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Louise Erdrich

The Sentence Kindle Edition

by Louise Erdrich (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4,348 ratings

Editors' pick Best Literature & Fiction

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"Dazzling. . . . A hard-won love letter to readers and to booksellers, as well as a compelling story about how we cope with pain and fear, injustice and illness. One good way is to press a beloved book into another's hands. Read The Sentence and then do just that."—USA Today, Four Stars

In this New York Times bestselling novel, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award–winning author Louise Erdrich creates a wickedly funny ghost story, a tale of passion, of a complex marriage, and of a woman's relentless errors.

Louise Erdrich's latest novel, The Sentence, asks what we owe to the living, the dead, to the reader and to the book. A small independent bookstore in Minneapolis is haunted from November 2019 to November 2020 by the store's most annoying customer. Flora dies on All Souls' Day, but she simply won't leave the store. Tookie, who has landed a job selling books after years of incarceration that she survived by reading "with murderous attention," must solve the mystery of this haunting while at the same time trying to understand all that occurs in Minneapolis during a year of grief, astonishment, isolation, and furious reckoning.

The Sentence begins on All Souls' Day 2019 and ends on All Souls' Day 2020. Its mystery and proliferating ghost stories during this one year propel a narrative as rich, emotional, and profound as anything Louise Erdrich has written.

Print length

395 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Harper
Publication date

November 9, 2021
File size

3276 KB
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Louise Erdrich
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From the Publisher


	The Night Watchman	LaRose	The Round House

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

An Amazon Best Book of November 2021: Flora, an independent bookstore’s most burdensome customer, is even more exasperating in death, deciding to haunt her favorite haunt, Birchbark Books. The name of this beloved indie will be familiar to many Minneapolitans, as it’s the real-life bookstore run by Louise Erdrich, who plays a supporting role in this love letter to books and bookstore culture. It’s also no ordinary ghost story, as the motley crew of characters, who effortlessly endear themselves to you despite their shortcomings (and maybe because of them), reckons with profound wounds, both self-inflicted and societal. Readers, this novel just might compel you to confront some of your own, as well. That’s what the best books do. —Erin Kodicek, Amazon Editor --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

Review

A cathartic and comforting story that book lovers will gobble up.

-- "Real Simple"

An unexpected ghost story that is both a timely novel with laugh-out-loud moments as well as a beautiful commentary on identity.

-- "Barnes&Noble.com"

Her dramatization of why books are essential to our well-being is resounding.

-- "Booklist (starred review)"

More than a gripping ghost story, The Sentence offers profound insights into the effects of the global pandemic and the collateral damage of systemic racism.

-- "Publishers Weekly (starred review)" --This text refers to the audioCD edition.

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08TWYG991
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper (November 9, 2021)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 9, 2021
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 3276 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 395 pages
Lending ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #5,151 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #11 in Native American Literature (Kindle Store)
- #18 in Native American Literature (Books)
- #23 in Ghost Fiction

Customer Reviews:
4,348 ratings

About the author

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Louise Erdrich

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Louise Erdrich is one of the most gifted, prolific, and challenging of American novelists. Her fiction reflects aspects of her mixed heritage: German through her father, and French and Ojibwa through her mother. She is the author of many novels, the first of which, Love Medicine, won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the last of which, The Round House, won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2012. She lives in Minnesota.

Customer reviews

5 star		58%
4 star		25%
3 star		11%
2 star		4%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Charlotte

Preachy

Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2021

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Although I agree with the author’s views and values, and like her writing style, the endless preaching throughout the novel is annoying and condescending. A little can go a long way — but this overdose of teaching just turns me off.

77 people found this helpful

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joanne

I served a sentence reading this

Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2021

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A plodding pretentious bore with cardboard characters I could not even bring myself to finish it

73 people found this helpful

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terrific read

Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2021

Magnificent novel of love and ghosts in the time of COVID and protest in Minneapolis. And, a bonus for readers because you might, like me, find a new book to read based on Tookie's recommendations to customers (as well as from Ehrdich's list at the end). Set largely over 2020, it's the story of Tookie, who, upon release from prison for an unusual crime, married Pollux, the tribal cop who arrested her, and went to work in Erdich's bookstore in Minneapolis. She's made a home there in the stacks but now Flora, a pest of a customer, has died and her ghost has taken up residence. And Hetta. Pollux's "daughter" has come to stay along with her infant son Jarvis. I loved this for the characters- the women who work at Birchbark books as well as the customers (and their questions)- as well as for the subtleties. Yes it's a pandemic book and a protest book but Erdich keeps the people at the forefront and personalizes things that sometimes felt too big during 2020. There are wonderful small touches, such as a beloved customer's beloved dog, and the story of Jarvis' father (there's more to him than you might think initially). And Tookie's love for Pollux: has she forgiven him for arresting her? Thanks to edelweiss for the ARC. Highly recommend. And the ending.......

71 people found this helpful

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Signal 75

HATE this book!

Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2021

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I was misled by the reviews of this book; I had believed it to be (and wanted it to be) more in the realm of a supernatural event. The author's politics are quite offensive to me; I did not purchase her book to be engulfed in more Trump Derangement Syndrome and George Floyd's martyrdom. I am struggling to finish it because I will never put down a book until the last page is read. It's horrible.

54 people found this helpful

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Chevron Ross

A Captivating Follow-up to The Night Watchman

Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2021

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Louise Erdrich follows her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Night Watchman, with another perspective on Native American culture and its ties to the spirit world. Tookie, a bookstore clerk with a prison record, finds herself haunted by Flora, a customer who mysteriously died while reading a book about a nineteenth century Indian woman. As ghostly incidents mount, Tookie becomes convinced that it was the book that killed Flora.

The Sentence is packed with character gems, from a rebellious daughter transformed by motherhood, to a cranky bookstore customer for whom reading is his lifeblood, to a young man who believes himself the descendent of an immortal spirit.

There are gems of writing as well:

“The sky was so gray it matched the cool bark of the trees.”

“The dress rattled in a friendly way.”

“We skied weightlessly through the days as if they were a landscape of repeating features.”

Other observations show how Tookie’s vocation mirrors a vanishing American culture: “Small bookstores have the romance of doomed intimate spaces about to be erased by unfettered capitalism.”

There’s so much to like in this novel of marriage, family, and conflict. Erdrich even manages to weave into her story the COVID pandemic, the George Floyd murder, and the 2020 Presidential election.

It’s a shame that this superb novelist has contaminated The Sentence with pervasive foul language. It reflects negatively on her characters and on herself. For that reason, I must downgrade this captivating book to a three-star rating.

35 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

Brilliant as always

Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2021

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I am constantly impressed by Erdrich's ability to write quality book after book on a yearly basis. This more contemporary account of the past year as well as a ghost story is quick, enjoyable read headlined by a charismatic narrator.

16 people found this helpful

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Dolores T.

Strong writing - weak story line

Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2022

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Louise Erdrich came out of the gate running with The Sentence and I was neck and neck with her and then something happened. I don’t really know what. The book just somehow got off course.

In fact, if I was asked what this book was about I am not sure I could answer. Relationships? Native American customs? The pandemic? The George Floyd tragedy through the eyes of Indigenous people? Ghosts? Or all of the above with a love story about books running through it?

This is not to say Erdrich doesn’t write beautifully and precisely. Nothing beats her description of holding her grandson, Jarvis, for the first time. Or that her characters are not well drawn. Or that some of the mini-plots weren’t of interest. Or that she is not just plain excellent at writing funny, witty lines. It is just that as a whole there was not enough of a story to propel me forward except for the fact that I was facilitating our book club discussion so was forced to finish it. Which led me to start flipping ahead when the ghost showed up (always a bad sign). And I never missed a thing.

There were definitely some profound passages that made me pause and ponder - which is a good thing right? But some were also puzzling. Like when the main character, Tookie, a recovering drug addict turn book addict, begins to wax eloquently about how transparent some books are and then rifts on (criticizes) books by Elena Ferrante and Kent Ted Krueger. Really? This Tender Land? Are you kidding me?

This graph reminded me of those uncomfortable moments when someone with ADHD blurts out an inappropriate comment in the middle of a discussion. Even if it is funny or interesting there is this sense of - where is that coming from? In the case of these critical comments of her peers - it was definitely not something that Tookie would have been thinking no less saying. The character of Louise, who, like Louise Erdrich, is an author and book owner? Yes. Louise the author of the book? Yes. And talk about thinly disguised devices. Way to sneak in a deep dig at two brilliant writers. And blame the judgment on the main character in the book and not the creator of the character. Clever.

I gave The Sentence a 3.25. It is undeniably well crafted but there are two parts to a book - the writing and the story. And the story was lacking. I couldn’t stay engaged. The book could not possibly be carried by the writing. (Which leads me to the question - who is editing her books? Or has she become so big that she has no one with the guts to tell her the truth about this book?) Readers demand more. Life is too short to have to force yourself to finish a book - especially when you are the book club facilitator.

(Disclaimer - I have never written a book and I know it must be incredibly difficult. So regardless of what I think of it - there is all praise for any dedication to this discipline.)

11 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Jon A. Crowcroft

funny&touching and in the end, satisfying story

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 3, 2022

Verified Purchase

I hadn't read any contemporary literature concering native north americans - this is a wonderful find, and I've also ordered other books by the same author - beautiful prose, but mainly, great characters you really want to meet (though perhaps scary in a haunted bookstore) - next time I go to minneapolis, i'll be haunted by this book

One person found this helpful

D. M. Dickson

Not just ghosts.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 21, 2022

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This was very different from what I was expecting I have to admit - I came to it expecting a ghost story but this is so much more. An enthralling and gripping read with wonderful characters. The subjects covered are difficult but it never wallowed but rather took them on and related them with honesty and directness. I really enjoyed this and it was far outside my usual genre choice.

mary goosey

Rubbish

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 12, 2022

Verified Purchase

Misleading blurb and prologue. Badly written and dull

Anonymous

If you enjoy ghosts…

Reviewed in Canada on April 27, 2022

Verified Purchase

Interesting Aboriginal perspective to be sure. I wanted more book shop, less ghost story. The Covid pandemic is front & centre for the last half of the book. Not what I expected from the description that accompanies the book.

Kindle Customer

Lovely prose. Unusual story.

Reviewed in Australia on May 4, 2022

Verified Purchase

This is kooky and fun; but is also deeply humane, with engaging characters. Identity as precarious and as a work in progress is explored thoughtfully. I will be planning to read her award winning novel next.

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