[.ca] The Beet Queen (ISBN 0060835273)

good at bleakness:
This novel is a study in emptiness, maladjustment, and painful fate. With their twisted sexuality and homeliness, the characters are vivid and realistic. But I just couldn't resist saying, "c'mon, let's grow a little, let's expand beyond the deck of cards you think you have." Yes, Erdich is a talented writer who sees deeply. It is all just so hopeless, those traps that the characters build for themselves and accept. Serious art, yes, but sheesh! There is rarely a light moment in the whole book. ....

People as tortured as the landscape:
I picked up this book at a second hand store. It had a dedication in the inside cover. It had been a gift for Mother's Day, and it read: "To the Queen of the house, because she can't be Beet!". Erdrich has the special touch to make surreal situations so very believable. I love the parallel drawn with the plane rides, how in one case it is a beautiful woman running away from responsibility, and on the other it is a not-so-graceful woman running away from scorn. The birthday party scene is one of the most hilarious that come to mind, with the cake spinning out of control and Mary still singing Happy Birthday to You, while the guests are showered in frosting. And Mary's fall in the ice and the revered imprint of her face... How surreal can this book get?!?! In my opinion, it makes sense to read this book first, followed by Love Medicine (93), followed by Tracks (89). I first learned of Erdrich in some anthology, where i read her short story Fleur (now, that's a scary character, who appears in all three books!)

Hands down, the worst book I ever read:
How many ways are there to hate this book? Let's get started. First, the characters are so feeble and unsympathetic I found myself not caring what happened to them. From hobosexual Karl to mediocre Mary, and oh yes, Dot. Dot is a not-so-gentle reminder that the characters in some novels should be spayed or neutered before they get a chance to randomly breed. There are 2 characters of interest (Russell and Fleur), but they contribute about 3 pages to this monstrosity of a book. I had to read this monumental waste for a literature class. I normally like to read, but this book nearly beat the reading bug right out of me. Even if I had not been required to read it, I might have finished it anyway in the expectation that something interesting would (finally) happen. Bad news, folks: it never does. The same utter pointlessness continues right on through the last page. I don't want to keep you hanging by a thread here, so let me get right to the point: This book is awful.

Confusing, yet interesting:
So many things happen to the characters (which are about twelve or so of them), it's hard to keep track and think back of who relates to whom. The beginning is exciting because so many things happen, but then near the end, it gets boring because so many outragous things are happening and they do not become believeable or shocking anymore (like Sita dying in her garden and Russell dying on the float in the parade). It becomes so depressing at the end how everyone is sick, dying, dependent or crazy. I do not understand the deep symbolism in this book and sometimes I couldn't even tell if something was really happening or the writer was trying to trick me. It's ok, nothing spectacular, interesting read.

A Brilliant Portrait Of Agression, Self-Destruction & Love!:
On a cold spring morning in 1932, fourteen-year old Karl Adare and his eleven-year-old sister, Mary, arrive by freight train in Argus, North Dakota. Abandoned by their mother, they have come to look for their mother's sister, Aunt Fritzie, who runs the House of Meats, a butcher shop, with her husband. The two Adares lose each other. Karl is frightened by a dog and runs back to the boxcar, and Mary runs the other way, toward town. And so begins the forty year saga of a family, and a community. Through the years the family holds together through the tenacity of relationships, in a fierce and passionate drama, filled with Erdrich's dark humor. Changes sweep across their lives - birth, death, madness. Change also comes in the form of a growing sugar beet industry. Ms. Erdrich story chronicles Mary's life, as she puts down roots in Argus. She also keeps track of the tragic and sensitive dreamer, Karl, on his endless road journeys. He seem to compulsively flee emotional ties, and yet returns to Argus, again and again. At one point Karl says, "I give nothing, take nothing, mean nothing, hold nothing." He struggles with connection - with the past, and with his family and community. Mary's astounding dreams and fantasies also play an incredible and surreal role in the novel. Themes of parenting and abandonment, jealousy, sexual obsession, and great love play out with passion in Ms. Erdrich's complex and believable characters, as does her portrayal of people's aggression and the self-destructive side of human nature. Her narrative is written with beauty, clarity and pure magic. This is not an easy book to read, nor is it always pleasant. It is, however, well worth the effort. Like many of her characters, Ms. Erdrich has a foot in two worlds. She grew up in Wahpeton, North Dakota, near the Bureau of Indian Affairs school where both her mother, of French-Ojibwe descent, and her father, of German descent, taught. She writes movingly about Native Americans "whose nobility resides in their ability to make their lives work."