupted everywhere.Will these events hunt us just like Flora haunted Tookie at the bookstore? This story takes you to so many unexpected places, I absolutely adored it. I am certain Louise Erdrich can write about everything under the sun. Her prose is absurdly beautiful. I also loved the book recommendations throughout the book and the list of books she provides at the end of the story.The Sentence has a little bit of everything: real issues, ghost story, mystery, a bookstore and book lovers. It is also on the longlist of the 2022 Women’s Prize for Fiction. I hope it wins. I highly recommend this book.

Another great book which imparts some Native lore and insights into their struggles. Mostly this book is a tribute to books. The main character works in a bookstore, which happens to be the real bookstore owned by the author. Many books are mentioned throughout the story and a list of books is at the end.The bookstore is haunted by the ghost of one of the regular patrons after she dies. The story is about that haunting, but also how we are haunted by things done to us and things we did. How do we deal with pain and grief and guilt and move forward?The story gets a bit scattered. It covers events during Covid and the Minneapolis riots after the killing of George Floyd. But overall it’s a good read.

I have read most of Louise Erdrich's books, and am an unabashed fan. The Sentence is right up there with her best, with a colorful and unique cast of characters, insight and sensitivity into indigenous culture and history, and a spellbinding set of interwoven stories revolving around central character Tookie. There are also autobiographical aspects of this book, as Tookie works in a bookstore specializing in an indigenous bookstore owned by a woman named Louise. Unlike most of Erdrich's books, this one is set firmly in the present, in the midst of George Floyd's murder and the ensuing riots, and the covid pandemic: how to keep the bookstore open, and to keep employees and customers safe, how to protect your household yet support your people and values. Meanwhile, the bookstore becomes haunted by a former customer who won't stay dead, and who threatens Tookie. Woven in is Tookie's complicated love story and history with her husband, Pollux, a retired policeman who arrested Tookie years earlier, resulting in a sentence that changed her life. I could not put down this book, and could relate to many of the characters in spite of our very different backgrounds and lives. This, perhaps, is Erdrich's genius - stories and characters that so many of us can relate to, learn from, and care about. I recommend this book very highly, and hope it becomes required reading for high school and college classes. A masterwork.

Entrega rápida, ainda não terminei de ler o livro mas estou adorando.

I always enjoy reading books by this author. Although this was not my favourite, it was still a good read with great characters.

Brilliantly written, well constructed with wonderful characters. I was surprised and gripped by this book by an American Indigenous writer suffused with love of her heritage. It is also very funny and sharp and also strange and haunting! Highly recommend.

Perfect

A must read, the author captures every bit of pandemic, ghost in pandemic and the struggles of daily life in the USA as a colored person. A must read for people who love to read new novels in our time!