Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich

“You see I thought love got easier over the years so it didn’t hurt so bad when it hurt, or feel so good when it felt good. I thought it smoothed out and old people hardly noticed it. I thought it curled up and died, I guess. Now I saw it rear up like a whip and lash..”

This book explores the wide range of human emotions and the way that we react to them. It questions love, sisterhood, family, responsibility, addiction, the idea of respect, generational knowledge, the idea of intuition and magic, religion, and more.

I love the way Erdrich circles through all the characters in a way that introduces you to them deeply, while giving you just enough to start making connections between them. Love Medicine follows several generations of several families in a beautiful, realistic way. There isn’t much judgement, or black and white thinking. There is only pain, and love, and the building or breaking of relationships. The novel uncovers secrets long held through generations and the power of a bloodline, while also commenting on the meaning of family being so much more than blood.

Love Medicine is also a commentary on land back, the bias in the legal justice system, poverty and generational trauma. She touches on boarding schools (government schools for Indigenous children in the U.S.) and the life of poverty that many of the families faced due to our colonial government policies. While she is writing from an American context (according to our borders), these themes are equally important in Canada - especially with the National Day of Truth & Reconciliation coming up on September 30th.

It’s a gorgeous novel. If you’re into generational family stories, or fiction with flawless political commentary, you’ll love this!

🧡Already read it?
Similarly, you might enjoy Katherena Vermette’s The Break, The Strangers & The Circle.