Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Louise Erdrich’s storytelling talent is simply massive. The concept of FUTURE HOME OF THE LIVING GOD is not a new one. (Preceded by THE HANDMAID’S TALE and other dystopian visions of a future state where childbearing is a tool of terror and the stakes on which social control rest, this novel takes its place among that company.) But here, that concept is merely the frame around a brilliant story that storms through the explosive tension between parents and children, the roles of faith and science during catastrophe, the ingenuity of communities to both protect and persecute. Above all, I think it’s an argument that both heaven and hell can manifest here on earth, through our bodies, our natural surroundings, our relationships, our social fabric, the very lowly ephemera of our lives… and that transitioning between them can happen as quickly and commonly as falling through thin ice to the water below. Moving forward, moving back: where are we going?
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