The Beet Queen: Amazon.ca: Louise Erdrich: Books

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From Library Journal

The power and virtuosity of Love Medicine ( LJ 10/1/84) are again evident in Erdrich's second, more ambitious novel. Its action spans 40 years, starting in 1932, when three fatherless children are abandoned by their mother as well. Eleven-year-old Mary seeks haven for the family with Aunt Fritzie Kozka; but the baby is kidnapped; 14-year-old Karl, a drifter and dreamer, lights off alone; and only practical, hardheaded Mary takes root. Bizarre coincidences, taut blood tangles, and surreal fantasies challenge the ordinary as relationships bloom and wilt, including one between homosexual Karl, who moves in and out of the action, and Mary's best friend, with whom he fathers a child. At times the shifting voices strain continuity, yet Erdrich's brilliance is such that we believe deeply in her people, are dazzled by her words. An engrossing and breathtaking novel. Elise Chase, Forbes Lib., Northampton, Mass.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

'A perfect -- and perfectly wonderful -- novel' Anne Tyler 'Violent, passionate, surprising! The Beet Queen imparts its freshness of vision like an electric shock.' Angela Carter 'The range of her sympathy is astonishing! Erdrich shares with Faulkner the gift of transcending the mundane.' Paul Bailey, Observer 'She is a writer of formidable strength and imagination, and she presents the fruits of both in a prose of flexible, haunting beauty.' Bernard Levin, Sunday Times 'A novel rich in movement, beauty, event. Her prose spins and sparkles, and dances right on the heart.' Los Angeles Times 'A remarkable and luminous novel' New York Times

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First Sentence
So that's how I came to Argus. Read the first page

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Concordance

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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover

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Customer Reviews

16 Reviews

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
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Average Customer Review

3.5 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A Brilliant Portrait Of Agression, Self-Destruction & Love!, July 7 2003

By

Jana L. Perskie "ceruleana" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Beet Queen (Paperback)

On a cold spring morning in 1932, fourteen-year old Karl Adare and his eleven-year-old sister, Mary, arrive by freight train in Argus, North Dakota. Abandoned by their mother, they have come to look for their mother's sister, Aunt Fritzie, who runs the House of Meats, a butcher shop, with her husband. The two Adares lose each other. Karl is frightened by a dog and runs back to the boxcar, and Mary runs the other way, toward town. And so begins the forty year saga of a family, and a community.

Through the years the family holds together through the tenacity of relationships, in a fierce and passionate drama, filled with Erdrich's dark humor. Changes sweep across their lives - birth, death, madness. Change also comes in the form of a growing sugar beet industry. Ms. Erdrich story chronicles Mary's life, as she puts down roots in Argus. She also keeps track of the tragic and sensitive dreamer, Karl, on his endless road journeys. He seem to compulsively flee emotional ties, and yet returns to Argus, again and again. At one point Karl says, "I give nothing, take nothing, mean nothing, hold nothing." He struggles with connection - with the past, and with his family and community. Mary's astounding dreams and fantasies also play an incredible and surreal role in the novel.

Themes of parenting and abandonment, jealousy, sexual obsession, and great love play out with passion in Ms. Erdrich's complex and believable characters, as does her portrayal of people's aggression and the self-destructive side of human nature. Her narrative is written with beauty, clarity and pure magic. This is not an easy book to read, nor is it always pleasant. It is, however, well worth the effort.

Like many of her characters, Ms. Erdrich has a foot in two worlds. She grew up in Wahpeton, North Dakota, near the Bureau of Indian Affairs school where both her mother, of French-Ojibwe descent, and her father, of German descent, taught. She writes movingly about Native Americans "whose nobility resides in their ability to make their lives work."

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Earthy characters, darkly humorous., Dec 19 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: The Beet Queen (Paperback)

From the beginning of the book you care about the characters and what will happen to them. The North Dakota landscape is vividly recreated and the writing is clear, concise, and gritty. My only real "complaint" is I felt unfulfilled by the ending...I kept saying, "but what happened to Jude? He will never know about his family! Wait, it can't end yet."

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4.0 out of 5 stars People as tortured as the landscape, Jun 6 2001

By

Manola Sommerfeld (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beet Queen (Paperback)

I picked up this book at a second hand store. It had a dedication in the inside cover. It had been a gift for Mother's Day, and it read: "To the Queen of the house, because she can't be Beet!".

Erdrich has the special touch to make surreal situations so very believable. I love the parallel drawn with the plane rides, how in one case it is a beautiful woman running away from responsibility, and on the other it is a not-so-graceful woman running away from scorn. The birthday party scene is one of the most hilarious that come to mind, with the cake spinning out of control and Mary still singing Happy Birthday to You, while the guests are showered in frosting. And Mary's fall in the ice and the revered imprint of her face... How surreal can this book get?!?!

In my opinion, it makes sense to read this book first, followed by Love Medicine (93), followed by Tracks (89).

I first learned of Erdrich in some anthology, where i read her short story Fleur (now, that's a scary character, who appears in all three books!)

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Most recent customer reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Confusing, yet interesting
So many things happen to the characters (which are about twelve or so of them), it's hard to keep track and think back of who relates to whom. Read more

Published on Jun 1 2004 by Shaina F Burckhard