The Plague of Doves

I'm going to go with my instinct and recommend The Plague of Doves as it is an incredible novel and I think Louise Erdrich is under-read and under-appreciated. I've read a couple of her novels and every time I do I sigh with pleasure at her prose. I seem to find used copies of her novels which I always grab and buy, then let collect dust on my book shelf. I'm not sure why I always bypass reading her work when I'm on the prowl for a new novel. I picked up The Plague of Doves largely so I can continue to justify buying her novels when I come across them.

The book jacket praises The Plague of Doves as Erdrich's "best novel yet" and I haven't read enough of her work to concur, but it would be tough to top what she accomplishes here. (Though she has a new book that came out recently that is now, four years later, hailed as "the best novel she has ever written." It's on my list of books to read.) The novel opens with a cryptic violent scene involving a man shooting a gun and a sobbing baby then switches to the perspective of Evelina Harp, a young girl living many years after the murders occur, murders the reader does not know about yet. It is a complex novel with Erdrich skillfully weaving a murder mystery around a rich history of a small town and a few unforgettable characters. The stories of each character are compelling and the characters so rich.The book made me laugh and gave me chills. It challenged me as a reader and as a person, which I love in a novel. I'm left hungry for more of Erdrich's work.