Tournament of Books discussion

space to discuss 2022 TOB contender "The Sentence" by Louise Erdrich

Not gonna lie, all the book talk is winning me over. Like when Deacon King Kong came up? I was hyped.

I like how Louise makes herself a character, and it makes me wonder just how fictional some of these bookstore employees are.

Like the best of her stuff, there's a real warmth of community, even if there doesn't seem to be a particular driving plot... the ghost thing sort of, but it's more "how we reacted to 2020" than anything else.

Juliana wrote: "I loved this one. I could spend many more hours with these characters. I also felt like she did such a good job of portraying the early days of the pandemic and how it felt.

I'm also a sucker for ..."

Same here. I feel like I'll return to this book again and again simply for the list of Tookie's book recs. Although that's far from the only reason I loved this book.... pretty much everything was right in my wheelhouse. Erdrich is a fantastic author.

Confession: Ever finish a book and just want to hug it in gratitude and celebration? That's me and The Sentence.

I'm a sucker for Erdrich's writing - it exists on a wavelength that matches mine as a reader. The fact that The Sentence was about books and a bookstore made it even better.

Gosh, I think this is my favorite Erdrich of the ones I've read. Juliana, ditto on books about books. I feel like they are pandering to the TOB. :)

But yes, I would love to have a cup of coffee with Tookie. Or even, better, a bowl of soup from another country!

Juliana wrote: "Bretnie - I made the avgolemono soup after reading this. Highly recommend!"

That's awesome!

I’m listening to this as an audiobook. I’m not quite finished, but I wanted to drop in here to encourage you all to get a copy of the audiobook if you can. Erdrich reads it herself, and she puts such warmth into the narration. For those of you who already love the book (I can see there are many of you here), listening to the audiobook will be a particular joy for you.

So far, I’m loving this book too. I desperately hope it makes it out of the play-in round. The warmth of the community, the wonderful relationship between Tookie and her husband, little Jasper, Flora, etc, etc. I could go on and on. I’ve also picked up a number of new books on Tookie’s recommendation. I’ve also spent more time in my local indie bookstore as a result of listening to this book.

Finished this over the weekend. I had only read Erdrich's The Round House before which I remember fondly.

This was designed to please. Lots of bookish stuff for bookish people set in a haunted bookshop. Then stir in a smidge of pandemic, some crowd-pleasing nicknames for Trump, and tap into the universal horror of George Floyd's murder and the subsequent unrest... and yet I felt the end product was less than the sum of its parts.

It was all a bit too nice. The edges had been sanded off. Not a bad read, by any measure, but not a prizewinning one either.

Daniel wrote: "Finished this over the weekend. I had only read Erdrich's The Round House before which I remember fondly.

This was designed to please. Lots of bookish stuff for bookish people set in a haunted boo..."

My feelings exactly, Daniel. Once I accepted the fact that this book 'is what it is', I was able to enjoy it in a mild kind of way. I loved the very beginning, before Tookie goes to prison, but post prison, Tookie's "edges were sanded off", as you so eloquently put it :)

How interesting, Nadine. I also liked the beginning of this one the most, when Tookie had a definite "edge". But...I did enjoy the entire book as a pleasant and relevant read.

I'm trying to imagine being Erdrich, owning a bookstore during the pandemic, in Minneapolis at the time of George Floyd's murder

I don't know that I could have fictionalized it in any way, not so immediately. I think that's why I felt a little distance on this. But also, I think without those immediate tragedies on her doorstep, we'd never have gotten Tookie and a bookstore ghost and beautiful book lists, which is all so worth it

This felt like a hang-out book - like Erdrich was giving us the chance to see what her experience was like over the last year. I wouldn't say that it hangs together particularly well, but I ended up charmed by it nonetheless. And book lists! Every book should have book lists at the back.

I guess I'm the odd woman out here but I didn't love this book. But I'm still glad I read it so there's that. I liked reading about Native American culture and the mother/daughter theme although I didn't like the heavy-handedness of other things such as the author as a character, all the book recommendations even though I like books (I felt it seemed show-offy?) and all the history and politics lessons that read more like non-fiction and IMO talked down to the reader.

I was wanting to escape from real life so I didn't love the stuff about the pandemic although I thought the George Floyd/BLM protest stuff was interesting due to the setting of Minneapolis. I agree with those who have said it didn't have much of a plot, or, it's more like, the plot it did have kind of meandered all over the place.

I don't really like magical realism type stuff in my literary fiction so I wasn't a fan of the whole ghost plotline and some other mystical type things in it (no spoilers haha) but because those things were based on Native American beliefs and culture, I went along for the ride and those weren't the parts I disliked about the book the most, at least? Ha.

I felt like the end rushed to wrap it all up too quickly with an information dump that should have been teased out over time in the plot more, and I found it pretty hopeless because I didn't see how there could be any solutions to the problems explored in the book and it just reminded me of how much the USA sucks, which I already knew. By the end I felt that this book vindicated the system that is the reason things are the way they are and nothing changes if nothing changes.

I did enjoy the writing tone/style so I think I would give this author another chance on a book with different subject matter, maybe. (It was the first one I'd read by her. Based on this book I don't understand the hype but maybe I'm missing something. Perhaps if I had already known and loved this author I'd appreciate this more.)

I listened to the audiobook and I agree she was a great narrator! The narration was probably my favorite part, ha.

I really liked the beginning but then it changed once she got out of prison and it felt disjointed to me. I felt disappointed that her voice and attitude, etc., totally seemed to change. Then when I considered all the new/different plot lines (there was mother/step daughter- and in that sense I really didn't like Tookie at first as step mother/grandmother), the cop/marriage thing, George Floyd stuff, the pandemic, and the magical realism stuff, then, the ghost plotline and the stuff about her own mother) - it just felt like it was telling several stories at once although I could kind of see how they were all related. Kind of like last year's Telephone or Breasts and Eggs.

I would give most of this book 3 or 3.5 stars but I give the ending 1 star so it wound up being a 2.5 or 3 star read for me and that's being generous. (Sometimes I think I must be too picky or have bad taste as I seem to disagree with most of the books others like or dislike, so obviously take all of what I say with a grain of salt because I'm weird.)

I did really enjoy the parts about the baby and how she enjoyed holding him, etc., probably because my youngest and very likely last (out of 4, ha) just turned 1 and is in his active/non-cuddly stage now so I'm already a bit nostalgic for those newborn baby snuggle days although I'd prefer to just read about them in books and not have to deal with it in reality anymore!

It definitely wasn't my favorite Erdrich - Night Watchman, LaRose, and Round House were much better IMO. That being said, I did like it better than some of the stuff on the list this year.

Anita wrote: "I guess I'm the odd woman out here but I didn't love this book. But I'm still glad I read it so there's that. I liked reading about Native American culture and the mother/daughter theme although I ..."

I'd say it was more straightforward than most Erdrich, so if you found this one to seem to have too much in it, she might not be the author for you! I felt the characters in the story were completely effected by the events around them, and it didn't seem forced to me, and found pleasure in the book recs! I'd be disappointed NOT to get book recs in a book store setting. I'm a nerd.

I was trying to think of books that would help with the baby nostalgia. Maybe try Room Temperature by Nicholson Baker, where the entire novel takes place during one bottle feeding. :)