Shadow Tag: A Novel (P.S.)

This standalone novel takes place in Minnesota, not Erdrich's Obijwa territory of North Dakota, and it does not concern any of the Nanapush clan, either examining its past or advancing its future. It does concern Native American issues, of both psychological interest and historical content. To say that Louise Erdrich is one of my favorite writers is an understatement. I have been reading her for almost 30 years and have never been disappointed. Initially, she tells the story from three points of view of identity: 1) how a person thinks they appear to others (red diary); 2) how a person wants to be thought of by others (blue diary); and 3) how a person actually is viewed by others (omniscient 3rd person narrator). In lacking her telltale earthy humor, this is a much more straightforward narrative, but never lacks suspense, continues to surprise. It still baffles me that she isn't a finalist for the National Book Award with every book she publishes. Her scholarship is impeccable, her scope of interests limitless.

Many of the reviews focus on boundaries and obsessions and these things in the book are true. But what's not mentioned here I think is one of the true strengths of the novel.
He's obsessive, manic, mean, violent and jealous. And she's a manipulative alcoholic who is delusional about the level of her co-dependence.
This relationship is not normal or healthy, in fact it's so incredibly screwed up it's dangerous to every last soul in the family, but Erdrich manages to weave it all into a story with such universal truths that though stretched to a melodramatic level of "kitsch" (to borrow a descriptor from the narrative) it's not in the end kitschy or melodramatic. It's authentic to the point people can recognize and relate to it when caught up in it. Just as the characters themselves are. Even to the bitter end.
And it isn't until you stand back and regard the picture as a whole that you realize just how mad both of these two people really are.
I can't really expound on that much more without going into the ending so I'll leave it there.
I highly recommend this book.

Erdrich's Shadow Tag is a novel about the dissolution of a marriage as well as the individual breakdown of both husband and wife, Gil and Irene. However, Erdirch's writing is reminiscent of Toni Morrison in the way in which her work is from a perspective unfamiliar to most of us. As much as this is a novel about marital breakdown, it is also a novel about the struggle of Native American assimilation into white Anglo society.

Both Gil and Irene are of Native descent. Gil is a successful artist who lurches between fawning over the value and beauty of his wife and children, and bursting into violent rage, hitting their son Florian (their oldest child), and abusing Irene. Irene is in the midst of Doctoral work in Native American history for which she is writing a thesis on a white painter whose native subjects all died shortly after being painted. She has willingly posed nude for Gil's America series, paintings of her that range from flattering to obscene.

Irene keeps two journals. The red journal is kept in her office in the basement of their home. Her blue journal is kept in a bank vault. Gil has begun reading her red journal and Irene knows. She uses it now merely for manipulation and deception. In order to protect a measure of privacy in her own life she keeps the blue journal, the honest record of her thoughts and feelings, where no one but she can access it. It is the existence and juxtaposition of these two journals that moves the plot of the story. What Erdrich is dealing with in this device is the postmodern question of history and truth. Both journals are written records and when Gil reads Irene's journal he believes that what he is reading is true. The problem with Erdrich's device is that it is extremely overt. The reader is let in on the trick. The story of Shadow Tag is guided by a narrator, identified at the end of the novel, making the multiple voice storytelling of Irene's journals lack the richness of other multi narrator works such as Erdirch's own Tracks.

As a novel of conquest and assimilation, Shadow Tag is slightly more successful. It gains depth as a metaphor for the Native American struggle in a White society. What Irene wants is privacy. That is what drives her to by another journal and keep it a secret in a bank vault. That is what Gil has violated by painting her over and over again. It is not really the painting, however that Irene is attempting to escape, but the domination of her by her husband, a sort of manifest destiny of the total possession of his wife.

As a novel about a marriage, Shadow Tag is relentlessly bleak, a credit to the author attempting to recreate the reality of familial and marital decline. But the novel is far more successful as a novel about a Native American struggle to be defined and yet retain some measure of autonomy and freedom in a dominating White, Anglo culture.

Louise Erdich latest foray into her version of "the Indian Chronicles" takes us into the lives of Irene America, her husband Gil and their three children Riel, Florian and Stoney. The adult characters are about as unsympathetic as any you will find in literature. In her continued exploration of the Indian as victim theme, Erdrich takes us into the on-going love/hate relationship between Irene and Gil. Irene is a "budding" alcoholic who seems to be obsessed with winning the emotional war that has been raging between she and Gil for years. Gil has two obsessions. The first seems to focus on literally possessing Irene and capturing her true self on canvas (Indian belief holds that portraits are merely shadows.....and those shadows are the soul of the subject). The second is his need to break out of the strangling confinement of the niche he has been assigned as a Native American artist. His personal and professional insecurities resonate most loudly in his apparent jealousy of his children and his readiness to accept the lie put forth by Irene, that they are not really his.

Perhaps I was just not in the mood for Erdrich's trip to the dark side of human nature. It was obvious from the outset of the story that this couples' dangerous game playing could only produce disastrous results for their family. I guess I have temporarily reached my maximum capacity of acceptance for self-absorbed characters, so focused on themselves and their self-destructive antics that they are unable or unwilling to see the damage they are doing to those around them. Whatever the reason, I found very little to like about this book.

In "Shadow Tag," award-winning author Louise Erdrich has a more minimal focus, chosing to focus on a single family. Gil America is a talented, charismatic artist, whose portraits of his wife, Irene, has lead to acclaim. Irene is a compelling, beautiful woman, who, in addition to being Gil's model and raising their children, has recently resumed working on her doctoral thesis on George Catlin, who did portraits of Native Americans. The couple has three children, Florian, their brilliant eldest son; Riel, their only daughter, who is both tough and pragmatic; and Stoney, their youngest.

As the story begins, it becomes obvious that their marriage is falling apart. Irene has discovered that Gil is reading her diaries and is enraged at the violation of her privacy. Rather than confronting him, however, she decides to use her diary to enflame and undermine him, keeping a private version out of his reach. As the novel progresses, it becomes clearer that they are strongly enmeshed - Irene struggling to carve out some space for herself, Gil equally intent on ensuring that he possesses her, even through physical violence. Although she longs for her freedom, Irene seems unable to do anything to achieve it, becoming increasingly dependent on alcohol and manipulative games. Neither of them seems to notice, or even care, how this is impacting their children.

The novel is also interwoven with references to Native American religion and culture, which adds both interest and a deeper dimension to the conflicts raging below the surface Erdrich is especially skillful in how she uses the metaphors of sight and knowledge - if Gil hadn't seen his wife's diary, how would the story have ended? Irene seems willing to allow Gil to see her as a model, as a sort of everywoman; but also yearns for privacy, something of her own, that he cannot see and take from her. The tension continues to simmer and build, culminating in a totally unexpected climax.

This is a beautifully-written book, but I am rating it as four stars only because I had a very difficult time getting through it. For those who like realistic stories with unsympathetic (or perhaps twisted would be a better term) main characters, this would be a great read. I prefer to end a novel feeling that the characters learned from their experiences, that some growth or insight occurred, even at a painful cost. This novel left me with the message, "Don't end up like this," with very little understanding of how they got there.

Wow. Incredibly well-written, disturbing story about a dysfunctional couple, family. Very realistic, believable story of a messed up couple. It has haunted me for days...I'll be reading more Erdich in the future!

I have read nearly all of Erdrich's novels. After to LOVE MEDICINE this is my favorite. That said, it is not for the faint of heart. This is a tragic story written close to the bone. If you are interested in any way in how the coal of real life becomes burned and burnished into diamond, then this is a masterpiece: pure, hard, with fire of its own.

Shadow Tag has an intriguing premise based on dual diaries. When Irene discovers her husband, a painter, Gil, has been reading her diary, she creates a fake diary for him to read, and a real one for her personal use. The novel moves forward using both diaries, and third person narration to tell the story of the unraveling of a marriage. As main characters, both Irene and Gil disappoint. Irene is manipulative, unhappy, and self-destructive, numbing herself with alcohol, and the author doesn't give us anything positive to counterbalance. Gil wants to possess his wife - both her spirit through his painting and her body and soul in reality. Nothing else is shown of his personality except the mental and physical abuse he unleashes on his wife and children.

The game of shadow tag is a good metaphor for the way Gil, as husband and father, took from his wife and children without giving anything of himself. The crumbling of the marriage, while depressing, is interesting. Louise Erdrich is a good writer, and had a good idea, but the outcome is a little too raw, a little too depressing, and her characters, instead of drawing us in, repel. A good try.

Have you ever read a book and found it absolutely exhausting?

I had never read anything by Erdrich before. But I once read a book by Reynolds Price and had the same reaction.

Although there are times when insight and a real grasp of human emotion show through, I was left with the feeling that the author was simply trying too hard to be profound.

Louise Erdrich takes the title of her book from a game played by children in which, if one's shadow is stepped on, one is out of the game. She combines this with the idea that some aboriginal cultures hold in which a shadow contains part of someone's soul, so that if it is stepped on the soul is damaged.

With this premise, she brings us the tale of Gil and Irene, whose marriage is falling apart around them. Irene keeps one diary filled with falsehoods that she plants for Gil to read since he is always checking up on her; she keeps one with the actual truth in it at a bank in a safe deposit box.

For his part, Gil is a successful portrait artist. All of his images are of his wife, many of them in humiliating or violent poses. He works out his aggressions toward her on his canvas.

Their three children, of course, are victims of the distrust and agony in their parents marriage.

I found Erdrich's non-traditional punctuation (which is to say that she choose not to use it at times) off-putting, and the tale was not as well-constructed as I might have liked. There was tremendous potential for a far more interesting narrative than what she provided. Not a brilliant book, but in fact average and pedestrian.

(Review based on uncorrected advance proof.)

Shadow Tag is a lightning fast read that is haunting and bleak, yet entirely memorable. Very few writers can manage to make these family stories compelling in a way that feels original, and Erdrich is to be commended for her ability to do so in this novel. You can feel the despair of the husband, the effect on the children and their descent into a state of semi-madness.

The latest from Louise Erdrich is a difficult book to read since it is about the disintegration of a marriage, the impact on all members of the family and the ugliness of behavior that the situation can provoke. A quick read, but not an easy one.

Reading this novel was disturbing on several levels. I understand the compulsion to write but wish that someone had suggested that the author wait a while longer to publish this or to tell this story. There seems to be a disconnect between many of the mainstream reviews and the actual text. The character of the wife is almost blank. It seems significant that Erdrich didn't give her a successful writing life--although arguably Gil's paintings are stand-ins for Edrich's novels. As The NY Times reviewer noted, the book demands that we think about Erdrich's (and Dorris's) life.
Irene's ending seems symbolic of unresolved damage--survivor's guilt that includes nostalgia and fury. The structure of the novel is also problematic--the ploy of the two diaries seems weak, as does the introduction of the character named Louise. The coda, or last section, is extremely problematic.The prose is uneven--some of the lines are stunning, but the contents of part IV and the final section are very weak--as if Erdrich simply wanted the book finished and the story off her hands once and for all. The pastiche of IV--which begins with the death of a guinea pig and ends with ". . . to kill yourself means never having to say your sorry [why that allusion?!]. No, no. love means that you must adamantly cling to life"--is hardly the stuff of either great fiction or effective scriptotherapy for writer or reader.

Erdrich has created another brilliant narrative. While Shadow Tag is much different from her earlier novels, it is, nonetheless, another example of why Erdrich is such a respected writer. Having just taught a course on Erdrich, I have read all her fiction/poetry/memoir and always enjoy her work. Shadow Tag did not disappoint in any way; indeed, I read the book in 2 days and immediately began to reread it. Her characters are well-developed; the narrative style is engaging and the ending is dark and tragic, as is much of the story.

Although this book has gotten many rave reviews, it struck as me as very distressing, very dark, so sad, no likable characters.......well you get the picture. I read about 3/4 of the way through and decided there are way too many really wonderful books out there waiting for me to read. Also, the lack of punctuation really "bugs" me and sometimes means going back and reading the last few sentences again to get the full idea.

This book was difficult to get through. It is depressing to say the least. I literally had to make myself pick it up again and again to finish it. I literally hated these characters, found them unsympathetic. Not to mention careless, unconcerned parents. These people live to torture each other, talk about dysfunctional. This book simply was not my cup of tea.