Louise Erdrich (The Round House) has published 15 novels since 1984, many of them set in the mixed Ojibwe and white community around a fictional North Dakota Indian reservation. LaRose begins on the reservation border, a fraught legal and cultural boundary, and the property line between the Iron and Ravich families. The husbands, Landreaux Iron and Peter Ravich, are old friends; their wives are less friendly half-sisters. Their youngest children, five-year-old boys LaRose and Dusty, play together. One day, Landreaux is stalking a buck on the land between their houses. He has a clear shot at it, but when he fires, he finds he has somehow killed Dusty instead.
Landreaux and his wife, Emmaline, have recovered from substance abuse and raised a strong young family by turning to Ojibwe culture and religion. Guided by an old tradition, they bring LaRose to live with the Raviches as a replacement for Dusty. Slowly the two families develop new bonds, their members struggling with grief and anger, despair and love.
Erdrich switches among multiple perspectives, building a rich portrait of private and public lives, despite one or two moments of extraordinary realization that may seem a little contrived. Through generations, children are sold, given or taken away to strangers, relatives and boarding schools. Despite their suffering, they pass on their skills and traditions, and the family continuously restores itself. Erdrich is a master novelist, and LaRose is one of her most thoughtful and satisfying works. --Sara Catterall