Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich
To continue on making progress on my ever growing collection of BOTM books, I looked through all of the ones that I had bought audio books of and then narrowed it down to ones that I felt that would not enjoy as much. When I started BOTM, I felt it was my duty as a bibliophile to always get a book every month, even if a book did not appeal to me because what if I find something new to love? Luckily, I have gotten out of that mindset, but it does mean I have a few books that are out of my realm of enjoyment. However, since there are so few of them, I am going to read them. That is how I ended up reading Future Home of the Living God.
No one knows why, but evolution is going backwards and science cannot fix it. Women are giving birth to a primitive species, and for Cedar Hawk Songmaker, this is especially disturbing as she is four month pregnant. Pregnant women are being rounded up and sent away; registries are made and rewards are offered. Cedar must stay hidden if she has any chance of keeping her baby, but she fears capture and the idea of giving birth. With the world literally going to hell around her, Cedar must find a way to survive.
One wonderful thing about the audio book is Louise Erdrich reads it herself. I love when authors read their own books, especially when they are books of fiction. It gives you a chance to hear the story exactly as the author intended and makes it so much more personal. She says at the beginning how audio books are a very important part of her and her daughters lives and why it is so important for her to read her works and it makes me love her. I wish every author did this.
When it came to my list of books I was least excited about, this one was low on the list because I do appreciate a good dystopia. That is why I selected it first. And honestly, I didn't hate it. I didn't love it either, though.
The concept of pregnant women, and eventually any woman of child bearing age, being rounded up is terrifying. I fall into the latter category, but I have no plans of having children, so for me, the idea of being forced into pregnancy over and over until all of my eggs are gone or until I die is the definition of a nightmare. Also, the fact that world, or at least the US, falls so quickly in martial law and town militias is extremely terrifying, especially when you consider the current political climate. Honestly, this might be one of the most terrifying books I have ever read for those two reasons alone, and for a girl who lives and breathes Stephen King novels and true crime, that says a lot.
However, I am not a fan of Erdrich's writing style. In my opinion, it is very loose and rambling. Thoughts seem to run into one another and make forming pictures difficult. I know some people enjoy this writing style, but it is always something that annoys me in a novel. I also had a really hard time putting a specific place in time to the novel. At the start of the audio book, Erdrich says that she started writing this after the birth of her youngest daughter (at that time, it was 16 years ago, so 2000-2001). It felt that it could have been written during many time periods, ranging from the early 2000s to way into the future. Again, some readers do not need a concrete detail like this, but I do; it helps me create my picture.
As for the characters, some I immensely enjoyed and others annoyed the hell out of me. I went back and forth on my opinions of Cedar, but I think that has more to do with her going back and forth with how she feels about herself, so Erdrich does a wonderful job of conveying the conflicting feelings of the main protagonist. I found the strife between Cedar and her adoptive mother, Sera, forced. While I understand that these are extremely trying times, their arguments did not feel natural. Eddie, her birth moms husband, annoyed the hell out of me, because, like the book, he rambled and none of it felt like it had a point. Cedar is a better person than I am for figuring out his clues. However, the women that Cedar meets in the hospital are strong, inspiring women who really kept the book going and I found that part of the book the most interesting.
The ending was extremely disappointing. Because the book is only two years old, I will not go into extreme detail of what happens, but it was a let down. While I did not expect it to be wrapped up with a neat little bow, I feel that there was not even an attempt to answer the questions of the novel, and for Cedar to just give up like she did was a bigger disappointment than when Lifetime cancelled The Client List.
For me the book was just okay. It's far from the worst thing I've read and has a lot of redeeming points to it; I mean, I did finish it in about 24 hours because I was committed to knowing what happened. But, for me, it fell short.
Rating: 4/10
Author: Louise Erdrich
Genres: Science Fiction, Dystopia
Dates Read: October 30-31, 2019
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| (Source: Kelsey Darling) |
Content Warning: This book contains dark themes that may be upsetting to some readers.
One wonderful thing about the audio book is Louise Erdrich reads it herself. I love when authors read their own books, especially when they are books of fiction. It gives you a chance to hear the story exactly as the author intended and makes it so much more personal. She says at the beginning how audio books are a very important part of her and her daughters lives and why it is so important for her to read her works and it makes me love her. I wish every author did this.
 |
| (Source: Giphy) |
The concept of pregnant women, and eventually any woman of child bearing age, being rounded up is terrifying. I fall into the latter category, but I have no plans of having children, so for me, the idea of being forced into pregnancy over and over until all of my eggs are gone or until I die is the definition of a nightmare. Also, the fact that world, or at least the US, falls so quickly in martial law and town militias is extremely terrifying, especially when you consider the current political climate. Honestly, this might be one of the most terrifying books I have ever read for those two reasons alone, and for a girl who lives and breathes Stephen King novels and true crime, that says a lot.
 |
| (Source: Giphy) |
As for the characters, some I immensely enjoyed and others annoyed the hell out of me. I went back and forth on my opinions of Cedar, but I think that has more to do with her going back and forth with how she feels about herself, so Erdrich does a wonderful job of conveying the conflicting feelings of the main protagonist. I found the strife between Cedar and her adoptive mother, Sera, forced. While I understand that these are extremely trying times, their arguments did not feel natural. Eddie, her birth moms husband, annoyed the hell out of me, because, like the book, he rambled and none of it felt like it had a point. Cedar is a better person than I am for figuring out his clues. However, the women that Cedar meets in the hospital are strong, inspiring women who really kept the book going and I found that part of the book the most interesting.
 |
| (Source: Giphy) |
For me the book was just okay. It's far from the worst thing I've read and has a lot of redeeming points to it; I mean, I did finish it in about 24 hours because I was committed to knowing what happened. But, for me, it fell short.
Rating: 4/10
Author: Louise Erdrich
Genres: Science Fiction, Dystopia
Dates Read: October 30-31, 2019
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