The Painted Drum: A Novel (P.S.)

What I liked about this novel was just about everything: all of the stories and how they're told and how they're interrelated; the names (like Chickie, Anaquot, Simon Jack, & Apitchi), the beautifully depicted nature scenes, the "scariness" of some scenes (when Ira's children nearly die), and the mother/daughter relationship between Faye and Elsie.

The Painted Drum is a well-written novel with beautifully crafted sentences created within paragraphs. There's horror and sadness but also happiness and hope; it's a book about life among a group of Native Americans (Obigwe) from whom I learned a lot about cultural differences. And did I mention the wolves and ravens?

I ALWAYS learn something new from Erdrich's work.

The novel starts in the present day and is very sluggish at first. Erdrich assumes too much and does not clearly place the reader in an understandable community -- at first. The same is true of the narrator's living situation. She is clearly a grown woman, living with her mother, carrying on a discreet affair with a neighboring sculptor. But why is it so discreet? This is never made clear. One is far into the book before beginning to understand why mother and daughter are together. Indeed, the answer to that question is central to the plot yet it is answered very abruptly, I thought.

Nonetheless, once the drum is introduced, the writing and the story jump to a whole other level. The stories about the drum are truly magical, mesmerizing. I went from slogging through the first part of the book to not wanting to put it down. The creation of the drum and the way in which it is imbued with the spirit of a young girl are the heart of the book and beautifully written. I highly recommend this book, even though you may have to do some work at the beginning to get into it.

A friend recommended this to me, and it sat in a stack for nearly 9 months, until one day I picked it up. The author was unknown to me, and it wasn't something I'd have selected for myself. However, after reading just a few chapters, I was drawn into the story.

I was a little miffed after the first storyline ended, fairly abruptly in my mind. I wanted to get back to these characters. However, I found myself getting so caught up in the other two storylines that I forgot I was miffed.

In the end, of course, the storylines connected as their lives were intertwined. It wasn't a neat, storybook ending. Rather it gave some clues and let me imagine a bit on my own.

While it's not my all-time favorite book, it was definitely worth my time!

I was excited to read "A Painted Drum" after reading "The Roundhouse". But at the end I found myself wondering why the author filled so many pages at the front of the book with details of her characters that didn't really have anything to do with the story! The middle of the book, the stories told after the drum is returned, were wonderful. I was a little annoyed that it took the author so long to get to that part! (sorry) I didn't want to put the book down after getting to that part. The ending was bland and disappointing. I am definitely going to try another one of her books though.