- Paperback: 400 pages
- Publisher: Harper Perennial (Dec 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0061847852
- ISBN-13: 978-0061847851
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
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Product Description
Review
'A perfect – and perfectly wonderful – novel' Anne Tyler
'Violent, passionate, surprising… The Beet Queen imparts its freshness of vision like an electric shock.' Angela Carter
'The range of her sympathy is astonishing… Erdrich shares with Faulkner the gift of transcending the mundane.' Paul Bailey, Observer
'She is a writer of formidable strength and imagination, and she presents the fruits of both in a prose of flexible, haunting beauty.' Bernard Levin, Sunday Times
'A novel rich in movement, beauty, event. Her prose spins and sparkles, and dances right on the heart.' Los Angeles Times
'A remarkable and luminous novel' New York Times
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.Product Description
A tale of sexual obsession, jealousy and unstinting love, over 40 years, starting in 1932 when a mother abandons her daughter and her two brothers at a circus by flying off with an aviator. Louise Erdrich has written "Jacklight", a volume of poetry and an award-winning novel "Love Medicine".
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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So that's how I came to Argus. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
So that's how I came to Argus. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I really enjoy Louise Erdrich novels. There’s something about the way she can take an ordinary task such as peeling potatoes and turn it into something which sounds beautiful and moving that I really love.
I find myself being swept along in waves of poetic language when I read her books but she also portrays real people with real problems and worries.
In this book we follow the lives of Mary and Karl Adare, Celestine, Sita, Wallace and of course the Beet Queen herself – Dot. Louise Erdrich tells a series of stories from a series of points of view; this allows the reader to feel as though they know all the characters intimately and to understand what motivates some of them (although not all, Karl for example always remains somewhat of a mystery to me).
We see Celestine, Mary and Sita growing up and becoming women, we see them facing the hard task of life itself - making money, attracting men, having families, breaking up…And their lives, although nothing dramatic really happens in them, feel so very interesting to the reader. The reader wants all the characters to succeed and do well in life, but of course that would not be realistic and at the end of the book not all the characters are content.
It’s not all doom and gloom though, there are moments of humour and uplifting times too. A wonderful read and one I whole heartedly recommend.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Beet Queen is one of those works of literature that pulls you deeply into the mind of its characters. It leaves you with the sense of knowing each of the characters very well, but also is intriguing if you choose to examine the characters' motivations. If you do examine these aspects, the book is definitely rewarding although Karl is hard to understand, which Erdrich supposedly leaves for the readers to decide on their opinion of him. He stands out as a bizarre male character and reminds you mostly of Holden Caulfield. Although to give credit to Holden, Karl is a lot more idiotic and unfeeling. The multiple views Erdrich employs does well to portray the intense individuality of the characters (particularly with Sita and Mary) and shows the roles that they have, assume and perhaps have difficulty rejecting within their family and the community.
The Native American Indian perspective that Erdrich provides is refreshing and absorbing when thought of in respect to dominant American literature. The novel can be read quickly or over a longer period of time, due to the chapters. The former method is recommended so you don't lose the sense of rhythm Erdrich so brilliantly creates. If you're interested in novels examining family relations in a similarly witty manner, Anne Tyler's Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant is also recommended.
The Native American Indian perspective that Erdrich provides is refreshing and absorbing when thought of in respect to dominant American literature. The novel can be read quickly or over a longer period of time, due to the chapters. The former method is recommended so you don't lose the sense of rhythm Erdrich so brilliantly creates. If you're interested in novels examining family relations in a similarly witty manner, Anne Tyler's Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant is also recommended.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I read this enthralling novel when I was fourteen, and was gripped from page one by the beautiful style used by Louise Erdrich. Over the years, I have re-read "The Beet Queen", and each time I get more and more out of it. Firstly, it is a truly original tale about real people who are remarkable in their own "normality". The characters are so alive, so real. . .I particularly related to Celestine. Erdrich is an exciting and inimitable writer with a wonderful style of her very own.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
good at bleakness
This novel is a study in emptiness, maladjustment, and painful fate. With their twisted sexuality and homeliness, the characters are vivid and realistic. Read more
Published 10 months ago by rob crawford
i love this book so was great to get it so quickly
thank you very much, this is one of my favourite books and now I own a copy. Great
Published on 11 July 2009 by C. Ostrer
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