The Round House
Likely to be dubbed the Native AmericanTo Kill a Mockingbird, Louise Erdrich&#x2019;s moving, complex, and surprisingly uplifting new novel tells of a boy&#x2019;s coming of age in the wake of a brutal, racist attack on his mother. Drawn from real-life statistics about racially inspired attacks on our country&#x2019;s reservations, this tale is forceful but never preachy, thanks in large part to Erdrich&#x2019;s understated but glorious prose and her apparent belief in the redemptive power of storytelling. --Sara Nelson