The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse --Louise Erdrich

Ok, here we go, this is the very first blog post!

Note on editing: These discussions are typed live and edited later by me to make what I typed more readable and more complete. This isn't a verbatim reproduction of what was said, because of course people are talking too fast. But, I have gotten down verbatim what I can, since this gives the real flavor of the live discussion. I may also insert things later while editing, that I couldn't get down live because the discussion was moving too fast. I might insert some thoughts of my own later too, if they seem to help clarify or add something relevant. Speakers are not identified as our group prefers.

The discussion:

Before Erdrich wrote this book, she read a lot of Faulkner.

Erdrich wrote several other books that are part of the series, with same characters, but they aren't really chronological.

Some people did get weary reading this one. People had to keep going back, remembering who the characters were, [lots of people nodding here]

Why does Erdrich switch pronouns so often with Father Damien/Agnes, sometimes even within the same sentence? Some found this confusing. Maybe she is emphasizing the tension/ambiguity of the two people inhabiting the one body. Agnes struggles with this throughout the book.

Who knew Father Damien was a woman? At least Mary Kashpaw, Sister Leopolda, Nanapush.

But, gender is not as important in the American Indian culture. Maybe this is why Father Damien was accepted. Homosexuality is also not a problem in this culture.

Everything is all a mish mash in the book! (Many many characters, different story threads, and switching back and forth in time even within the same story thread)

Kind of same feeling as with Accordion Crimes (by Annie Proulx, which the group read earlier), though those are more like short stories.

What about the ending?

One person loved loved this book. Why? Well, the dreams, the non linear nature of time, and this book made her laugh! and also cry at the end. Maybe only 5 books had ever done that.

Another liked it at first , but felt it dragged.

We've had several books of women masquerading as men; are there any the other way around?

Why would anyone want to do that (meaning man masquerade as a woman)? the feeling was that a man wouldn't want to because being a woman is less advantageous generally.

A very spiritual book. Strong Catholic background helps in reading this book. It's about a transformation, Agnes goes through so many incarnations in the story. (young girl, novice, wife, priest) Lots of symbolism here.

The scene where the Actor dies in the mud! The imagery of her writing, really beautiful writing.

The Indian Reservations all had Catholic missions. Again, Catholic background helps in understanding this book.

You see the layering of the Indian culture with Catholicism, as really happened, in this book.

Why was it so bad for Agnes to be carried away by her music? Because nothing sensuous is permitted as a priest/nun. The sexual effect of the music on Agnes was seen as satire by one reader. And the music was affecting the sisters at the convent too. Same conflict as in The Sound of Music. You have to give up yourself when you become a nun, you are serving God, no one else, and not yourself certainly. All religions with monks are like this actually.

Why did Agnes become a priest? What Agnes did in essence as a priest was simply to forgive and love. Because that is what Agnes was seeking herself.

Agnes worried that all of her forgiving would be invalidated if people learned she was a woman. She worried that all of the marriages, baptisms. absolutions would be canceled out. And would have been a betrayal of the people she ministered to. Because acceptance of forgiveness involves belief. So it was important that Agnes be who she seemed, that she not be a fraud. But readers felt many of the Indians actually knew she was not a man! And they didn't care! It just wasn't a big deal to them. Remember Nanapush was curious about why Agnes would pretend to be a man. He finally asks her almost casually, after he has known her many years. And she is shocked!

Agnes became a priest because of love. And maybe because she was saved by the stranger in the cabin (Christ himself) who cared for her after the flood. Was it also Christ who jiggled the hand of the Actor just before he fired the shot that would have killed Agnes? And remember in the time of the great sickness when Mary Kashpaw and Agnes trudge from cabin to cabin caring for the sick and dying. And at one point Agnes looks up ahead as Mary Kashpaw turns around. She had been asking God why he was forsaking her in the time of great trouble, and suddenly she sees that the face of Mary Kashpaw is the same face as the man who saved her after the flood, (who was Christ!)

Another reason I loved this book. The whole concept of evil. What makes you a saint? Being good or the miracles?
Leopolda was pure evil. But she was also a product of her environment (more on this later).

What about the black dog? Was he a hallucination, or did he really appear to her? The Indians had many contact with spirits, so maybe this was the same. The dog was the devil. Some felt he was real.

Why did Erdrich make the book so confusing? I'm telling you she read a bunch of Faulkner.

The two cultures are all mixed up in the book. Maybe this was the author's way of leading you without hitting you over the head. In other words she had something to say, but to show it through the real complexity of life makes it much more powerful. In other words you have to figure it out for yourself. The book is an exploration of belief.

One reader found this quote and read it to us. It is from the Los Angeles Times. "Messy, ribald, deeply tragic, preposterous, and heartfelt, The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse is a love story, and what shines most brilliantly through its pages are Erdrich's intelligence, and compassion. Let the world shake, buckle, storm and burn. Let the people suffer, as they will. It is our connections to the past and the future, through families and connections to kin, that grant us our saintliness and our transcendent power."

I liked the many characters. It was like a quilt.

Like Fleur and her daughter. That story. Her choice was revenge or her daughter's welfare. Revenge is power. We don't like it when women choose anything over their children.

The death of Nanapush is hysterical!

There's a lot of truth in here about what happened to the Indians, the land stealing, the alcohol.

In high school we had to read Am. Indian lit. It was great, very good for us. We read N Scott Momaday.

Sherman Alexie, Diary of a Part Time Indian--great great book. Short, and new.

What happens with loss of innocence? Well we become more interesting, but this is a natural progression. In a way Father Damien maintains a sort of innocence, or wonder at least. How did he maintain that sense of wonder? Well, forgiveness is so powerful. Father Damien was all about forgiveness and acceptance.

Remember the whole issue of forgiveness in Atonement (by Ian McEwan, which the group also read recently)? Cecelia would not forgive her sister, but look at her life then. That was the power of Atonement, that there was no forgiveness there. Withholding forgiveness is a kind of power that is very common in our society.

Father Damien did accomplish some very practical things too, the list in the book. Could Father Damien only be as tolerant as he/she was because she was female? Yes, meaning that it was because of the complex situation this character had to live with, all the ambiguity. He/she was everything. So could be very empathetic.

What is the myth of native American Indians? Why are Indians always portrayed as so good? They did bad things to each other. Indians are just human; they had the same problems as other cultures. It's white guilt that makes us see them this way probably.

The combination of belief [systems] can be a powerful thing. That's what Father Damien did so well. Father Damien's strength was acceptance, love, the gift of forgiveness. In the end he was more pagan than Catholic, and had moved toward many of the Indian's spiritual beliefs and patterns. One reader said "It's like the Dalai Lama, who always says 'my religion is kindness.'"

One last thing. What is the importance of Leopolda in the book? What is Erdrich trying to say through this character? Erdrich talks about the end of things for the Indians. And the end of things for the buffaloes too. The scene where she describes one of the last buffalo hunts, which Father Hugo witnessed, where twelve hundred buffalo were killed in 20 minutes. The remaining buffalo made a noise never before heard, and then charged, trampled, and even ate the remains of their brothers. Here's what Erdrich says: "The buffalo went crazy with grief to see the end of things. Like us, [the Indians] they saw the end of things and like many of us, many today, they did not care to live." Leopolda was the last of the Puyats. She is a metaphor for what happens in the ending of a people, or an animal species like the buffalo. And in a real sense, her behavior may have resulted from the tortured history that her antecedents lived through. So, is she culpable? Did she love her daughter in spite of her cruelty to her? Did she do anything good? Saint or evil? The formal investigation into the question of Leopolda's sainthood forms the background of the novel.

This quote from the book shows the centrality of Leopolda: "Agnes tried to tell herself, later, that it was not one thing or another, that broke up the Kashpaw family and set chaos into motion. Yet she could not ignore the fact that Father Damien started it with his visit. [Father Damien is ambiguous throughout the book about whether his conversions, interference, and absolutions were helpful, or even moral] Later when she was able to reflect upon the fall of events, Agnes pictured a tornado descending, one composed of political gusts and personal fabrics of wind, a twister in the eye of which rose Pauline Puyat, later to become Sister Leopolda, nemesis and savior."

Here's an interesting interview with Louise Erdrich about writing The Last Miracles at Little No Horse :

Here's a book discussion and questions at ReadingGroupGuides.com