Rating: 
Summary: A fascinating Look at a Culture in Crisis
Review: "Tracks" of Fleur and through her the end of a way of life for a Native American tribe in the early 20th century. Her story and the tribes story is told through the eyes of two people, Nanapush an elder who is sympathetic to Fleur and the Native American lifestyle and through Pauline a woman twisted with a sort of love/hate obsession with Fleur and a repulsion of her own heritage.Nanapush tells the story to his 'granddaughter' Lilly, Fleur's child. He does this to explain her incomprehensible mother who seems to have abandoned her for no reason as well as a way to explain the politics of the tribe. He wants to save Lily from what he sees as an unsuitable marriage and reunite her with her mother and fully with her Native American heritage. Pauline, narrates to who knows what or who or for what purpose. Her madness is captivating and is a manifestation of the sickness, literally and figuratively, that the alien (white) culture brings to the Native American people. At the same time this is a story about women. Fleur, is an incomprehensible woman who breaks the rules of what it is to be an Indian woman and is feared and respected as a consequence of her actions. Her beauty and fierceness make her a force of nature. Pauline is a woman who is treated without worth as a woman. It is this, and her soul sickening envy, I believe, that drives her madness. Margaret, Lily's grandmother represents the traditional strong Native American woman I believe, and while her methods for survival are of the Mac tuck variety she ends up surviving and living the best of all three of the woman. The book covers 12 years and is a lyrical look at a culture's struggle to survive.
Rating:
Summary: New Perspective
Review: A general look at American history between 1910 and 1920 will mostly focus on America's involvement in World War I. In Erdrich's work that is placed in this time period, the focus is on another American event: the displacement of Indians from their land. The tale is carefully crafted and the magical realism allows the reader to feel like a part of the story - like he or she is taking part in it. If you want a quick read, or a really thoughtful read, this book provides both.
Rating:
Summary: New Perspective
Review: A general look at American history between 1910 and 1920 will mostly focus on America's involvement in World War I. In Erdrich's work that is placed in this time period, the focus is on another American event: the displacement of Indians from their land. The tale is carefully crafted and the magical realism allows the reader to feel like a part of the story - like he or she is taking part in it. If you want a quick read, or a really thoughtful read, this book provides both.
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant work
Review: A story of an elusive woman(Fleur Pillager) entangled in the larger event of the Native American peoples' loss of their homeland. Erdrich is masterful in her ability to express both Fleur's human and mystical qualities through the voices of two narrators, each revealing complex lives and relationships of their own. A perspective is presented so that the new white order, who wield "this method of leading others with a pen and piece of paper", becomes a foreign way of thought(though it is of course our modern Western way), which consumes the Native American culture as fast as it wipes the trees from its landscape.
Rating:
Summary: TRACKS is a page-turner. Hard to put down!
Review: After reading several different Native American authors, I finally had the privilege of reading Louise Erdrich. TRACKS captured my imagination as I listened to Nanapush and Pauline tell their stories. Erdrich brilliantly has the two narrators cast doubt upon each other's tales- a tactic which makes the book all the more enthralling to read. Pauline's zealous quest for sainthood, filled with sacrifices that border on ridiculousness, contrasts with Fleur's relationship to nature, embodied in the forest and the lake creature, Misshepeshu. Erdrich's characters endear themselves to the readers with their first-person revelations, their bawdy senses of humor, and their uncanny strength. The sexual banter between Margaret and Nanapush brings the characters to thriving, realistic life. TRACKS presents these characters against the backdrop of a dwindling forest, which government agents consume piece by piece, selling to American logging companies. As Fleur and Nanapush's homeland disappears, their struggle to control their own future becomes present and touching. Each of the characters reaches out in a different way to attempt to determine their future in some way. TRACKS deserves several reads, and Louise Erdrichs deserves high praise for an incredible and entertaining work.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: Great book-- I don't see why a couple of other respondents said this book is lifeless, etc. The plot is excellent, and the dual narration adds to suspense. Certainly worth reading, and a must if you are into Native American literature.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting if you can handle it
Review: I am reading this book right now, in my English class, and I must say that certain parts of it are interesting and moving. Many parts of it are difficult to understand, however. When I started reading it, the double narrations confused me, THANK GOD FOR CLASS DISCUSSIONS! If you are into deep and sometimes confusing plot and meanings, then be my guest, but if you are into more obvious, fast moving books like me, then don't try. The hidden meanings that appear are hard to catch unless you read very carefully, and, speaking from experience, it can be hard for a fast-action reader like me to figure them out.
Rating:
Summary: pretty interesing
Review: I am supposed to write a paper on it. At first I was confused who was the narrator=well, we had two;-). Sometimes the language and discription seemed unusual, so I did not like it, but overall, the book was cool and sometimes even funny.
Rating: 
Summary: WARNING: BAD BOOK!
Review: I don't think I've ever been so disappointed in a piece of "literature" before. I really couldn't believe the fact that I had no connection with these bizarre series of events or any of the characters. Not only that, but I didn't just start counting pages, I started counting paragraphs, and then sentences and then words. If I didn't have to read this book for an English class I think I would've ripped all the pages out and then burned it, okay, maybe not something so dramatic.
I guess now that I've given my initial review of the book, I'd like to explain myself.
First of all, I went into reading this book expecting something great. Perhaps this is one of the reasons as to why I was so dissatisfied with its content.
For the first time, in a long time, I was given something besides African American and Hispanic/Latino literature for a multi-ethnic literature class. Going into this book I was all excited that we were going to discuss something different in class. I was happy to be learning something about a culture that I haven't been that exposed to.
Unfortunately, this book was not the book I was looking for.
The book had two narrators and they would switch off with every other chapter. The first narrator was this older gentleman who had lived a long time and experienced a lot, but may have been slightly senile. His name was Nanapush. The second was a slightly insane, self-hating, hypocritically religious, crazy woman (because I don't think bad words can be said on amazon.com) named Pauline. These two, were able to put together the most deranged story ever, leaving you with a skewed series of events in your mind that really left you with nothing but confused.
One thing that I would say I liked a little bit about the book was that in Nanapush's sections Erdrich was able to slip in some important information about the compromising situations that the Native American people were put through. The book actually starts out with Nanapush describing the "spotted sickness" and the way it was killing off so many of his people. Being one of the stronger men on the reservation he saved a girl named Fleur from the disease. Fleur was this mystical character that had some strange connection with the water, because she was so beautiful that the water monster wanted her. Basically the story was about Fleur. She was beautiful, she was strong, and in some ways powerful.
Pauline would explain her perspective on the way she saw Fleur, but she loved fleur and hated her at the same time. Pauline was jealous of Fleur and angry that the men loved her, but at the same time she loved Fleur because that's what she wanted to be.
Nanapush had kind of turned into an uncle to Fleur ever since he saved her from the sickness and they became part of each other's lives.
All this may seem a bit vague, but it's only because this is what the book leaves you with, bits and pieces of vague stories that are hard to make sense out of.
Rating:
Summary: WARNING: BAD BOOK!
Review: I don't think I've ever been so disappointed in a piece of "literature" before. I really couldn't believe the fact that I had no connection with these bizarre series of events or any of the characters. Not only that, but I didn't just start counting pages, I started counting paragraphs, and then sentences and then words. If I didn't have to read this book for an English class I think I would've ripped all the pages out and then burned it, okay, maybe not something so dramatic.
I guess now that I've given my initial review of the book, I'd like to explain myself.
First of all, I went into reading this book expecting something great. Perhaps this is one of the reasons as to why I was so dissatisfied with its content.
For the first time, in a long time, I was given something besides African American and Hispanic/Latino literature for a multi-ethnic literature class. Going into this book I was all excited that we were going to discuss something different in class. I was happy to be learning something about a culture that I haven't been that exposed to.
Unfortunately, this book was not the book I was looking for.
The book had two narrators and they would switch off with every other chapter. The first narrator was this older gentleman who had lived a long time and experienced a lot, but may have been slightly senile. His name was Nanapush. The second was a slightly insane, self-hating, hypocritically religious, crazy woman (because I don't think bad words can be said on amazon.com) named Pauline. These two, were able to put together the most deranged story ever, leaving you with a skewed series of events in your mind that really left you with nothing but confused.
One thing that I would say I liked a little bit about the book was that in Nanapush's sections Erdrich was able to slip in some important information about the compromising situations that the Native American people were put through. The book actually starts out with Nanapush describing the "spotted sickness" and the way it was killing off so many of his people. Being one of the stronger men on the reservation he saved a girl named Fleur from the disease. Fleur was this mystical character that had some strange connection with the water, because she was so beautiful that the water monster wanted her. Basically the story was about Fleur. She was beautiful, she was strong, and in some ways powerful.
Pauline would explain her perspective on the way she saw Fleur, but she loved fleur and hated her at the same time. Pauline was jealous of Fleur and angry that the men loved her, but at the same time she loved Fleur because that's what she wanted to be.
Nanapush had kind of turned into an uncle to Fleur ever since he saved her from the sickness and they became part of each other's lives.
All this may seem a bit vague, but it's only because this is what the book leaves you with, bits and pieces of vague stories that are hard to make sense out of.
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