Around the World in 80 Books discussion

From LitLovers and the publisher


Summary

One Sunday in the summer of 1988, a woman living on a reservation in North Dakota is attacked. The details of the crime are slow to surface as Geraldine Coutts is traumatized and reluctant to reveal the details of what happened, either to the police or to her husband, Bazil, and thirteen-year-old son, Joe. In one day, Joe's life is irrevocably transformed. He tries to heal his mother, but she will not leave her bed and slips into an abyss of solitude. Increasingly alone, Joe finds himself thrust prematurely into an adult world for which he is ill prepared.

While his father endeavors to wrest justice from a situation that defies his efforts, Joe becomes frustrated and sets out with his trusted friends, Cappy, Zack, and Angus, to get some answers of his own. Their quest takes them to the Round House, a sacred place of worship for the Ojibwe. And this is only the beginning. (From the publisher.)


Discussion Questions

1. The Round House opens with the sentence: "Small trees had attacked my parents' house at the foundation." How do these words relate to the complete story that unfolds?

2. Though he is older as he narrates the story, Joe is just thirteen when the novel opens. What is the significance of his age? How does that impact the events that occur and his actions and reactions?

3. Describe Joe's family, and his relationship with his parents. In talking about his parents, Joe says, "I saw myself as different, though I didn't know how yet." Why, at thirteen, did he think this? Do you think the grown-up Joe narrating the story still believes this?

4. Joe's whole family is rocked by the attack on his mother. How does it affect the relationship between his mother and father, and between him and his mother? Does it alter Joe's view of them? Can trauma force a child to grow up "overnight"? What impact does it have on Joe? How does it transform his family?

5. "My mother's job was to know everybody's secrets," Joe tells us. How does this knowledge empower Geraldine and how does it make her life more difficult?

6. Joe is inseparable from his three friends, especially his best friend, Cappy. Talk about their bond. How does their closeness influence unfolding events?

7. What is the significance of The Round House? What is the importance of the Obijwe legends that are scattered through the novel? How do they reflect and deepen the main story? What can we learn from the old ways of people like the Ojibwe? Is Joe proud of his heritage? Discuss the connection between the natural and animal world and the tribe's spirituality.

8. After the attack, Joe's mother, Geraldine, isn't sure exactly where it happened, whether it was technically on Reservation land or not. How does the legal relationship between the U.S. and the Ojibwe complicate the investigation? Why can't she lie to make it easier?

9. Secondary characters, including Mooshum, Linda Wishkob, Sonja, Whitey, Clemence, and Father Travis, play indelible roles in the central story. Talk about their interactions with Joe and his friends and parents. What do their stories tell about the wider world of the reservation and about relations between white and Native Americans?

10. Towards the novel's climax, Father Travis tells Joe, "in order to purify yourself, you have to understand yourself. Everything out in the world is also in you. Good, bad, evil, perfection, death, everything. So we study our souls." Would you say this is a good characterization of humanity? How is each of these things visible in Joe's personality?

11. He also tells Joe about the different types of evil—the material version, which we cannot control, and the moral one, which is harm deliberately caused by humans. How does this knowledge influence Joe?

12. When Joe makes his fateful decision concerning his mother's attacker, he says it is about justice, not vengeance. What do you think? How does that decision change him? Why doesn't he share the information he has with the people who love him?

13. What do you think about the status of Native Americans? Should we have reservations in modern America? How does the Reservation preserve their heritage and culture and how does it set them apart from their fellow Americans?

14. Could the American West have been settled without the conflicts between white Europeans and native peoples? Do you think we, as Americans, have changed significantly today?

15. We hear a great deal about reparations and atonement for slavery. What about America's history with the Native American population—should these same issues be raised? Racism is often seen in terms of black and white. How does this view impact prejudices against others who aren't white, including people like the Ojibwe? Do you think there is prejudice against Native Americans? How is this portrayed in the book? Contrast these with examples of kindness and fairness.

16. "My father remembered that of course an Ojibwe person's clan meant everything at one time, and no one didn't have a clan; thus, you know your place in the world and your relationship to all other beings." How has modernity—and westward expansion—transformed this? Has our rush to the future, and our restless need to move, impacted us as a society and as individuals?

17. Race, politics, injustice, religion, superstition, magic, and the boundary between childhood and adulthood are explored in The Round House. Choose a theme or two and trace how it is demonstrated in a character's life throughout the novel.

18. The only thing that God can do, and does all the time, is to draw good from any evil situation," the priest advised Joe. What good does Joe—and also his family—draw from the events of the summer? What life lessons did Joe learn that summer of 1988?
(Questions issued by publisher.)

Start discussion here for The Round House by Louise Erdrich.

I am halfway through this and it is pretty heart-wrenching so far. But I am enjoying the writing, and I love the character of Joe.

Louise Erdrich is one of my favorite writers. She has yet to let me down. I read this when it was released and remember appreciating several things about the book. One, is that the family defies stereotypes. Secondly, the issue of tribal law vs. American courts.

Coincidentally, within the same month of reading the Round House, I read Montana 1948. Both have plots based upon the rape of Native American women by white men and both set in the northern plains. Montana 1948 was from the viewpoint of a preteen white boy whose father was a police officer. It's a great companion book.

I highly recommend both books. They make wonderful companion/comparison reads. And as a bonus - they're both short!

I started listening to the audio version of this yesterday. So far, it isn't quite what I expected so at this point I am not sure what I think of it.

I'm curious about what you were expecting and look forward to your comments.

Mmars wrote: "I'm curious about what you were expecting and look forward to your comments."

I think part of it is that the story is more contemporary than I thought it would be. Also, it seemed a bit disjointed. In one scene his mother was raped and in the next he was talking about Star Trek episodes.

It may just be a matter of adapting my expectations to the reality of the story. The part I listened to during this evening's walk was interesting and seemed to fit into the main story line.

I read this book in February 2103, so it has been a while. It has stayed with me though.

Tom, I don't remember disjointedness but its been awhile.

Joe's family is so contemporary and atypical of how many Americans view families on the rez. That is something I love about Erdrich's books. She blurs the lines between Native and non-native lives but still keeps the cultural underpinnings.

For me, Erdrich is to Minnesota/North Dakota what Faulkner is to the south. She is the one author I can get obnoxious about on these pages. But I'll try to rein myself in.

Also, The title "Round House" may also lead one to think the book may be historical.

Mmars wrote: "Tom, I don't remember disjointedness but its been awhile.

Do you mean modern as opposed to historical?

Joe's family is atypical of how many Americans view families on the rez. They are upwardly ..."

Everything you said here was part of my initial uncertainty about the book.

I just edited that post after rereading your initial post.

Mmars wrote: "Louise Erdrich is one of my favorite writers. She has yet to let me down. I read this when it was released and remember appreciating several things about the book. One, is that the family defies st..."

I'll have to add Montana 1948 to my TBR.It sounds interesting.

I finished this two days ago, and I think it was a pretty compelling story. This is the first book I've read by this author, and I'm quite sure I'll read others.

The interesting component of this story to me was the clan idea. Joe's dad thinks that the relationship to one's clan was very important at one time. But it seems as if it still is in this story. Members of the tribe tried to warn off Lark after he was released from jail. And in the end, many of the Ojibwe probably guessed what Joe had done and kept quiet about it, even the tribal policeman. But Linda was not born into the clan, and she protected Joe more than anyone. So the clan isn't necessarily a blood tie. Linda was informally adopted into the tribe and identifies with them as family members more than she did her biological family.

The biggest quibble I had with this novel was the end. It felt very abrupt and I wanted (view spoiler)[to know what happened to Cappy. How badly was he hurt? What about the other two boys? Did Joe's family fall apart or were they somewhat okay? I know he says that they were now all old, but what does that mean? (hide spoiler)] So it left too many unanswered questions for me.

Mmars wrote: "For me, Erdrich is to Minnesota/North Dakota what Faulkner is to the south."

Have you been to Minnesota or North Dakota before, Mmars?

And could you expand on this comparison? Are you saying that Erdrich is representative of the culture found there?

Mickey wrote: "And could you expand on this comparison? Are you saying what Erdrich is representative of the culture found there?"

Good questions. I'm not familiar with Erdrich's background other than to know that this isn't the only book he's written based in North Dakota. I've been trying to come up with a list of authors that comprise a Western Voices genre. Examples would be Kent Haruf, Mark Spragg, Willa Cather, Ivan Doig and John Steinbeck. I suspect Louise Erdrich would fit nicely into such a group.

You might want to consider Larry McMurtry for that list. He's written extensively about the West in popular culture as well as in academic study. If you are more interested in highlighting Western novelists writing about the West, he also won a Pulitzer for Lonesome Dove.

McMurtry is definitely an authentic voice but I have the same problem with him that I have with Cormac McCarthy. I'm not sure if they would be considered Western or Southern. Coming from Colorado, the state that kicked the Texans back where they came from in the Civil War, I have an opinion on the matter.

I'm curious as to why you might think him as a writer to be more characteristically Southern (beyond regional hatred, which as a North Dakotan who was taught to hate all things originating from Montana, I completely understand).

Another good question.

I've always considered Texas a Southern state and, now that you ask, I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's their alignment during the Civil War but I don't think that's the entirety of it. I think it is more a matter of the demographic alignment of the Americans who settled it. Most of the settlers who migrated to Texas before and after statehood did so from states roughly parallel to it (i.e. Kentucky and points south) whereas Colorado and North Dakota were settled more by New Englanders and people from the Midwestern states such as Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio & Illinois. Just as the puritans who settled in Massachusetts gave New England a much different culture than the treasure hunters who accompanied John Smith to Jamestown.

I would agree that there are some characteristically Southern aspects to Texan culture. There's the "sir-ing" and "M'am-ing" that's common throughout the South. There's the exaggerated deference to women. Texans widely follow the tradition of black eyed peas for New Year's. However, there's also the sort of independent maverick streak and casual lawlessness that I associate with the West. The bluntness of Texans is more Western than Southern, as is the lack of deference for authority. I guess it depends on what you find essential to your definition of Western and Southern about where they fit better. I consider them more Western in their outlook.

I don't consider North Dakota to have its roots from New England culture so much as Old World Germanic culture. I don't find many traces of New England at all in North Dakota.

The idea of a settler population is interesting, and gives rise to the question of whether a representative New Englander (or whatever) would move out west or whether the people that did move had other characteristics that led them to separate from their homeland or home region (marking them as not very representative of their original home) and whether the new conditions (prairie isolation and the need for self sufficiency), could have bred in them new characteristics. Definitely an interesting topic to explore.

Is there anything in McMurtry's writing that you consider characteristically Southern, or is it just his Texas roots that put him in the "not authentically Western" pile?

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...

Here is a map of most common secondary languages across the United States. As you can see, North Dakota is one of the few states where it is German not Spanish.

(The key didn't copy with the map. The red states are for Spanish, the blue states French, and the green states German.)

Mickey wrote: "Is there anything in McMurtry's writing that you consider characteristically Southern, or is it just his Texas roots that put him in the "not authentically Western" pile? "

Sadly, McMurtry's books are still in my TBR pile.

Of course, this conversation ignores the possibility that he could comfortably fit on both the Southern and the Western shelf.

Your comment reminded me of another question. Why do people with an exaggerated deference to women often refer to them as fillies or heifers?

I read these lines today in The Round House which surprised me as I am also reading To Kill a Mockingbird and read almost the same conversation in that book yesterday.

Your father is a very good shot.
He is?
This was of course a big surprise to me.
Everybody knows that. He brought down anything he aimed at as a young man. Kids don’t know their parents’ history.

I find this conversation about Texas being Southern or Western interesting. As a Texan, I personally feel a little both ways. We have our history as part of the Confederacy and, as Tom noted, many settlers from southern states. But we also have the large Hispanic population and border issues that the West has. I hope that we have some of the southern politeness that the Sir and Ma'am are indicative of.
And I have never been called a filly or heifer, at least in my presence. I have been called a gal or a lady many times. So I think most Texans feel that we fit in both categories.

Tom wrote: "Of course, this conversation ignores the possibility that he could comfortably fit on both the Southern and the Western shelf."

I've read many of McMurtry's books, and I personally don't see much of the South in him. I'm not saying that a Texan couldn't write a book that is very Southern, just that I don't find McMurtry to have that quality. In fact, I would consider him the quintessential Western writer.

I went to high school out west and the elective literature teacher was a cowboy, so we read many very manly, man-vs-nature Western books. I never read another author who really described the culture I grew up in as clearly as McMurtry did, even though he lived on the extreme other end of the region. If you are interested in Western culture, I would recommend McMurtry before any other writer I've read as the writer that managed to describe that culture.

Tom wrote: "Your comment reminded me of another question. Why do people with an exaggerated deference to women often refer to them as fillies or heifers?
"

I'm not aware that Texans are notorious for doing this (maybe on TV in the form of the evil Dallas oil millionaire). That noted, an extreme deference for women does not necessarily translate into a profound respect for them. I'll give a cultural reference: A couple of days ago, I started watching the TV series "House of Cards". The main character is a Congressman from the South who shows an extreme deference to women (he has yet to raise his voice or be impolite to a woman and would treat them with an unusual degree of care and consideration)(Please, no spoilers! I'm only on the second episode!). This is different from having any respect for women. (Frankly, he doesn't have much respect for anyone as far as I can see). His manner is very deferential and that is considered very much a Southern thing. It's what people do here, and people understand that it is the way to act even if the circumstances don't fit it. In the West, women are seen as more capable and so are more subject to the rough-and-tumble of being seen as an equal. There are less "kid gloves" there, which could be translated into a certain definition of respect which is entirely different than the idea of deference. Does that make sense? Of course, these are not cut-and-dried things, just things I've noticed from the different places I've lived.

As far as calling women "heifers" or "fillies", it's not necessarily a sign of disrespect. Much of Texas is cow country. They aren't considered unclean animals. There are probably loads of local eateries with bathroom signs for "Bulls" and "Heifers" or whatever.

What do you consider Western essentially? I'm curious.

Laurie wrote: "I find this conversation about Texas being Southern or Western interesting. As a Texan, I personally feel a little both ways. We have our history as part of the Confederacy and, as Tom noted, many ..."

Hi Laurie. Thanks for your input. I hope I haven't allowed my interstate rivalry to offend. As one who grew up in Colorado, I must point out that being raised to say sir and ma'am isn't a strictly Southern behavior.

Your comment made me realize something I hadn't considered. Just as Ernest J. Gaines and Toni Morrison are authentic Southern voices, so too would writers such as Rudolfo Anaya and Luis Alberto Urrea be considered authentic Western voices.

Speaking of cultural ways of addressing someone, I have a story of a cultural misunderstanding:

When I lived in Pennsylvania, I started student teaching at an inner-city middle school which had mostly Hispanic students. I hadn't had much contact with Hispanic culture, the town I grew up in had one Hispanic student in my grade. The first few days, I noticed that the students kept calling me "Miss" when they wanted my attention. Now, before this the only time I knew of people addressing someone as Miss were patrons in a restaurant toward their waitress if they didn't know her name. This irritated me because the students knew my name, so I didn't understand why they weren't calling me by it. I later was told by another teacher that "Miss" was actually a sign of respect to them.

I agree that being called a filly wouldn't be disrespectful. A heifer would, even to a Texas woman's ears, sound like you are calling someone fat. You are right about bathroom signs. Plus the school mascots at schools whose mascot is the mustangs will sometimes call the girls the fillies.

I realize that not only Southerners say sir and ma'am. It is possibly overdone in the South though. I've had peple say ma'am to me every other sentence which did not happen when I lived in Nevada.

I too see McMurtry as a western writer. The Lonesome Dove trilogy and Horseman Pass By are what I am thinking of. Of course Terms of Endearment and The Last Picture Show aren't western, but they aren't southern either.

Mickey wrote: "Mmars wrote: "For me, Erdrich is to Minnesota/North Dakota what Faulkner is to the south."

Have you been to Minnesota or North Dakota before, Mmars?

And could you expand on this comparison? Are y..."

Actually, I've spent most of my life in Minnesota. I say "for me" because I think she is Minnesota's greatest writer. She does not write like Faulkner and her books are not 'Faulknerian". But her books embody much of outstate Minnesota's cultures. Especially the Minnesota/North Dakota border.) I think the best example of this can be found in The Master Butchers Singing Club. I have not watched this http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/040... but it may be a good introduction to her.

Mmars wrote: "Actually, I've spent most of my life in Minnesota. I say "for me" because I think she is Minnesota's greatest writer. She does not write like Faulkner and her books are not 'Faulknerian". But her books embody much of outstate Minnesota's cultures. Especially the Minnesota/North Dakota border.) I think the best example of this can be found in The Master Butchers Singing Club. I have not watched this http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/040... but it may be a good introduction to her."

Being a lifelong reader and from North Dakota, I've heard of Louise Erdrich and have tried to read her books before. I started one that was set in Minot, North Dakota (where my sister went to college) but had a difficult time recognizing the setting or the people. You know when a good writer evokes a time and a place so that it is immortalized in words? She wasn't hitting that note with me. Now obviously, a writer's perspective is personal and perhaps I was expecting too much. There aren't many writers who are associated with North Dakota (the only other one I know is Chuck Klosterman, whom I like and readily see his North-Dakota-ness), so to have one that is widely known in the book world and is informing people of what your little-known space is like but that description doesn't jive with your perception of it can be irritating.

I think I will try again with her. I'll try The Master Butchers Singing Club and see if maybe that will be more palatable to me. Both of my parents are from Walsh county. I was also born there and spent a lot of my childhood visiting grandparents there so maybe that will help pull me into the story.

Not every writer appeals to everyone! Master Butcher is quite different from Round House and both are quite different from Beet Queen/Love Medicine. I'm not a completist and cannot speak for all her works.

Can we talk about the various portrayals in the book? Obviously the story is majorly about Geraldine's rape; Joe's crush on his aunt became a much more interesting subplot and aspect of his maturation than I had expected. One of the things I highlighted when I read this book was the letter Zelia's (Cappy's crush from Christian youth camp) parents wrote to Cappy:

You will cease and desist from any contact with our daughter...You should have to consider that in this case we may persecute you to the full extent of the law...You have stolen our daughter's innocence and wracked our life.

I was struck by this mostly because of the contrast it provided between Geraldine's rape, so consensual vs. non-consensual sex, as well as the parents' claim that Cappy had stolen their daughter's innocence, since the loss of innocence (or whatever you want to call it) to Joe and his family with Geraldine's rape is such a major theme of the novel. Additionally, the threat of police involvement underscores the way the federal and tribal legal systems are inadequate for justice for Geraldine and her family (and the tribe).

Tom, I also thought of To Kill a Mockingbird at some points in the book, maybe because it was mostly on my mind. I thought of Cappy as like Jem and Joe as like Scout. I recently heard someone say that To Kill a Mockingbird is more the coming-of-age of Jem through Scout's eyes, and I think I felt that way about this being Cappy's maturation maybe more than Joe's. Even though Joe's story as an adult is referenced at multiple times, I don't think Erdrich sets him out on some kind of path from this summer to adulthood.