Tracks a Novel - by Louise Erdrich (Paperback)

About the Book

Set in the early 1900s, Tracks follows a North Dakota Indian tribe and its struggle to keep their land out of the hands of an encroaching white society.

Book Synopsis

"[Erdrich] captures the passions, fears, myths, and doom of a living people, and she does so with an ease that leaves the reader breathless."--The New Yorker

From award-winning, New York Times bestselling author Louise Erdrich comes an arresting, lyrical novel set in North Dakota at a time when Indian tribes were struggling to keep what little remained of their lands.

Tracks is a tale of passion and deep unrest. Over the course of ten crucial years, as tribal land and trust between people erode ceaselessly, men and women are pushed to the brink of their endurance--yet their pride and humor prohibit surrender. The reader will experience shock and pleasure in encountering characters that are compelling and rich in their vigor, clarity, and indomitable vitality.

From the Back Cover

Set in North Dakota at a time in the past century when Indian tribes were struggling to keep what little remained of their lands, Tracks is a tale of passion and deep unrest. Over the course of ten crucial years, as tribal land and trust between people erode ceaselessly, men and women are pushed to the brink of their endurance--yet their pride and humor prohibit surrender. The reader will experience shock and pleasure in encountering characters that are compelling and rich in their vigor, clarity, and indomitable vitality.

Review Quotes

"Even readers won over by Louise Erdrich's two earlier works (Love Medicine and The Beet queen) may be surprised by her third novel. Tracks is a stunning and powerful book; it is by far the most impressive installment . . . Erdrich's lyricism gives her characters a moving and spellbinding intensity. Many readers will feel they have heard these voices speaking all of their lives." -- "Boston Phoenix" "Ms. Erdrich's novels, regional in the best sense, are 'about' the experience of Native Americans the way Toni Morrison's are about black people, William Faulkner's and Eudora Welty's about the South, Philip Roths and Bernard Malamud's about the Jews. The specificity implies nothing provincial or small . . . Ms. Erdrich artfully sifts the miraculous through the mundane." -- "New York Times Book Review"""Tracks" is as good as [Erdrich's] first two books, which is very good indeed . . . Time and time again she startles the reader with a perfect image." -- "Minneapolis Star Tribune""Fleur Pillager [is] one of the most haunting presences in contemporary American literatureTracks may be the story of our time."-- "Los Angeles Times""The author captures the passions, fears, myths, and doom of a living people, and she does so with an ease that leaves the reader breathless."-- "The New Yorker"A writer of truly extraordinary gifts--imaginative power, acute sensitivity, and unpretentious stylistic grace. At 34, she is completing a cycle of work already marked as a classic." -- "San Francisco Chronicle""What gives this novel its resonance is Erdrich's extraordinary ability to create not an approximation of the past but something that seems like a living, breathing evocation of it. It is a book ofpowerful, poetic images, in which myth and reality elide . . . The novel leaves behind an indelible impression." -- "The Guardian""It is difficult to pinpoint what is most compelling about Louise Erdrich's fiction--the elegance of the language, her art as a storyteller or the authenticity of her Native American characters . . . A triumph on all counts, haunting and, memorable." -- "Phoenix Republic"