I had hoped that this book would be so much more than it was. Instead, it's maudlin and meandering, and told in an affectless tone that tends to disengage the reader from the characters. Adding to the sense of a tale being told at one remove, the dialog isn't in quotes for some reason, making it occasionally difficult to distinguish thought from speech.
The story itself is somewhat less interesting than the synopsis suggests. It's the story of a dysfunctionally married couple, and marginally, thier three children. The parents torment one another, and they and the children live with the tension and fallout. There's a very little bit of a payoff at the end, but it's not worth the long and depressing journey.
The story itself is somewhat less interesting than the synopsis suggests. It's the story of a dysfunctionally married couple, and marginally, thier three children. The parents torment one another, and they and the children live with the tension and fallout. There's a very little bit of a payoff at the end, but it's not worth the long and depressing journey.
Every few years I find myself reading another Erdrich book only to be reminded that her writing can be quite depressing. This book, as are the others of hers I've read, is very well written and difficult to put down. The story line was a bit off putting but so well written that I had to finish it.
Helpful Score: 1
Through her real diary, her fake diary (which she uses to manipulate her husband), and the words of an omniscient narrator (whose identity is revealed at the end of the book), Shadow Tag tells the story of Irene and her husband Gil, as they struggle through a dysfunctional relationship. It's a train wreck you can't look away from, knowing that it will end badly, while you still hope for the best.
Helpful Score: 1
I found this book to be dark, meaning that I had a difficult time shaking the story and not in a good way. with that said, the characters were well developed. when does love turn obsessive, can one know another too well or feel as though she has no privacy left.
Louise Erdrich writes with honesty, courage, tenderness, and sometimes dark humor about Native American people: families, communities, youth,parents, in ways that resonate with all of us. Shadow Tag strips a family to its core, the entangling love, the cruelty, the petty revenges that make the reader cringe. A husband who is an iconic painter with a national reputation, the wife who has been his muse and subject, but now feels trapped in their relationship, and three children who seemed tossed by the storm of their household, trying in their naïveté to make plans for survival. Beautifully written, but dark in its unflinching honesty, the book closes with tragedy but hopefulness for the future of the survivors.
way too dark for my taste. I did not like it.
Another beautiful, harrowing novel by one of my favorite authors.
This is a strange story about a disfunctional family. It is not one of my favorite books, but it is easy to read with short chapters and breaks within the chapters.
I really could not get into this story. The description made it sound so interesting but it didn't hold true at least for me. I didn't feel it was "fast paced" but it have a lot of mind games and manipulation. So that is my two cent's. Hope you like it.
This was one of the most boring books I've ever read. I didn't care about any of the characters, and the lack of quotation marks irritated me. The concept was interesting, but poorly executed.
Based on this book's rave reviews, I was very excited to jump right in an enjoy it. Except I found it tedious and kind of sad. None of the characters are likable and I just feel bad for them all - they all seem quite miserable. I made it to page 80-something and decided to throw in the towel. Life is too short to waste time on a book I dread reading. NEXT
I really enjoyed this novel (more than any other I've read of Erdrich's novels). I found it confusing at first, switching between the red and blue journals and the fact that the rest of the storyline seemed to bleed into the journal entries at times. I think I found this confusing, since it was all written without quotation marks, even when the main story was being told. I got used to this style after awhile, and started to appreciate it for it's unique qualities.
For me, there was something almost comforting about the description in detail of Gil's artwork and the children's relationships with one another. It was a good "alternative" wintertime read. That said, I like a good novel with some dark subject matter.
For me, there was something almost comforting about the description in detail of Gil's artwork and the children's relationships with one another. It was a good "alternative" wintertime read. That said, I like a good novel with some dark subject matter.
Real insightful - lots of American Indian references - love Louise Erdrich manner of writing - no quotation marks was a first and I loved it - very good flow. Bittersweet novel about love and marriage and children and abuse - sweet!
I really did not enjoy this book at all. It felt like the author was under the influence of something. I couldn't get into it. It just didn't appeal to me.
This novel provides a chilling look into the marriage of Gil and Irene, two damaged people who are bound inexorably together through their secrets and manipulations of each other. The children of this dysfunctional marriage are, as children always are, the ultimate victims of their complicated, tortured relationship. Irene and Gil are separately despicable, and together are more so as they feed each other's insecurities and neuroses. The ending is a masterful, albeit haunting, touch by Erdrich.
I have never read any of Louise Erdrich books before and found this to be very disturbing but I know it good be a fact of real life. I read it unil the end even though I had trouble getting into it at first. The more I think about it, it is a good read and the ending well, what can I say?
