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Rating: 
Summary: Off The Beaten Path
Review: From the mesmerizing first chapter I was hooked. This is an adventure that makes you want to turn the pages quickly. I've noted that others have characterized this book as "bland," yet, isn't that the point? To truly feel the emotional palate of the characters, there can't be a big surprise at every corner. If you finish this book feeling confused, depressed, and a little hungry for her next book, then this author has done her job. If you like "cookie cutter" stories, then this book isn't for you.
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Summary: Hands down, the worst book I ever read
Review: I picked up this book at a second hand store. It had a dedication in the inside cover. It had been a gift for Mother's Day, and it read: "To the Queen of the house, because she can't be Beet!". Erdrich has the special touch to make surreal situations so very believable. I love the parallel drawn with the plane rides, how in one case it is a beautiful woman running away from responsibility, and on the other it is a not-so-graceful woman running away from scorn. The birthday party scene is one of the most hilarious that come to mind, with the cake spinning out of control and Mary still singing Happy Birthday to You, while the guests are showered in frosting. And Mary's fall in the ice and the revered imprint of her face... How surreal can this book get?!?! In my opinion, it makes sense to read this book first, followed by Love Medicine (93), followed by Tracks (89). I first learned of Erdrich in some anthology, where i read her short story Fleur (now, that's a scary character, who appears in all three books!)
Rating:
Summary: Many Voices, Many Stories - One Powerful Novel
Review: Louise Erdrich once said that her novels fell "together like a quilt, a crazy quilt,", and The Beet Queen is no exception. The author has constructed a powerful novel out of many voices and individual stories. The novel begins in 1932, with young Mary and Karl Adare getting off a train in Argus, North Dakota by themselves. A moment of fear sends Karl running back to the train, and Mary in the other direction, towards her aunt's house. This division between them sends them on different paths. Mary grows up as the despised cousin of lovely Sita, the foster daughter of Pete and Fritzie who own a butcher shop. Karl is eventually sent back to Minnesota to grow up in a Catholic children's home. The people who know them - Sita, Celestine, the Chamber of Commerce president Wallace Pfef, and finally Dot, the Beet Queen of the title - add their voices to weave a story that goes beyond Karl and Mary to include the entire town of Argus. Spanning forty years, the novel encompasses changes not only within the characters but in the town and the times in general.
Erdrich's characterizations are complex and heartfelt, especially since the multiple points-of-view allow us to see the characters from both inside and out. When characters describe the same incident from different perspectives, we get a deep understanding of what is at stake for each.
The Beet Queen is one of Erdrich's finest novels. Fans of Erdrich's will recognize some of the characters that appeared in the earlier Love Medicine and in her later books, but you don't need to be familiar with the author's work to become engrossed in this one. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: a bit of nothingness
Review: Mary and Karl are suddenly orphaned when their mother takes a ride in a small airplane at a show which flies off into the distance. With limited options they decide to go to their Aunt's in Argus. However as the train they arrived on begins to leave, Karl jumps on and disappears for 20 years. From there on it gets worse. There are a lot of selfish people in this book that kick the people that they need the most. I didn't relate to anyone or any of their motives, they all seemed like cardboard cut outs stuck in unfamiliar situations. I think this book was summed up when a fellow worker asked me what the book was about. I was up to page 300 of 340 pages and all l could reply was "Nothing much."
Rating: 
Summary: A Brilliant Portrait Of Agression, Self-Destruction & Love!
Review: On a cold spring morning in 1932, fourteen-year old Karl Adare and his eleven-year-old sister, Mary, arrive by freight train in Argus, North Dakota. Abandoned by their mother, they have come to look for their mother's sister, Aunt Fritzie, who runs the House of Meats, a butcher shop, with her husband. The two Adares lose each other. Karl is frightened by a dog and runs back to the boxcar, and Mary runs the other way, toward town. And so begins the forty year saga of a family, and a community. Through the years the family holds together through the tenacity of relationships, in a fierce and passionate drama, filled with Erdrich's dark humor. Changes sweep across their lives - birth, death, madness. Change also comes in the form of a growing sugar beet industry. Ms. Erdrich story chronicles Mary's life, as she puts down roots in Argus. She also keeps track of the tragic and sensitive dreamer, Karl, on his endless road journeys. He seem to compulsively flee emotional ties, and yet returns to Argus, again and again. At one point Karl says, "I give nothing, take nothing, mean nothing, hold nothing." He struggles with connection - with the past, and with his family and community. Mary's astounding dreams and fantasies also play an incredible and surreal role in the novel. Themes of parenting and abandonment, jealousy, sexual obsession, and great love play out with passion in Ms. Erdrich's complex and believable characters, as does her portrayal of people's aggression and the self-destructive side of human nature. Her narrative is written with beauty, clarity and pure magic. This is not an easy book to read, nor is it always pleasant. It is, however, well worth the effort. Like many of her characters, Ms. Erdrich has a foot in two worlds. She grew up in Wahpeton, North Dakota, near the Bureau of Indian Affairs school where both her mother, of French-Ojibwe descent, and her father, of German descent, taught. She writes movingly about Native Americans "whose nobility resides in their ability to make their lives work."
Rating:
Summary: Confusing, yet interesting
Review: So many things happen to the characters (which are about twelve or so of them), it's hard to keep track and think back of who relates to whom. The beginning is exciting because so many things happen, but then near the end, it gets boring because so many outragous things are happening and they do not become believeable or shocking anymore (like Sita dying in her garden and Russell dying on the float in the parade). It becomes so depressing at the end how everyone is sick, dying, dependent or crazy. I do not understand the deep symbolism in this book and sometimes I couldn't even tell if something was really happening or the writer was trying to trick me. It's ok, nothing spectacular, interesting read.
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Summary: good at bleakness
Review: This novel is a study in emptiness, maladjustment, and painful fate. With their twisted sexuality and homeliness, the characters are vivid and realistic. But I just couldn't resist saying, "c'mon, let's grow a little, let's expand beyond the deck of cards you think you have." Yes, Erdich is a talented writer who sees deeply. It is all just so hopeless, those traps that the characters build for themselves and accept. Serious art, yes, but sheesh! There is rarely a light moment in the whole book. ....
Rating:
Summary: a mixed up story
Review: This story is mixed up - but it holds true. Erdrich includes a lot of symbolism in her writing and does an excellent job of changing the voice with each of the different characters. True there are many loose ends and you don't know what happens - but that is true of life as well. Read it and enjoy it - I have read Love Medicine also and some of the characters are continued here. There are two follow on books in Tracks and Bingo Palace.
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