Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country (National Geographic Directions)
Louise Erdrich puts the reader in the passenger’s seat on a journey that is equal parts memoir, history, and mythology inBooks and Islands in Ojibwe Country. She travels to Southern Ontario and Minnesota’s Lake of the Woods and Rainy Lake to learn about the land, her tribe, and the stories left behind. Whether by car, by boat, or on foot, Erdrich finds her highly personal expedition enveloped by stories found in books, songs and rock paintings of her Ojibwe ancestors, the islands, and even water: "You could think of the lakes as libraries," she notes.Erdrich expertly weaves the oral traditions of her ancestors into the account of her trip, integrating Ojibwe rituals and language. Her odyssey offers numerous history lessons unheard of in American textbooks. Erdrich, perhaps best known for her novelLove Medicine, once again reveals territory unfamiliar to--and untouched by--most of the outside world. One of Erdrich's last stops is on an island estate that belonged to explorer Ernest Oberholtzer, a friend of the Ojibwes. Ober’s island, as Erdrich calls it, is home to more than 11,000 books. Erdrich delights in her surroundings, but admits she is in "somewhat uneasy agreement with the spirit of the island, which is to let the books exist as they were meant to exist, to be read, to be found and then unfound. To have their own life." It is a striking analogy to the American West and its Native people. Ultimately, Erdrich concludes that books should be preserved--and share! d. It is their presence that ensures she will find comfort and companionship.--C.J. Carrillo