Rating: 
Summary: Neutral
Review: 3 stars; the prose saved the book from getting only 1. Is there any way for literature written by women to leave the weak, self-absorbed stage and move into something "stronger"...a little more forward-looking, please? Just reinforcing a stereotype. Even when they seem strong, they're still weak because their entire lives seem to hinge on how they are loved and who will love them. Erdrich is so prolific so I couldn't put the book down, even though the characters annoyed me.
Rating:
Summary: Neutral
Review: 3 stars; the prose saved the book from getting only 1. Is there any way for literature written by women to leave the weak, self-absorbed stage and move into something "stronger"...a little more forward-looking, please? Just reinforcing a stereotype. Even when they seem strong, they're still weak because their entire lives seem to hinge on how they are loved and who will love them. Erdrich is so prolific so I couldn't put the book down, even though the characters annoyed me.
Rating: 
Summary: Prose as cool and constant as rain.
Review: Effortlessly Erdrich weaves a web of words that quickly unravels the skeen of the characters lives. We are told where they've been, but where they are and where they are going is as swirling and directionless as the snow in a squall. And so much of the characters lives are indeed revealed during a snowbound incident. There they must come to grips with the truths in their lives and what it means to love, lose, and love again. I highly recommend this novel. Of all Erdrich's work it most fully encompasses what it FEELS like to be stumbling through love and life.
Rating: 
Summary: Another good book to read
Review: Excellent book, jumps around a bit, but really wonderful.
Rating:
Summary: Sorry to say that I had difficulty with this book.
Review: Having loved The Beet Queen, I really wanted to like this book. However, it didn't do the trick--too long and drawn out.
Rating:
Summary: A blizzard in all of us
Review: Having read some of Erdrich's novels, including Love Medicine or The Beet Queen, I was expecting an 'Indianesque' novel again. However, the only thing that reminded me of the other novels was her way of emphasizing the importance of stories, that is 'Tales of Burning Love' for our lives. In this case it is the tales that literally help the women survive. Let me start at the beginning:
We get to know Jack Mauser who, yes, is a womanizer, but (we have to admit) a very fascinating and challenging persona. At least this comes to show why five women were once married to him. Now they get together at his burial (only to find out at the end that he isn't dead after all) and get stuck in a blizzard. Their only way of surving the snowstorm is by each of the respective women telling her story with Jack. What grabs the reader is that each of the women has an individual voice which shows in her way of telling the story. Although Jack is the centre of the stories, he's also at the margin, because the stories are about themselves, too. Somehow the telling revives and warms them and at the same time soothes the wounds Jack has caused. Finally they are rescued and resume their lives with renewed strength. Once again Erdrich succeeded in creating such an intense atmosphere that I had problems putting the book down. I hope she will forever go on telling us tales...
Rating:
Summary: Too many brushes with death
Review: How many times can the characters almost freeze to death? This story still has Erdich's excellenct characterizations, but the storyline is full of too many people and too much cold. I got tired of the Jack [messing] up everything over and over. Read The Beet Queen if you want a good book by her. Skip this one.
Rating:
Summary: Too many brushes with death
Review: How many times can the characters almost freeze to death? This story still has Erdich's excellenct characterizations, but the storyline is full of too many people and too much cold. I got tired of the Jack [messing] up everything over and over. Read The Beet Queen if you want a good book by her. Skip this one.
Rating:
Summary: Plot hole question for a superb book
Review: I just finished this book and I have a question. If we are to believe the ending of _Bingo Palace_, Gerry Nanapush, after he and Lipsha have stolen a car with Jack Mauser Jr. in it, run into the ghost of June Morrisey and Gerry leaves this world to join her in the next.This time frame is revisited in _Tales_ and we see that Gerry has somehow escaped the snowbound car and gone to see Dot, joins the 4 wives as the hitchhiker in the back of their snowbound vehicle, then leaves and visits his daughter before dissapearing. How is this possible? How he could he take off to another world with June (presumably as some kind of spirit entity), and at the sasme time come visit Dot as a very alive human? It could be explained if the Gerry that vistied Dot was a spirit, but the book makes it very clear he's not. He has sex with Dot, and even at the end of his visit with his daughter asks her where the gascan for the snowmobile is so he can escape, something a spirit would not need to do. As far as the book itself, I found it to be another example of Erdrich's superb talent, full of poetic and spirtual images and well drawn, compelling characters. I thought it did drag a bit during the part where the 4 wives were stranded, especially during Marlis's story. Overall I'd highly reccomend it. It would help to read _Love Medicine_, _Tracks_, and _Bingo Palace_ first, in that order.
Rating:
Summary: Plot hole question for a superb book
Review: I just finished this book and I have a question. If we are to believe the ending of _Bingo Palace_, Gerry Nanapush, after he and Lipsha have stolen a car with Jack Mauser Jr. in it, run into the ghost of June Morrisey and Gerry leaves this world to join her in the next. This time frame is revisited in _Tales_ and we see that Gerry has somehow escaped the snowbound car and gone to see Dot, joins the 4 wives as the hitchhiker in the back of their snowbound vehicle, then leaves and visits his daughter before dissapearing. How is this possible? How he could he take off to another world with June (presumably as some kind of spirit entity), and at the sasme time come visit Dot as a very alive human? It could be explained if the Gerry that vistied Dot was a spirit, but the book makes it very clear he's not. He has sex with Dot, and even at the end of his visit with his daughter asks her where the gascan for the snowmobile is so he can escape, something a spirit would not need to do. As far as the book itself, I found it to be another example of Erdrich's superb talent, full of poetic and spirtual images and well drawn, compelling characters. I thought it did drag a bit during the part where the 4 wives were stranded, especially during Marlis's story. Overall I'd highly reccomend it. It would help to read _Love Medicine_, _Tracks_, and _Bingo Palace_ first, in that order.
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