The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse (P.S.) - Softcover

Erdrich, Louise

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0061577626 ISBN 13: 9780061577628

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2019

Synopsis

A New York Times Notable Book

For more than a half century, Father Damien Modeste has served his beloved Native American tribe, the Ojibwe, on the remote reservation of Little No Horse. Now, nearing the end of his life, Father Damien dreads the discovery of his physical identity, for he is a woman who has lived as a man. To further complicate his quiet existence, a troubled colleague comes to the reservation to investigate the life of the perplexing, possibly false saint Sister Leopolda. Father Damien alone knows the strange truth of Leopolda's piety, but these facts are bound up in his own secret. He is faced with the most difficult decision: Should he tell all and risk everything . . . or manufacture a protective history for Leopolda, though he believes her wonder-working is motivated solely by evil?

In a masterwork that both deepens and enlarges the world of her previous novels set on the same reservation, Louise Erdrich captures the essence of a time and the spirit of a woman who felt compelled by her beliefs to serve her people as a priest. The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse is a work of an avid heart, a writer's writer, and a storytelling genius.

About this title

Review:

Dense and labyrinthine in style, Louise Erdrich’s The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse is a wonderfully moving meditation on faith, love and tolerance. Returning to the Ojibwe Native American reservation, which the author previously visited in works such as Love Medicine, Erdrich creates an unforgettable character in the shape of Catholic priest Father Damien Modeste who, we learn at the novel’s outset, is actually a woman masquerading as a man. Skilfully intertwining past and present in a story spanning most of the 20th century, Erdrich unveils the circumstances that led Agnes DeWitt, a gifted pianist and former nun, to assume the identity of a dead priest. Most of the novel’s finely honed threads are fused by Agnes/Father Damien’s recollections to a younger priest who has been sent to the reservation to research the possible beautification of one of the nuns. Now a very old man, Father Damien recalls the struggles to learn about and win the trust of the indigenous people of the community, while closely guarding his/her true identity.

Love, both religious and carnal, is explored in lavishly written passages that are both lyrically beautiful and uproariously funny. Agnes’s snake-tempting renditions of Chopin, Sister Leopolda’s reports of stigmata, Nanapush’s death and temporary resurrection and Satan’s manifestation as a black dog are just some of the "miracles" that Father Damien recounts. Like Father Damien’s own identity, these tales are part miracle, part fable, part truth, part fiction and knit together seamlessly with the more "realistic" passages on poverty and family feuding. While Father Damien’s scruples at converting people with their own indigenous faith to Catholicism are never really resolved, there is no doubt that the priest’s world is profoundly altered by the rites and rituals of the Ojibwe society. Their cultural touchstones of earthy sensuality and profound spirituality combine with Father Damien’s own religious traditions to create a life-affirming tale that offers a timely reminder that there are many different ways to express love and devotion and that purveyors of faith come in many different guises. --Jane Morris

Review:

"Bold and imaginative."--Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"You will be dazzled by the poetry of her language and her lighteninglike illuminations of the human condition."--Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine

"Funny, engrossing and revelatory."--Wall Street Journal

"A deeply affecting narrative . . . by turns comical and elegiac, farcical, and tragic."--Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

"Spellbinding...profoundly moving."--Elle

"Stunning ...a moving meditation ... infused with mystery and wonder."--Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"A magnificent storyteller ... delivering musical prose charged by powerful metaphors."--St. Paul Star-Tribune

"Nothing less than dazzling."--USA Today

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 0061577626
• ISBN 13: 9780061577628
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400