When a woman named Faye Travers is called upon to appraise the estate of a family in her small New Hampshire town, she isn't surprised to discover a forgotten cache of valuable Native American artifacts. After all, the family descends from an Indian agent who worked on the North Dakota Ojibwe reservation that is home to her mother's family. However, she stops dead in her tracks when she finds in the collection a rare drum -- a powerful yet delicate object, made from a massive moose skin stretched across a hollow of cedar, ornamented with symbols she doesn't recognize and dressed in red tassels and a beaded belt and skirt -- especially since, without touching the instrument, she hears it sound.
From Faye's discovery, we trace the drum's passage both backward and forward in time, from the reservation on the northern plains to New Hampshire and back. Through the voice of Bernard Shaawano, an Ojibwe, we hear how his grandfather fashioned the drum after years of mourning his young daughter's death, and how it changes the lives of those whose paths its crosses. And through Faye we hear of her anguished relationship with a local sculptor, who himself mourns the loss of a daughter, and of the life she has made alone with her mother, in the shadow of the death of Faye's sister.
Through these compelling voices, The Painted Drum explores the strange power that lost children exert on the memories of those they leave behind, and as the novel unfolds, its elegantly crafted narrative comes to embody the intricate, transformative rhythms of human grief. One finds throughout the grace and wit, the captivating prose and surprising beauty, that characterize Louise Erdrich's finest work.
From Faye's discovery, we trace the drum's passage both backward and forward in time, from the reservation on the northern plains to New Hampshire and back. Through the voice of Bernard Shaawano, an Ojibwe, we hear how his grandfather fashioned the drum after years of mourning his young daughter's death, and how it changes the lives of those whose paths its crosses. And through Faye we hear of her anguished relationship with a local sculptor, who himself mourns the loss of a daughter, and of the life she has made alone with her mother, in the shadow of the death of Faye's sister.
Through these compelling voices, The Painted Drum explores the strange power that lost children exert on the memories of those they leave behind, and as the novel unfolds, its elegantly crafted narrative comes to embody the intricate, transformative rhythms of human grief. One finds throughout the grace and wit, the captivating prose and surprising beauty, that characterize Louise Erdrich's finest work.
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Used availability for Louise Erdrich's The Painted Drum
See all available used copies of this book at: Abebooks UK or Abebooks US
Hardback Editions
September 2005 : Hardback
| Title: The Painted Drum: A Novel Author(s): Louise Erdrich ISBN: 0-06-051510-4 / 978-0-06-051510-2 (USA edition) Publisher: HarperCollins Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
Paperback Editions
September 2006 : Paperback
| Title: The Painted Drum: A Novel (P.S.) Author(s): Louise Erdrich ISBN: 0-06-051511-2 / 978-0-06-051511-9 (USA edition) Publisher: Harper Perennial Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
September 2006 : Paperback
| Title: The Painted Drum Author(s): Louise Erdrich ISBN: 0-00-723209-8 / 978-0-00-723209-3 (UK edition) Publisher: HarperPerennial Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
September 2005 : Paperback
| Title: The Painted Drum Author(s): Louise Erdrich ISBN: 0-06-083429-3 / 978-0-06-083631-3 (USA edition) Publisher: HarperLargePrint Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
January 2005 : Paperback
| Title: The Painted Drum Author(s): Louise Erdrich ISBN: 0-7394-6447-7 / 978-0-7394-6447-2 (USA edition) Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Availability: Amazon More details... |
Audio Editions
2006 : Audio Cassette
| Title: The Painted Drum [Unabridged Library Edition] Author(s): Louise Erdrich Publisher: BBC Sound Library Availability: Amazon More details... |
September 2005 : Audio CD
| Title: The Painted Drum CD Author(s): Louise Erdrich ISBN: 0-06-082816-1 / 978-0-06-082816-5 (USA edition) Publisher: HarperAudio Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
September 2005 : Audio Cassette
| Title: The Painted Drum Author(s): Louise Erdrich ISBN: 0-7927-3742-3 / 978-0-7927-3742-1 (USA edition) Publisher: Sound Library Availability: Amazon Amazon CA More details... |
September 2005 : Audio CD
| Title: The Painted Drum Author(s): Louise Erdrich ISBN: 0-7927-3743-1 / 978-0-7927-3743-8 (USA edition) Publisher: Sound Library Availability: Amazon Amazon CA More details... |
September 2005 : MP3 CD
| Title: The Painted Drum Author(s): Louise Erdrich ISBN: 0-7927-3832-2 / 978-0-7927-3832-9 (USA edition) Publisher: Sound Library Availability: Amazon More details... |
Other Editions
September 2005 : Kindle edition
| Title: Painted Drum, The Author(s): Louise, Erdrich Publisher: HarperCollins e-books Availability: Amazon More details... |
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