Future Home of the Living God: A Novel (Harper Perennial Olive Editions)

Erdrich schreibt wie immer brillant, aber dieses Buch lässt einen ein wenig unbefriedigt zurück. Am Ende scheint etwas zu fehlen. Die dystopische Situation wird auch einfach nicht gut genug erklärt. Trotzdem lesenswert, vor allem wie immer wegen der Darstellungen der Situation der native Americans.

I find this book very hard to rate, because I loved to read it, while it has glaring flaws. Part I was the best writing I've read in a while. As always, Erdrich's writing is very atmospheric, and it felt so eerily like the early covid time that I had to pause and recheck when it was published (2017, really!). Erdrich's strength are her characters and how they interact with each other and with the world around them, both nature and society. Her way to convey complex situations with few and poetic words is what makes her one of my favourite authors, and it is what made me love this book. But this genre of dystopia/sci-fi is not Erdrich's strong point. The book is just completely lacking of worldbuilding, and maybe it's meant to be mysterious, but it ends up unsatisfying. The story wants to make a point about the position and treatment of women. But I think the half-developed apocalyptic background is unnecessary to get the point across. The story would work just as well in a more realistic setting with a lot less loose ends. I loved Cedar as a main character, especially her realistic Catholicism, but she comes across as uninterested in the world around her (because there is no more substance to the world in the book) which doesn't suit her characterisation otherwise. I also think the development of the outer world moves way to quickly, just to make it fit with the lengths of Cedar's pregnancy.