The Painted Drum (P.S.)
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Review
‘The author knows how to spin a good yarn…Full of poetic writing and a passionate indignation on behalf of the dispossessed, this novel shows the author at her best.’ The Times
‘Erdrich handles the shift in pace beautifully. The world she portrays is harsh, with death from smallpox or starvation giving way to the oppressions of poverty and alcoholism. But such is the unsentimental poetry of Erdrich’s vision that it becomes a place to almost envy, too.’ Observer
'Resonant, poetic and exact … these visions will remain imprinted on the reader's mind.' Los Angeles Times
'Intricate and beautifully written.' Boston Globe
'With fearlessness and humility, Erdrich has opened herself to possibilities beyond what we merely see – to the dead alive and busy, to the breath of trees and the souls of wolves – and inspires readers to open their hearts to these mysteries as well.' Washington Post
'Spare, perceptive, unsentimental.' New York Times
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.The Times
'Full of poetic writing and a passionate indignation on behalf of
the dispossessed...the author at her best.' --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
the dispossessed...the author at her best.' --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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First Sentence
Leaving the child cemetery with its plain hand-lettered sign and stones carved into the weathered shapes of lambs and angels, I am lost in my thoughts and pause too long where the cemetery road meets the two-lane highway. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Leaving the child cemetery with its plain hand-lettered sign and stones carved into the weathered shapes of lambs and angels, I am lost in my thoughts and pause too long where the cemetery road meets the two-lane highway. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
When Faye Travers, an estate agent in New Hampshire, goes to the home of John Jewett Tatro, she is hoping to find Indian artifacts that can be sold or donated to a museum, since Tatro's grandfather was an Indian agent, and his grandmother was an Ojibwe. When she opens an attic room, she finds a collection of enormous value, including an incredible drum, hollowed out from a single piece of cedar wood and covered by a moose hide. When the drum "speaks" to her, resonating with a single, deep note, she obeys its call and steals it, intending to return it to its rightful owner.
The story of drum takes the reader from New Hampshire to an Ojibwe reservation in Minnesota. Bernard Shaawano, the grandson of the maker of the drum, narrates the history of the drum, and the reader learns about the life of Bernard's grandfather and his wife Anaquot, why he made the drum, who he was memorializing, and how this drum eventually came to New Hampshire. The fascinating process by which the drum was made, the ceremonies and traditional beliefs accompanying it, and the torment of its maker come to life through the traumatic history of the Shaawano family over three generations.
In the final section, Shawnee, a young girl living in a remote area of the reservation, has been babysitting for her younger brother and sister for several bitterly cold days, without enough fuel and no food. Their mother has been sidetracked, drinking in town. As the children find themselves in ever more desperate straits, the drum enters their lives and offers hope.
This "Little Girl Drum" has always been associated children. Bernard's grandfather and his wife, Anaquot, have suffered the terrible loss of a daughter. Faye Travers and her mother, related by blood to another child of Anaquot, have also suffered a terrible loss--the childhood death of Faye's young sister. For Shawnee, not part of either of these families, the drum exerts its power and offers hope.
Written with a homey intimacy and honesty, Erdrich creates characters with real faults and real conflicts, but she is generous with them, never making value judgments and showing instead the circumstances which have made them who they are. Nature intimately affects their lives and is further emphasized through symbols and repeating motifs--a field of orb spiders, a dog which escapes its cruel confines, wolves and their mystical connection with mankind. Always, of course, Erdrich conveys Indian spiritual values, even as she depicts their often sad and limited lives. Tightly organized, with interconnected stories spanning three generations and involving three different families, The Painted Drum is a novel which taps into universal feelings and hopes, even as it depicts some of life's terrible realities. Mary Whipple
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book was chosen for me by someone else (who likes drums!) and I dutifully ploughed through it.
The book is divided into 3 sections; the first I found rather hard going and became a little irritated by the lack of any drum, painted or otherwise and by the mystery surrounding the narrator's younger sister.
However, there were some excellent portraits of very believable characters and some entirely believable (if a tiny bit too neat) tragedy.
The second section was completely different. It is the story of the conception of the painted drum (at last!) and was absolutely fascinating.
It was epic in its scope and tragedy and really gripping.
The third section tied off the story but was rather pale in comparison with the middle section. However, it was still more engaging than the first section.
The author writes well and at no point did I feel like giving up and consigning the book to the charity shop pile. Neither did I feel like reading it again once I'd finished.
If you are a fan of Louise Erdrich's writing, you will (as previous reviewers have indicated) enjoy this.
If you would like a glimpse into native American customs, beliefs and lifestyles of around a century ago, skip to the middle section. You will be engrossed, stunned, horrified and fascinated as I was.
One question - could someone who has read the book please tell me why the narrator in the first section thought her sister had sacrified herself for the narrator?
The book is divided into 3 sections; the first I found rather hard going and became a little irritated by the lack of any drum, painted or otherwise and by the mystery surrounding the narrator's younger sister.
However, there were some excellent portraits of very believable characters and some entirely believable (if a tiny bit too neat) tragedy.
The second section was completely different. It is the story of the conception of the painted drum (at last!) and was absolutely fascinating.
It was epic in its scope and tragedy and really gripping.
The third section tied off the story but was rather pale in comparison with the middle section. However, it was still more engaging than the first section.
The author writes well and at no point did I feel like giving up and consigning the book to the charity shop pile. Neither did I feel like reading it again once I'd finished.
If you are a fan of Louise Erdrich's writing, you will (as previous reviewers have indicated) enjoy this.
If you would like a glimpse into native American customs, beliefs and lifestyles of around a century ago, skip to the middle section. You will be engrossed, stunned, horrified and fascinated as I was.
One question - could someone who has read the book please tell me why the narrator in the first section thought her sister had sacrified herself for the narrator?
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Fab service, thank you, she's one of my favourite authors so its lovely to own this book now.
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