What happens to a young boy on the cusp of manhood when his mother is assaulted and almost killed? What happens to a family who must cope while their mother and their wife tries to heal from the physical and emotional trauma of being sexually assaulted and almost burned? What happens to a community, to family, friends and neighbors when something like this happens to your relative, your friend or your neighbor? What if it happens to a Native American woman and family and the crime occurs on Native American land? What if this crime is racially motivated?

Joe and his family live on Ojibwe territory in North Dakota. His dad is a judge on the reservation and his mom is a tribal enrollment officer for the tribe. It is a Sunday afternoon, and Joe’s mom has gone to her office to pick up a file, but as time passes Joe and his father become worried and go looking for her. After looking and not finding her they return home where they find her, barely conscious, beaten and bleeding, sitting in her car in front of the house.

They rush her to the hospital, the police, tribal and otherwise are called, and an investigation is started. But Joe’s mother can barely speak, and seems to remember almost nothing of what happened. After she comes home, she remains in the bedroom, staring at the wall, hardly eating and barely talking.

The investigation grinds on but goes nowhere. Joe and his friends decide they might be able to  find out who did this on their own and so they begin to look for clues. But what Joe finds is disturbing: an empty gas can thrown in the lake which leads to the discovery of a car at the bottom of the lake. As Joe digs deeper and the police seem to do nothing about this crime against his mother, he decides to take matters into his own hands committing to extracting justice or at least revenge, if justice cannot be found, for this crime that has forever changed his family.

Erdrich  has written a powerful and emotionally complex, many layered story, but her prose is spare, simple and honest. Joe as narrator is a delight, and Erdrich captures all the playful, passionate, complexity of a twelve year old boy who must grow up very quickly after a devastatingly tragic event. At once both suspenseful and soulful, this 2012 winner of the National Book Award, has been described as a literary equivalent of To Kill A Mocking Bird, since Erdrich has lifted up another part of the American experience where the dream of equality and justice for all has not yet been realized.

Brenda’s Rating: *****(5 Out of 5 Stars)

Recommend this book to: Everyone!

Book Study Worthy? YES

Read in ebook format.