The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich

I must have read other Erdrich books in the past because their names are so familiar but for the life of me I can’t remember any of them. Perhaps it’s because her plotting is sooooooo complex. This story is told by a series of characters and you do have to work hard to remember who is who and what timeframe they are talking in. But it’s worth the effort because the tale is interesting and the ending extremely satisfying. The story is set in North Dakota and is about the tension between Indians and whites – except it is how I imagine the tensions really play out, not in some exaggerated form but subtly, in attitudes and silences and for the most part, lack of action. The main character is Evelina and she’s half Indian; her grandfather plays an important role and tells his tale through her voice. There are characters including the judge and the off-the-rails cousin Corwen and the incredible members of a Davidian type sect. Over the course of the book Evelina grows up and that’s one plot but there are also the plots about the grandfather’s family history and the judge’s love affair and all of them are tied in with the one about the family of white people who are massacred and for whose death a pack of white vigilantes lynch a group of Indians. But the overriding themes are about life in small town America, and that incestuous knowledge of everybody's life and affairs that passes down over generations. The connections between people are complex and at times I found myself wondering why a particular part of the story was being told and then suddenly making the connection - oh, he’s the son or whatever. There are moments that make your heart sink in horror, moments that make you cringe, moments that make you laugh out loud and moments of such poignant tenderness that although I found this book harder work than many to read, I’ve come away glad I kept with it and convinced that Erdrich is a really accomplished writer. 4 stars