The Beet Queen by Louise Erdrich

I’m reading Erdrich’s books all out of their published order, and this is the first I’ve read that takes place on the distant edges of the Ojibwe community, rather than swirling around within it.  The novel follows Mary and Karl Adare from their abandonment as children through their adult lives.  As is often the case in Erdrich’s novels, each of the major characters is broken in some sense.    That may be an understatement for Karl and Mary, and for Dot, Mary’s niece. 

The two strongest foils to Mary and Karl are Celestine, Mary’s best friend and sister to Russell Kashpaw, and Wallace Pfef, closeted lover to Karl and friend to Celestine and her cobbled-together family.    And they were the two characters who most intrigued me.  Celestine is open, forgiving, loving, but never quite appreciated by family or friends.  Wallace is similar–long-suffering suitor to the mercurial and cruel Karl, businessman, quiet friend, and stand-in father.   Both  are steamrollered  by the Adares time and time again, and both maintain a sense of dignity throughout.   Sita, the cousin whose place Mary usurps in the family and the family business, crumbles under the Adare onslaught while Wallace and Celestine find a way through it.

The book is ultimately about parenthood.  Karl and Mary suffer without it.  Karl fails at it.  Celestine struggles to make up for a missing father and to fight against an interfering aunt.  Wallace tried to replace his missing lover as best he can–as a godfather plus.  And Dot refuses guidance and love and her nest.

The book is sad, and lovely, and good.

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