THE PLAGUE OF DOVES
Louise Erdrich
Harper
Fiction
ISBN: 9780060515126

• Read an Excerpt

THE PLAGUE OF DOVES, Louise Erdrich’s first novel in almost three years, opens in 1911, as an unknown man stands in a room filled with the scent of blood. He plays a violin solo on a gramophone while repairing his jammed gun. The music soothes a screaming baby in a crib. The scene fades out as the gunman raises his weapon.

Many years later, a girl named Evelina relates a significant event in the life of Mooshum, her grandfather. In 1896, Indians and whites gathered in an attempt to defeat the flocks of doves devouring their crops. Although the people tried burning great fires and driving the birds into nets, the doves continued to demolish wheat, rye and corn plants. Mooshum was a young boy who joined with the others in a long line, walking through the fields to try to clear them. The birds were gathered solidly on the ground; one flew up and hit Mooshum on the head, knocking him down. When he opened his eyes, a young girl named Junesse was tending to him. The two fell in love instantly and ran away together.

Evelina knows of love herself, for she has written the name of her one true love, Corwin Peace, repeatedly on her body. Although he shoves Evelina and teases her about her braces, she counts it as a temporary setback to their romance. And soon Corwin is gazing directly and meaningfully into her eyes at church. Corwin and Evelina's story and the tale of Mooshum and Junesse alternate, the past mixing with the present, until Junesse is just a memory and Mooshum has fallen in love with the town's self-appointed historian, Neve Harp.

Meanwhile, Evelina is furious with Corwin and becomes obsessed with her teacher, Sister Mary Anita, who is young and athletic but has a jaw and teeth that remind Evelina of a dinosaur. Evelina's feelings for the nun overpower and confuse her. One day Mooshum explains just why he believes that Sister Mary Anita became a nun. Mooshum is a born storyteller who takes Evelina (and the book's readers) back to the terrible day in 1911 when he and his companions happened upon a farm, where he knew instinctively that something was horribly wrong. The men discovered a baby, alive and screaming but surrounded by dead bodies. This led to an unspeakable injustice, with reverberations echoing down the years --- and an ultimate impact complete with intriguing puzzles, which unexpectedly contort the plot of THE PLAGUE OF DOVES later in the tale.

As always, Louise Erdrich ensnares readers by carrying us into the richly imagined lives of her characters. Their stories veer into delightful unpredictability as they weave together into a complex narrative lush with mystery, humor, sorrow and history. Fans of Erdrich’s work and newcomers alike will be charmed with this latest offering.

    --- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon (terryms2001@yahoo.com)

Click here now to buy this book from Amazon.com.

© Copyright 1996-2008, Bookreporter.com. All rights reserved.

Back to top.