“La Sentence” by Louise Erdrich, healing illnesses with words

Sentence

by Louise Erdrich

Translated from English (USA) by Sarah Gurcel

Albin Michel, Coll. “Lands of America”, 440 pages, €23.90.

From the first words the magic works. Louise Erdrich, a talented storyteller, takes us into a beautiful story full of lovable characters with lightness and humor. Right at the beginning, the narrator, Tookie, is sentenced to sixty years in prison. The year is 2005, she is in her thirties but acts like a 17 year old. His imprisonment is the result of an incredible story. While she naively thought she was doing a favor for a friend, she finds herself charged with body theft, organ trafficking and drug trafficking. Thanks to books, he will mature during his stay in prison.

After her sentence was commuted, she was released ten years later and tried to take her life into her own hands. She lives with Pollux, the police officer who arrested her, and is employed at an independent bookstore in Minneapolis run by one Louise, an author and specialist in indigenous literature.

His peace will be short-lived. Flora, one of the bookstore’s most loyal customers, dies and begins to haunt the store. The pandemic, the incarceration, and the killing of George Floyd by police officers are happening. The unbearable images of his arrest sparked unrest across the country…

The charm works

This story, in which we meet a variety of characters, is about motherhood – the chapter where Tookie meets her daughter’s baby is absolutely beautiful – about identity, reconstruction, resilience, life, death, the bonds, the people connection, integration, spirituality and many of the traditions that shape us and sometimes limit us. In Tookie’s case, it’s his Ojibwa heritage.

Recurring themes in the literary universe of this atypical author, who rewards us with a kind of extraordinary and touching diary about these years marked by uncertainties. The author talks about the rise of racism and the unrestrained intolerance of some of her compatriots. But above all, it is an incredible tribute to books and the “essential” role they play in readers’ lives. The power of words to cure illness and the bookseller’s role as mediator… The whole, which ends with seven pages of recommended reading, is original, unclassifiable, lyrical and flowing. From the big earth…