Thursday, January 9, 2014
Under-whelmed
Overall I was a bit disappointed in the book. I felt that it could've been so much more then it ended up being. The author did a fantastic job displaying the lasting emotional and psychological effects that a raping can have on a family. Not only is the victim severely damaged but the family is forever changed as well. Seeing this change through Joe's eyes was extremely emotional. It was really touching and interesting to see how he reacted. Despite all this I just felt that the book was just too tangential. The added dirty stories and native american myths seemed to just detract and distract from the core of the book and story. It was also interesting to see what it was like on a reservation. The reservation has a very family like feel. Everyone seems to be very close and have a common bond. Another let down was the ending. I felt like there was really no conclusion. She didn't go much into the after effects of Joe killing the rapist. There seemed to be no real consequences to his action. Also it just ended very suddenly out of nowhere. The Round House painted a very bleak outlook on life. I did enjoy much of the book, however. I found Joe to be a very relatable and enjoyable protagonist. The intricacy of the characters and community was fascinating. I was particularly interested in Sonja and Joe's father. They both had layers to their characters and were very well done.
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Hi Daniel. I disagree with you when you say, “the book was just too tangential.” It was actually your post that made me connect my thoughts together and be able to form this argument.
ReplyDeleteReasons for…
The Dirty Talk
1. To lighten the book up. Rape is a depressing topic. The way it affected Joe’s entire family was horrible. If the whole book had been about that, I know I wouldn’t be able to get through it.
2. The casual way the people (from young boys to the elderly) talk about sex contrasts with the unspeakable act of violence Joe’s mother was victim to. Rape is not sex; it’s violence, and this contrast accentuated that.
3. These are completely unsupervised twelve year old boys…
The Native American Myths
1. The central myth was the one about the windigo woman, her son, and the buffalo. This ties in to the main story line in multiple ways.
• The buffalo represents the Round House, and shows the readers how sacred this building was to the people, therefore making Lark’s crime one of extreme hate of the entire race, rather than just a grudge.
• The way that Joe’s parents rationalized not telling the authorities that Joe had killed Lark was by saying Lark was a windigo, and killing him was fulfilling the law. Most readers wouldn’t know what a windigo is, and the way Louise Erdrich taught us was much more entertaining and literary than just spelling it out for us.