Literary Fiction · TenseIn 1988, a thirteen-year-old on a North Dakota reservation investigates the attack on his mother
The Round House
After his mother is attacked, a thirteen-year-old tries to find out who did it
In 1988, on an Ojibwe reservation in North Dakota, thirteen-year-old Joe Coutts lives with his father Bazil, a tribal judge, and his mother Geraldine. Geraldine is attacked and is silent about it afterward. Joe and his friends begin to investigate, and the round house, a place on the reservation, becomes part of their search. A suspect named Linden Lark brings a hard question of jurisdiction, because of where the crime happened and who he is.
More about this book
Who
Joe Coutts, thirteen, his father Bazil, a tribal judge, and his mother Geraldine.
World
An Ojibwe reservation in North Dakota in 1988.
What makes it different
The story turns on a real legal problem, who has the authority to prosecute a crime. It is the middle book of Erdrich's justice trilogy, between The Plague of Doves and LaRose.
Feel
Tense and sad, with a coming-of-age thread. It won the 2012 National Book Award for Fiction.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Behind the book
Erdrich wrote the book while she was being treated for cancer. It is set in a fictional community that she has said was inspired by the work of William Faulkner.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- The Round HouseWikipedia