In these days of "cultural appropriation", sometimes the talk veers into chatter. Louise Erdrich tells the story through the eyes of a 13 year old boy and does it so convincingly that I believe she really was/is a 13 year old boy. Brava, or Bravo, Ms. Erdrich.

This story could be read for so many different themes, coming of age story, Indian culture, family, crimes and many more but no matter why one is reading this the story is compelling. Erdrich has a knack of telling stories, with vivid descriptions and wonderfully rounded characters. Her prose is both authentic and brutally honest at times. A horrid crime against a woman on the Ojibwa reservation in North Dakota, sets in motion a moral dilemma and causes a family including a thirteen yr. old boy to age prematurely. Yet her characters as always show determination and resilience, a hope that all will eventually change and turn out well. One of the things that I like most about her books are the way she always mentions someone who has been a prominent characters in one of her previous novels. That this book also points out the many ways the American Indian has been let down, the unfairness of the legal system and ways they can hopefully be fixed. For me this book was amazing, as usual for this writer.