LaRose, Louise Erdrich
LaRose, Louise Erdrich
6 Rating(s)
List: $29.99 | Sale: $21.00
Club: $14.99

LaRose
A Novel

Author: Louise Erdrich

Narrator: Louise Erdrich

Unabridged: 14 hr 37 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 05/10/2016


Synopsis

Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in FictionFinalist for the PEN Faulkner AwardIn this literary masterwork, Louise Erdrich, bestselling author of the National Book Award-winning The Round House and the Pulitzer Prize nominee The Plague of Doves, wields her breathtaking narrative magic in an emotionally haunting contemporary tale of a tragic accident, a demand for justice, and a profound act of atonement with ancient roots in Native American culture.North Dakota, late summer, 1999. Landreaux Iron stalks a deer along the edge of the property bordering his own. He shoots with easy confidence—but when the buck springs away, Landreaux realizes he’s hit something else, a blur he saw as he squeezed the trigger. When he staggers closer, he realizes he has killed his neighbor’s five-year-old son, Dusty Ravich.The youngest child of his friend and neighbor, Peter Ravich, Dusty was best friends with Landreaux’s five-year-old son, LaRose. The two families have always been close, sharing food, clothing, and rides into town; their children played together despite going to different schools; and Landreaux’s wife, Emmaline, is half sister to Dusty’s mother, Nola. Horrified at what he’s done, the recovered alcoholic turns to an Ojibwe tribe tradition—the sweat lodge—for guidance, and finds a way forward. Following an ancient means of retribution, he and Emmaline will give LaRose to the grieving Peter and Nola. “Our son will be your son now,” they tell them.LaRose is quickly absorbed into his new family. Plagued by thoughts of suicide, Nola dotes on him, keeping her darkness at bay. His fierce, rebellious new “sister,” Maggie, welcomes him as a coconspirator who can ease her volatile mother’s terrifying moods. Gradually he’s allowed shared visits with his birth family, whose sorrow mirrors the Raviches’ own. As the years pass, LaRose becomes the linchpin linking the Irons and the Raviches, and eventually their mutual pain begins to heal.But when a vengeful man with a long-standing grudge against Landreaux begins raising trouble, hurling accusations of a cover-up the day Dusty died, he threatens the tenuous peace that has kept these two fragile families whole.Inspiring and affecting, LaRose is a powerful exploration of loss, justice, and the reparation of the human heart, and an unforgettable, dazzling tour de force from one of America’s most distinguished literary masters.

About Louise Erdrich

Louise Erdrich, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, is the award-winning author of many novels as well as volumes of poetry, children’s books, and a memoir of early motherhood. Erdrich lives in Minnesota with her daughters and is the owner of Birchbark Books, a small independent bookstore.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Will on April 02, 2025

He was extremely adept, had started hunting small game with his grandfather at the age of seven. Landreaux took the shot with fluid confidence. When the buck popped away he realized he'd hit something else--there had been a blur the moment he squeezed the trigger. Only when he walked forward to i......more

Goodreads review by Canadian Jen on May 28, 2016

An accident that results in a child's death, sets the course of another child's life, LaRose. The impact to the two families and their complex and dynamic relationships that are changed. LaRose is forced into the role of healer: to help each family cope with the death of the child by being the core......more

Goodreads review by Angela M on June 05, 2016

A tragic event , forever affecting two families happens in the second paragraph of the book and shapes this story, immersing the reader into the grief that is shared by them. One child is dead , one is alive , and the two families are torn apart. This sadness hangs in the air like one of those days......more

Goodreads review by Glenn on June 10, 2016

Death + Depression + Drugs + Revenge + Rebirth + Renewal = Spellbinding Storytelling In the opening pages of Louise Erdrich’s unforgettable new novel, Landreaux Iron is hunting a buck in the North Dakota forest. When he shoots, he discovers, to his horror, that he’s killed his neighbour’s five-year-o......more

Goodreads review by Candi on August 19, 2017

"We are chased by what we do to others and then in turn what they do to us. We’re always looking behind us, or worried about what comes next." When one tragic mistake is made, it will reverberate endlessly and affect the lives of two families. How does one atone for a wrong done to another? Will sacr......more