The Painted Drum: A Novel (P.S.)

I just finished this for summer reading for school (sophomore honors) and just to clarify, I LOVE READING and so not to biase my review, I was looking forward to this book a lot! The first half of the book took me awhile to read, as I realized how deep some parts were. I actually really enjoyed the book once I got into it and would read it again. I loved the history mixed in with everyday life and deep underlying backgrounds. Going on that, I do believe that this is a book for a more mature audience (not themes, but age). I feel like this is definitely a book I will want to pick up when I'm older and will understand better and with another point of view, sadly our school gave this to us early.

It all starts with a stolen drum. When Faye saves the drum, unknowingly she also saves lives. Erdrich empowers the women in this novel without necessarily villainizing the men. Young girls, in particular, rise above their circumstances to rescue those forgotten or abused. In Erdrich's most lyrical novel, we learn that, often, lost love hinders, though it should pull us all together. But, for some characters, the pull of the past is loud enough to allow us to seek--and accept--love in all its forms. Just as the dead call, so too does the drum call the weary, ever saving.

Painted Drum has compeling themes about the responsibility and shortcoming between mothers and daughters. I won't say more since this is an important part of the novel since it ties the three narratives together.

Divided into three narrative styles. The contemporary setting with the main character and her mother is best. The "Native" sections going back two generations are so-so. I know Louise says she's Native, but I worry that she contributes more to the stereotypes of us by these types of writing. It's has no focus, we're drunks, we're lost in our traditions mixed with mysticism. Frankly, that doesn't do anything for us. Some of us still know who we are, can speak our languages, and attend our ceremonies, WITHOUT the aid of alcohol. We don't have study books to find them and ourselves. That's how I see Louse's contemporary characters. I didn't care for the second setting with a mother with no motherly instinct leaving her children in a cold house without food. (Has this woman heard for foodstamps? Don't talk to me about dignity. She wanted to pawn herself for food, but instead she gets stuck in a bar. Louse, stay away from Native characters on the rez!) Set in a contemporary setting but on the reservation, her elder daughters saves her siblings and hears the beating of the drum. She makes these characters almost comical, no development, and the writing bares to a level that I had to flip pages to find out how long this narrative would last before the better writing style resurfaced.

I like the themes of the book, and I think Louise could have written it from a contemporary New Hampshire setting for the entire book, and she would have achieved a better paced, interesting plot. Mixing the the other two lowered the writing quality, hence the three stars.

The contemporary setting has the most poetic writing. It's pretty, and I ended up re-reading sections because of its beauty. I bought the book because a friend read a section of it (the contemporary setting), and I was intrigued. I was not in the least bit disappointed in this respect.

Most people will fall for the exact things that perturbed me about this novel. I was also bothered that Louise left a lot of a lot of unresolved issues with the main character. She steals a drum, returns it on the belief that "white men" steal from Natives all the time, and justifies her belief, and gets away with the crime. I wanted her to not sit in the evening with her aging mother and feel sure of herself of having returned the drum to its rightful owner. I wanted a more complex novel with conflict. I understand Louise often returns to her characters, so she might very well investigate this character for a future novel. Stay tuned, I guess.

While Louise Erdrich has long been a favorite author of mine, I will admit that approached THE PAINTED DRUM with a modicum of trepidation. Oddly, I had heard bad reviews of what turned out to be one of the most beautiful and satisfying novels I've read in a long time. I first encountered Louise Erdrich as the author of TRACKS and LOVE MEDICINE, novels I read for a college class and I have enjoyed her work ever since. In particular, I highly recommend FOUR SOULS, THE MASTER BUTCHERS SINGING CLUB and THE BEET QUEEN to anyone interested in reading more of her. Erdrich's latest offering is subtle, compelling, sophisticated and every bit as worthy of discussion and analysis as its predecessors. Much in the style of her other works concerning the Ojibwa tribe, PAINTED DRUM is a masterful blend of various voices and perspectives which creates a very pleasing overall drama without feeling jarring or disconnected. Erdrich deftly weaves images of love and nature, grief and loss, healing and music, family and loneliness, sacrifice and revenge, and tradition and need for self-discovery into a surprisingly cohesive narrative. Yes, there several stories involved in this book, but they interconnect marvelously and, as almost an added bonus with many of the characters (Fleur Pillager, Old Nanapush, etc.) of her previous works.

In the novel we meet the wonderful Faye Travers, protagonist of the first and final sections of the novel) as well as a host of other characters including Bernard Shaawano, Old Shaawano, Anaquot, several young girls both living and dead, and the marvelous drum itself. The drum, in fact, is both a character and a theme which connects and bonds the entire cast of characters. Representing healing, power and connection it is gives the novel it's chillingly beautiful conclusion. The other characters are painted in Erdrich's ineffable style: beautifully flawed and sympathetically compelling. Erdrich has a gift for creating such people - people at once ontologically removed from our lives and at one with our hearts. She deftly avoids any semblance of over-compensating for the tribulations of her tribe: her characters are too powerfully human to be pitied and there are no neither true villains nor two-dimensional heroes.

One final note: Louise Erdrich is master at storytelling and, I suspect, a musician as well. As in THE MASTER BUTCHERS SINGING CLUB, music is a great force of bonding and healing within the lives of her characters. But it is worth it to approach both the power of music and the power of stories from less American-European perspective. In many cultures both music and stories hold great power, they exist both on their own and in our lives and are not necessarily something to be manipulated and controlled simply for pleasure. Keep this in mind as you read this novel. Characters, like Faye Travers who we meet as a first-person narrator share their soul and their thoughts while others, such as those we meet in Bernard Shaawano's stories, initially appear less in-depth. But that notion in deceptive, for there is power everywhere. Take note of this as well as her use of nature and animal imagery (especially trees, dogs, wolves and ravens) and you will enjoy this book much more deeply.

Title: Powwow
Louise Erdrich astounds the reader with her stylish infallible prose. This is the first time I’ve read one of her novel. Intrigued and mesmerized from this cultural fantasy encouraging readers to follow up with her literary expository.
Life’s drama taken beyond to the enlightening sphere of action, relationships, love, family, and death nurtured with the drum’s “little spirit.” With songs calling on long distances, each time, a miracle unites the Ojibwe Indian’s generations. A trophy partly in subtleties, authentic local folk’s parable, crude language, and philosophical assertions holding the reader spellbound for its realistic and dramatic portrait in the Wild West regions. Abbreviated romantic episodes but instead enclosed historical facts on Ojibwe Indians would have been an option without fading suspense. Overall, I won’t cherish this book the way I would have liked because of its darker side which left me puzzled.

After reading many of Louise Erdrich's novels, I had become tired of their similarities -- until, that is, I decided to give The Painted Drum a chance. Erdrich's novel recaptures the originality of her earlier work and improves it with the maturity of a veteran novelist, succeeding with her multiple narratives as she never has before.

The author has been quoted as describing her writing style as a patchwork quilt, piecing scraps of stories together until they form a beautiful whole. In The Painted Drum, these scraps consist of two major plots: the present day story of Faye, a contemporary woman living with a sense of loss, and the history of a painted drum Faye acquires. The novel's structure is not as simple, however, as this division suggests, as individual stories abound. The throbbing resonance of the drum takes on haunting meaning as its history, traced back to its creation, is revealed. Although the lineage of the drum defines the novel's scope, the stories that surround it veer off in tangents.

Although the Ojibwe history and cast of characters (including the familiar Fleur Pillager) give this novel a complexity that goes beyond what Erdrich has accomplished in recent books, Faye's story steers the work in a new direction, one that gives the ancient spirituality of Native Americans an urgency in contemporary America. The connections between mothers and daughters, between the dead and the living, and among survivors lend this novel poignancy and hope, even if the hope seems less solid that the grief itself.

I highly recommend this novel, especially to fans of Love Medicine and The Beet Queen.

The opening chapters center on Faye Travers, a modern woman whose grandmother was Ojibwe, and who with her mother Elsie owns an estate sale business. Faye is hired by the family of a former Indian agent whose estate is filled with Indian artifacts including a decorated drum which Faye uncharacteristically steals. Eventually Faye and Elsie decide to return the drum to a family of Ojibwe who Elsie remembers.

The real story then begins to unfold. The drum has touched several generations of Ojibwe since its creation by Bernard's grandfather who made it out of sorrow for the loss of his wife who left him for another man and the resulting death of his daughter. The story doesn't follow a straight line but wanders through the lives of the unfaithful wife, the older son, and most poignantly, the lives of three small children left by their mother in the cold and without food.

Erdrich's writing is not always easy to read; the convoluted story line of the drum is at times difficult to follow because Erdrich is mostly telling it backwards. The drum's effect on the lives of the characters is sometimes a bit of a stretch as Indian lore and beliefs intertwine with the realities of life. The book is the sharpest and most effective during the story of Shawnee, the nine-year old girl who walks her younger sister and brother to safety following a tragic house fire. The book is the least effective during the portions dealing with Faye and her relationship to a lover and her own feelings of inadequacy and guilt. I wish Erdich would concentrate more on stories and characters and less on what I call the "abstract." In short, Erdich is a great story teller and a master at phrasing. It's when she gets into the first-person narrative with rambling thoughts that she sometimes loses me and there is a bit too much of that - therefore a four, but still certainly well worth the effort it takes to read.

"The Painted Drum" is a marvelously crafted novel that traces the history of a drum and the people whose lives it touches. Primarily set in New Hampshire, the story opens with a quiet introspective contemplation by one of the novel's narrators. ". . . I am lost in my thoughts and pause too long where the cemetery road meets the two-lane highway. This distraction seems partly age, but there is more too, I think." This opening paves the way for the unfolding of Faye's life in the small New England town where she has spent her entire existence. Faye and her mother, Elise, are proprietors of a business that specialized in estate liquidation. It is through this business that Faye finds the tribal drum that is at the novel's center. Upon first sight, Faye knows that the drum is powerful. Her attachment to it is immediate and indefinable. After a period, Faye decides that she will locate the drum's original owners and return it. In locating the owners, the novel shifts setting and an entirely new cast of characters populate the story. I found the story to be at it richest when telling about the making of the drum and the people involved with it.

Erdrich's story telling abilities are keen. I was easily wrapped up in each character's story. The relationships explored in the novel are subtly interrogated with lyrical language that's pregnant with meaning. The novel is set in three parts, each of which could be a short story; each connected by the tribal ancestors and stories that inhabit the drum. "The Painted Drum" is another superb novel by Erdrich. I read "Love Medicine" a few months back and it was familiar and pleasing to be reintroduced to the Pillagers clan in Erdrich's latest novel. Now I'm motivated to read more of her works just to see how many of her characters have lives that span multiple novels. This is a quality read; enjoy it!

Faye Travers, estate appraiser, finds an unusual drum while doing an inventory on a massive Native American collection. Always trustworthy and professional, she is very surprised when she finds herself stealing the drum. Her need to find its rightful home is that overwhelming.

The reader is then led through the detailed history and the life of the drum, elaborating on the beautiful traditions and beliefs of the rich Native American culture.

This book has an exciting and interesting storyline. The characters are very well developed and true. The settings are descriptive and beautifully depicted. However, it is also a valuable peek into the beautiful spirituality and ritual of the Native American people. This is a valuable book in many ways. I will always cherish it.

(No spoilers here.) In the opening pages, Faye Travers, an estate agent in New Hampshire, inventories the home of John Jewett Tatro, whose grandfather was an Indian agent, and whose grandmother was an Ojibwe. When Faye opens an attic room, she finds a collection of enormous value, including an incredible drum, hollowed out from a single piece of cedar wood and covered by a moose hide.

The history of the "Little Girl" drum takes the reader from New Hampshire to an Ojibwe reservation in Minnesota. Bernard Shaawano, who is the grandson of the drum's maker, narrates this section, telling about the life of his grandfather, why he made the drum, who he was memorializing, and how this drum eventually came to New Hampshire. The fascinating process by which the drum was made, the ceremonies and traditional beliefs associated with it, and the traumatic lives and deaths of the Shaawano family over three generations connect the drum and its history with the essence of existence.

In the final section, Shawnee, a young girl living in a remote area of the reservation, has been babysitting for her younger brother and sister for several bitterly cold days, without enough fuel and no food. Their mother has been sidetracked, drinking in town. The depiction of the lives of these children is heart-rending, and their connection to the "Little Girl" drum adds another layer of mystery to the drum's "life."

Written with a homey intimacy and honesty, Erdrich deals with big themes of life and death and the beliefs associated with them. Nature is an intimate part of this process, and it is further emphasized through symbols and repeating motifs--a field of orb spiders, a dog which escapes its cruel confines, wolves and their mystical connection with mankind. Always, of course, Erdrich conveys Indian spiritual values, even as she depicts their often sad and limited lives.

The characters here have real faults and real conflicts, but Erdrich is generous with them, never making value judgments while showing the circumstances which have determined their behavior. With interconnected stories involving characters from three generations and three different families, The Painted Drum is a novel which taps into universal feelings and hopes, even as it depicts some of life's terrible realities. n Mary Whipple

Erdrich really gets into a surreal feel with her writing in this book in a way that engages the reader from the start. There are so many layers to the levels the reader can learn from, and this truly is a teaching story on multiple levels. I finished reading with a haunted and disturbed feeling, and over time, it evolved into a template for how to understand impact of decisions, choices, passions and the past. There is an amazing amount of wisdom in this book. In contrast to other Erdrich novels where there is a depth of sorrow contrasted with at times, near explosive humor, this novel has less of the wry humorous stories, but it more than makes up for it in her ability to utilize poetic and descriptive language in such a way that she ought to receive many, many awards. I haven't felt this way reading a novel since Hemingway. Truly beautiful.

Louise Erdrich never disappoints her readers. This novel is not as enthralling as Master Butchers Singing Club, but it reverberates with the same precise and compelling prose that has made Erdrich so successful. Traditions have always struck a chord with me, and I found this novel explained the mystical draw that they have with individuals and families. The painted drum is an exquisite symbol of the pull of the Indian lore that makes us want to read more about it. It has mystical and mythical properties that cannot be disputed by those who come to life within these pages. I will remember this book and its unique message. I remain a committed Erdrich fan.

Louise Erdrich paints a story beautifully around the lives separate people in her book entitled The Painted Drum. The book itself is actually split into four sections, each giving the stories of different people and their tragic situations which come together through one common denominator, a sacred drum. With a rich history involving betrayal, death, grief and renewal, we come to find that the drum beats with the spirit of a lost child and through her spirit the characters in the story eventually find peace within their own lives.

The Painted Drum is very insightful when trying to gain a greater understanding of the grieving and strength that is ever present within the human condition. Louise Erdrich's own rich native history resonates through every word and the overall outcome is a brilliantly constructed piece of authentic literature that would be found enjoyable, touching, and educational by any reader.

The issue of spirituality is ever present even though characters throughout the story do not come off as extremely "religious". In this way, Erdrich shows the ways in which the natural world and spirits of the deceased act as healers and spiritual guides for those living here on this earth. In this same sense, there is also a strong wisdom that is found from animals in the story. And, as many Indians joke, a story isn't an "Indian story" unless it incorporates a dog. Well, there are dogs, coyotes, and wolves that each have a lesson of their own to offer the reader, so in this way, the story certainly qualifies as truly native. Memory and the pain that comes from the past is a large component at work as well and the past constitutes as a building ground for each of the characters. The incorporation of Erdrich's native vocabulary from the Ojibwe Tribe also adds to the novel's authentic nature.

Overall one of the most touching stories I've read in a long time!

Life and Death
I thought The Painted Drum by Louise Erdrich had both good and bad qualities. I didn't like how the book was structured or some of the characters. Faye's story didn't really have anything to do with the drum. I know she found it and in some way it helped her move on in her life, but that was barely discussed at all. I don't think Fay added much to the story. I would rather have heard more about Bernard and Ira. Also, the Pillager family tree seems to stretch far and wide. I found it hard to keep track of who was related to whom.
What I liked about this novel was the theme. It had to do with both life and death. Many of the characters didn't know at first why they should live, yet near the end everyone found a purpose for their lives. Some of them were also able to come to terms with the death of their loved ones. That's not a very easy thing to do. I think the moral in this book has a lot to teach people about life and how to get past death.

Everything I have read by Erdrich is compelling, poetic, draws me in, empties and refills my soul. The Painted Drum does the same, but there is also something about it that makes it a living being, and the voices within it as clear and full of power as the bones within the drum.

Another excellent book by Louise Erdrich~!! My husband and I both enjoyed it, very much.

Keeps your interest from start to finish and is also very informative with regard to the American Indian and their customs.

I enjoyed it immensely and highly recommend it.

This story is so powerful, so intricate, that I can't begin to adequately describe it. It is filled with mythology, deep deep grief, strong fearful love and the courage to take the first step to move on. The Painted Drum will live in my mind for a long time.

Erdrich has depicted the loss and threat of loss of children in very realistic ways as well as how those around such children respond. What's more she has also shown the myriad paths to healing that people take after such experiences. The importance of community and Native American cultural practices are brought to the forefront at crucial moments. A deeply touching story.

Louise Erdrich has the ability to capture simple truths that make life significant. She can also make the most unbeleivable scenes (such as the Mother throwing her baby to the wolves) seem totally sane. I think LOVE MEDICINE is a book that will be a classic always. This may not be that good but read it and see.

as with all of her novels, louise erdrich weaves an unusual and original story about an ordinary object; in this case, a drum. she uses odd but real characters, diverse landscapes and geographical locations, and beautiful language to entertain us to the last page.

This was a very disturbing book. It carried such a feeling of despair that it took me a long time to shake it off. The story was a good one, but why did the characters have to be so unhappy and disfunctional? Such a horrible feeling of hopelessness prevailed.