Brian's Reviews > The Sentence

“Who doesn’t have a book in them?”

What a truly bad book THE SENTENCE is. It is all over the place, and never finds a place to land, or a point. In fact the only reason I finished it was so that I could give it a bad rating, and I have a rule about rating books I don’t finish. Also, it was a book club pick, so I felt obligated. I did switch to the audio version about halfway through so I could listen to it while doing things that were more interesting than the book. Things like emptying the dishwasher, picking up twigs and dog poop from the yard, and other such sundries. Even still, I should have just dropped it. Have I mentioned it’s bad?

This book tries to tackle a bunch of “relevant” issues, covid, BLM riots, politics, etc., but Erdrich wrote this before enough time had passed to see if what she thought about these issues was actually true. This book gets so many (all) of those issues wrong because it rushed to have something to say about them before enough time had passed to see if first impressions ended up being the truth. Instead what we get is a novel that reflects the arrogance of the assumptions of the author’s world view.
The section that deals with covid is especially ridiculous. It is self-important, and for lack of a better word, stupid.

Quotes:
• “It’s like you never learned that our choices get us where we are.”
• “Delight seems insubstantial; happiness feels more grounded; ecstasy is what I shoot for; satisfaction is hardest to attain.”
• “Here I shall be held by love.”
• “A people who see themselves primarily as victims are doomed.
• “Every piece of wood needs a companion to keep it burning.

These quotes are the sum total of what I found valuable in this book. Moving on.
I have some other Erdrich on my “to read” pile. This experience might result in their being jettisoned.