Louise Erdrich
The title of Louise Erdrich’s novel The Sentence carries a double meaning—the sentence imposed on Tookie, the central figure, for breaking the law; the last sentence of a book that ostensibly kills a bookstore patron.
Tookie, a Native American, steals the corpse of her friend’s deceased lover as a favor to her friend. Carrying the corpse in a refrigerated grocery van, Tookie delivers the corpse to her friend unaware that packets of cocaine are strapped to the corpse’s armpits. Tookie is arrested and serves a ten-year sentence for trafficking drugs across state lines.
The novel unfolds in the first-person point of view of Tookie, an engaging narrator. She describes the circumstances that led to her stealing the corpse, her capture, and her ten-years of incarceration. After her release, she works at Birchbark Books in Minneapolis, an independent bookstore specializing in indigenous books. The bookstore is actually owned by Louise Erdrich. Tookie marries Pollux, the former tribal police officer who arrested her. She is happy in her marriage, happy in her work. But then Flora, one of the patrons at the bookstore dies after reading the last sentence in a book she has left open by her side. Her ghost haunts the bookstore and taunts Tookie. And so begins a tug of war between Tookie and Flora’s ghost.
Most of the novel takes place in 2019 and 2020. Erdrich weaves the Covid pandemic and its impact; the murder of George Floyd; the demonstrations, riots, and looting in Minneapolis; and the Black Lives Matter protests. She also includes copious examples of past injustices suffered by indigenous people and blacks at the hands of government and its institutions.
The novel’s strength lies in capturing the fear, uncertainty, and chaos unleashed by the pandemic and the murder of George Floyd. It also captures the camaraderie and support across racial and ethnic lines of the demonstrators united in their demands for justice. Ample room is given to Native American beliefs and rituals ranging from cures to common ailments, protection from injury or harm, and the expulsion of ghosts. But perhaps the novel’s greatest strength lies in its affirmation of the power of books.
Tookie devours books during her incarceration. Her employment in a bookstore provides her with ample opportunity to indulge her passion for books. And since bookstores are deemed essential during the pandemic, the bookstore is able to stay open and supply its patrons through online orders. The last pages of the novel, a book lover’s potpourri, list the books mentioned in the novel.
Erdrich tackles several plot lines in the novel, taking it in different directions. As a result, the novel appears disjointed and lacks cohesion. There is too much going on at once. The insertion of mini history lessons and the airing of past grievances of Native Americans and Blacks inject the flavor of non-fiction. They detract from the narrative. Although these are legitimate concerns, perhaps they could have been integrated into the narrative more seamlessly to quell the impression the novel is a platform to expose social injustice.
An engaging novel, recommended with some reservations since this is a case of less would have been more.