#17

I read Love, Medicine, many years ago and though I somehow never got around to it, I always had in mind the idea that Louise Erdrich was really good and I needed to read her again.

The Bingo Palace is every bit as good, if not better, than Love, Medicine, and features some of the same characters. Yes, North America's European descendents have lost touch with the natural world and we suffer interminable angst as a result--but at least we chose to cut ourselves off in exchange for better technology and comfort and easily obtainable porn. The Native American characters in Erdrich's books feel the same disassociation, but far more keenly, and find themselves with one foot in the world of heavy metal and pimped-out vans and another in the spirit realm. A fantastic book about luck and loss and perserverance.#17