Love Medicine [Anglais] [Broché]

Louise Erdich, the author, is of German and Chippewa descent. The story is about the Chippewa (aka Ojibwa) living on a fictional reservation in North Dakota and how one person's death affects so many lives. Lke a "dark twisting river - the bed is deep and narrow" as it meanders through the land and time.

The first chapter describes June Kashpaw, Chippewa mother and wife, off the Reservation walking down the boom-town of Williston, North Dakota, thinking of taking a bus home to the reservation. She meets a man at a bar, has a brief liaison, and then freezes to death walking home in a snow storm. The stories following cascade and are held together by her death, how her children, husband (Gordie Kashpaw), and others on the reservation are touched by the murder.

The story meanders in a unstructured way through short stories - interconnected - but could easily stand on their own. There are 18 Chapters in the expanded version. Characters from Chippewa and Mixed Blood families talk in mostly first person and connected through relatives or lovers over decades. Each chapter starts with a new character telling a piece of the interconnected story from their viewpoint. It takes awhile to understand which character is talking. The timeline is choppy and hops back and forth from the 1930's to the 1980's. It would have been good to have a "family tree" at the end of the book to see more clearly the interrelationships. However, I feel guilty saying that as the Chippewa don't believe in human measurement - of numbers, time, inches, feet, or quantification - as they are "all just plays for cutting nature down to size." The Chippewa feel the "grand scheme of nature is not ours to measure." The book has many ways to be interpreted and each reader has

There is a raw reality with the unique and eccentric tales of the families (Lammartines, Kashpaws, Lazarres and Morriseys). The reader pieces the complicated puzzle together. We realize that the basics of life are what we all need and want, territory, religion, culture, love, truth, forgiveness, family which are demonstrated in the tales - like the river of life mentioned in the book.

The title "Love Medicine" relates to the Chippewa belief that that geese mate for life - and if a couple eats their hearts, it will cure infidelity.

Louise Erdrich reveals and defends the culture as it clings to the past and clashes with the White Man's overwhelming culture, politics and laws. Like a fabric the weave of interconnectedness's of the tribe is key.

Love Medicine is an unusual book, a challenge to understand, but rewarding as a cultural eye-opener.

The dilemma of the colonized in search for an identity which is neither static and backward-facing, nor imposed by the worldview of the colonizer is the subject of Erdrich's Love Medicine. Her winding, free-flowing storyline mirrors her endorsement of the fluidity of family connections, one of the most significant difference between Euro-American and Ojibwa cultures. Defying the strictures of the novel, the anthology, or any other established writing style, Erdrich refuses to abide by the rules of Western traditions of fiction. A slap in the face to any notions of the superiority of such traditions, Erdrich's tales demand attention by being undeniably honest, and evoking empathy for even those characters who represent everything which is in opposition to Western culture, and zeroing in on the painful truths of America's imperialist history without subjecting the reader to a history lesson. One of the most important books on the Native American experience I've ever encountered.

It just does not seem fair that someone could claim this work as her first novel. It is so intricately woven, and the multiple narratives are so expertly spoken, that I find it very difficult to believe it came from a novice.
At this point, I have read approximately 15 Native American works/novels, including Momaday, Silko, Welch, Dorris, Alexie and Sa--and I think I must say that Erdrich's "Love Medicine" tops them all. It is well thought out...almost too well thought out.
It is funny and disturbing intermittently, but most of all, it is about families, rivals, and life. It is about connections.
Forget the fact that it is a "Native American Novel" and concern yourself only with the fact that it is one of the most engaging stories in contemporary fiction.
Warning: one must be on one's toes while reading this! Snooze for two paragraphs and you may be sorry. Much like Toni Morrison, Louise Erdrich is a very deliberate writer...everything is written for a reason and you had best believe that every little detail is connected to something. This is a book you will insist upon reading at least twice.
P.S. Beware! There are two different versions of this novel out there...one of which is missing four valuable chapters. Before buying or borrowing, make sure your table of contents has "The Island," "Resurrection," "The Tomahawk Factory," and "Lyman's Luck." -Having read the more complete version of "Love Medicine," I absolutely cannot fathom doing without these four chapters. Avoid depriving yourself if possible.