The Sentence

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich struck me on a deeply personal level. It's not just because the idea of a haunted bookstore captures my imagination. It's also because Erdrich captured what it was like living near Minneapolis during COVID and the murder of George Flyod. This struck a deep emotional cord for me. While some people may read this book to get a flavor of what life around Minneapolis was like during that time, it brought up so many memories of that emotional roller coaster year. This wasn't just an item of national news, it was my community. One of the communal events mentioned was when  Uncle Hugo's burnt to the ground, which I have previously shared was a tremendous grief for me as it was a favorite bookstore. Then there were other general local references such as drinking Evening in Missoula tea, a local tea that is a personal favorite.

This is a book that I was going to eventually pick up because I take a strong interest in local writers and Erdrich is a Pulitzer Prize winning author.  Before I stumbled into my obsession with horror,  collecting and reading through the  Pulitzers was my literary obsession. My interest in the Pulitzers has never died but I feel like horror is my home. Imagine my excitement that Killer Book Club, a Twitter based horror book club, chose The Sentence for their January read.

Louise Erdrich's lyrical writing and stunning plot line made this a very remarkable book. She also was the narrator for the Audible edition of the book and reads her story in a voice that us simultaneously expressive and calming. 

And it was brought to my attention that I had never been to Birchbark Books, the Minneapolis bookstore owned by Erdrich which was the setting for the book. This  turned out to be a field trip I definitely needed to make! So the weekend of my birthday my husband and I visited the store.

It is a really cute bookstore where all the content has a Native American focus. Of course since it was a new to me bookstore and my birthday weekend, I had to buy some treats!

This included a copy of The Sentence that was signed by the author.

Since I really loved The Sentence, I enjoyed the opportunity to visit the setting that it took place in. There is always something about going to places that books take place that provides even more life to a book. It's an added bonus when it's literally a place I never visited before in my own backyard.