Challenging Elements of "The Round House"

I usually focus my blog post on plot development and character, as well as occasionally connections.  Today, however, I thought I would focus on what makes The Round House by Louise Erdrich a difficult text to engage with.  And just because it's difficult doesn't mean I dislike it.  It just means that it has taken me more time to read it, as you can't just breeze through it.  I constantly find myself going back and rereading parts because I may have missed a slight detail that turns out to be important later.  So if you read my last blog post and were intrigued by the plot, make sure to read this one too so you are aware of why I am officially labeling this a challenging text:

1. The dialogue is written without quotation marks and a lot of times without dialogue tags ('He said' or 'she shouted').  And there is a lot of dialogue.  A LOT.  There could be pages of conversation, and it is really difficult to follow along with who is saying what.  Dialogue tags really would have benefited me as a reader.  But, I also understand why the author chose not to include them.  Keeping the conversation as is allows her character''s thoughts and natural speed of conversation to play out in the story.  On a positive, the author does indent and start a new paragraph when the speakers change so that helps (although sometimes it is the same character still talking, just in a new paragraph).
2. The cultural customs of Native Americans are something I am not familiar with as a reader.  Erdrich does a nice job explaining them without losing the flow of the story.  But still, there were quite a few unfamiliar terms of Native American places and ceremonies that I had not heard of before.  (I think this is actually a good thing as a reader, as students and adults alike should read about new experiences).
3. There are a lot of characters.  Joe and his immediate family are the main characters, but this boy knows a lot of people!  He is constantly with different friends or acquaintances (and once even the man accused of raping his mother) and that makes it hard to follow who is who, who is "good", who is "bad", etc. 

Despite this book being a  more though-provoking read, I still really, really like it.  Erdrich wraps a lot of good lessons and sound advice into the story, and here are a few lines I clipped on my Kindle while reading:

"I stood there in the shadowed doorway thinking with my tears.  Yes, tears can be thoughts, why not? (Erdrich 60)" -I love the personification of thinking with tears.  And even though tears can't really think per se, they certainly are an instant reflection of our thoughts and emotions.

"I stayed with him.  They couldn't make me leave him.  I knew what happened if you let a parent get too far away" (Erdrich 244).  -This just made me connect to Joe, the narrator, even more.  It shows he loves his dad and doesn't want to lose his dad like he's lost his mom.  

"We are never so poor that we cannot bless another human, are we?  So it is that every evil, whether moral or material, results in good.  You'll see."  -I love the idea that we can bless and give to everyone, no matter how rich or poor we are in money.  Even if you don't have money to give, you can still give. Love this reminder!  

Hopefully you can see from the above what I mean when I describe this book as a challenging, yet rewarding read.  I am almost finished…about 10% to go.  And a very long waiting list of books on my Kindle...