The Sentence

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich (2021) 386 pages

This was my first time reading Louise Erdrich, and it was riveting! It took me about 20 pages to start loving Tookie, a Native American who gets out of prison for a very weird crime and then begins working in a small independent bookstore in Minneapolis. So much happens in the year that encompasses the majority of the story, most notably the arrival of a ghost to the bookstore, but also the changes in Tookie's family. I loved learning about the various Native American characters and how they incorporated older traditions into their lives. We also see the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic and the shocking murder of George Floyd from these characters' viewpoints. I think there is much more in this deep story, but I'll have to read it again to pull out those details. I highly recommend this book.