Customer Reviews

The Antelope Wife

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was disappointed in Louise Erdrich's previous novel, *Tales of Burning Love*, which I thought was overly sensationalistic--a bit "Hollywood" for my taste. In *The Antelope Wife*, however, she has returned to an approach that is reminiscent of her first and most triumphant novel, *Love Medicine*. She writes in a style that may be difficult for some readers to accept--no,it's not "obscure" in the sense of a James Joyce novel, but she changes voices, time frames, and situations constantly. The result is a tapestry-like narrative that is uniquely effective, in my view. Erdrich has a way with words that is rare in today's literary world, despite the countless novels that are published annually. Moreover, because of her own Native American heritage, she is able to convey with incredible effectiveness the realities of past and present life and consciousness within those Indian cultures with which she is familiar.

This is a fine work, one that makes me look forward all the more to Louise Erdrich's next book.

With each book, my admiration grows for this writer. Her attention to detail, characterizations, interweaving of mysticism and reality -- and with all, an original dash of humor laced with sadness. As with Burning Tales of Love, she weaves many disparate threads together, creating a narrative blanket that you never want to unwrap from. I've read everything she's written, and in this day when prizes such as the National Book Award mean so much in sales and recognition, it amazes me that her work isn't at least among the finalists.

I have admired Erdrich's writing in the past---"Tracks" and "The Beet Queen"--so I was looking forward to reading another of her novels. I must say I was disappointed here. Though Erdrich, like N. Scott Momaday, has a highly poetical style and her pages are filled with beautiful images (which is certainly a positive characteristic), a novel after all needs to have a strong story line or a point. Beautiful sentences and poetic expressions do not make a story, even if spiced with magical realism, sex, recipes, and colorful beads. As a literary testimony to a section of Native American experience, THE ANTELOPE WIFE has great merit. But as a novel, in the company of all the novels of the world, I felt that in this case, Erdrich tried to stretch out her career and write the next book though her heart was not in it. Perhaps it was a bad time in her life. The novel felt to me as one written by a person "trying to be literary". She writes of the mixed and intertwined fates of all those people of the Anishinabe world---Indians, whites, men, women, strong and weak---like beads on a string. The Indians come out holding the short stick. Within this framework, individuals play out their fates, violence and love intermingling with mystery and mundane existence. The characters somehow do not rise above their initial characterizations. The women are stronger than the men for the most part: they endure while the men often fall into alcohol and despair. The author writes in graceful style, but not much depth. I felt---at the risk of sounding snotty---that THE ANTELOPE WIFE belongs more in the category of `chick-lit' than in `American literature'. I once read part of a novel by Amy Tan, but could not finish for similar reasons. I did read THE ANTELOPE WIFE in its entirety, because Erdrich's writing differs favorably from most other authors', but I grew tired of the soap opera quality of this story.

I finished Antelope Wife 3 days ago and find myself thinking about windigo dogs and an Ojibwa baby nursing Roy. As I miss my turn and screech through another yellow light sweet crumbs melt in my mouth and slide into my gut. I constantly slide in and out of this story. The author is more than grace, more intense than sweet sage and provides a circle for us to travel sweetly within. This story leaves me clammy, sweating with tear-stained eyes and a half-smile on my face.

I must say that I was somewhat dissapointed with this book. I expected more depth from the characters than what they could give. I miss characters like Lipsha, as complex as the stories of which they were a part. As usual, all the characters are tied to one another in a knot which has no beginning or end. Unfortunately, the depth which they lack makes this, as another person commented "hard to follow". Erdrich ties them together for the sake of having them tied; many of the connections among them are forced at best. The big, loose, loopish, way in which the story is written makes this the most authentic piece of Native American Fiction Erdrich has ever written. Had the characters been more developed, it would have been one of her best.

(First of all, it is a NOVEL, not a collection of short stories as is advertised in Amazon.Com.) The Antelope Wife is Louise Erdrich's best novel since Love Medicine. She uses language like paint, creating pictures and moments. Unfortunately, the plot is still hard to follow, and the characters are so similar that you find yourself having to scan backwards to try to remember who's who. Her symbolism in this book include: Men nursing infants, women nursing dogs, beadwork, twins, baked goods (playing the same role that meat played in Beet Queen), plains Indians, urban Indians, and dogs, some eaten. In her non-fiction book The Blue Jay's Dance, Erdrich writes: "I do not like cats, so I am fascinated by their silken ways." As a reader, I do not like Erdrich, so I am fascinated by the words she chooses to put on the page.

This book is beautiful and sad -- intelligent and thoughtful. The author has great empathy for all of her characters -- the good and the bad -- the stable and the disturbed. The twin-ness of the stories and the characters is what achieves this empathy -- it is an exploration, not an apology for the complexities of people. The narrative voices throughout the novel are fraught with a touching and genuine emotion that refrains from becoming sappy. It is difficult to read the woes and ponderings of these characters and to avoid an empathy -- a reading between the lines -- that relate to the author's personal woes. If you wondered, as I did, what effect her personal trials would have on her fiction, this book answers that question better than any interview could. I look forward to her next effort.

The theme of this Erdrich novel is beaded tapestry and how our lives are smilarly woven into a pattern. She also shows the interweaving of past and present, the animal world with the human world, and myth with reality.

Common wisdom says that narrative should almost always be in one voice and that stories should move in a linear progression. Erdrich, as do many of the best Native American writers, shows that this is not necessarily so. Though I did find myself frustrated sometimes trying to follow the connections of past and present, and how different people were related, it became clear in the end that the tale was told in a circle, and eventually it all made sense. Erdrich does not tie up all of the loose ends, however. There remains some mystery, for example, in the characters of the two grandmothers, which is what gives the story a lasting value and keeps you thinking long after you've finished reading.

The one flaw, for me, though, was that the weavi!ng still had some loose threads. Like the telling of a family history, everything is included, even the parts that are not necessary to the plot. Perhaps I missed something in my reading or interpretation, but I felt that the story of Sweet Heart Calico (the true antelope wife) and Klaus could have stood alone. While it was fascinating and well handled in and of itself, it really was not necessary to the main story. Also the story of the German soldier was a bit superfluous.

Of course, Erdrich was not really writing a family history. She was writing a novel about family histories, and as such, she could have done a little more weeding and honing. In spite of its small flaws, however, this is still a beautiful and well-written work.

I am a true fan of Louise Erdrich but I must say this particular book is not my favorite, save it for the last and read ALL of her other books!

Lousie Erdrich's writing wraps the reader in intricate strands of symbolism, characters and shifting time and place. Stories are woven, questions are raised and as time passes answered. The strands begin to straighten out and make sense. Re-reading the book to get it all straight is a treat and a gift. I will gladly settle into Erdrich's writing over authors who leave no question marks or connections to ponder any day.

The power, danger and wonder of intense love is but one of the journeys the reader will take in this book.