“Books are essential” in Erdrich’s The Sentence
It just matters how we use them.
[Dear readers: Please note that this newsletter issue discusses police violence and murders, white supremacy, threats to Indigenous sovereignty, and the COVID-19 pandemic.]
The Sentence (Harper, 2021) is a story of language. It’s a story about trying to find the right language—sometimes the perfect language—to convey how one feels, but oftentimes not being able to translate emotions. About lost and dying languages and the fight to preserve them in the face of white supremacy. It’s a story about building sentences and the books that contain them. And at its heart, The Sentence is a story of an Indigenous-owned bookstore, the place that houses the words, and the world through its keepers’ eyes.
Louise Erdrich opens her latest novel with a dictionary. “Without a doubt,” narrator Tookie says, “had the dictionary not arrived, this light word that lay so heavily upon me would have crushed me, or what was left of me after the strangeness of what I’d done” (Erdrich, 3). Imprisoned and having just received a dictionary, Tookie looks up the word ‘sentence.’ Not only is the term relative to her own punishment, but also to the sentiments she cannot form. How does one express their thoughts when they cannot find the words? And after she is released, “now that I am rehabilitied, I only sell words” (4). Words save Tookie; she spends her time while incarcerated reading, and then wanders into a bookstore upon her release for a job. “I realized we are more brilliant than I knew” (28).
Through this bookstore, we see Tookie’s world. And not just Tookie’s world, but our world. The rise and impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the murder of George Floyd, the protests in Minneapolis and across the world. Running through The Sentence is an urgency. In one short time frame, we see a city, the country, break. The store begins to sell countless books on policing, racism, white supremacy. It’s no accident that Edrich includes Tookie’s quote at both the start and end: “Books contain everything worth knowing except what ultimately matters” (4). Erdrich makes clear that reading, whether this book or any other book, will not solve the world’s problems. “That video of George Floyd dying played over and over in my head…Jeronimo Yanez shooting Philando Castile in one annihilating movement. Seven shots. We’ll never be clean again, I remember thinking at the time. None of us who let this happen. But what had I done since? A few things. Not effective things” (237). And so, after long inaction, Tookie acts, largely by way of her words, finally putting together the sentences she had quieted for too long. She initiates difficult conversations with the man she loves who is also an ex-police officer. She and her daughter join a memorial and protest in solidarity. She votes.
One of the main characters in The Sentence is a ghost, a recently deceased store customer that haunts Tookie. At first it’s unclear what she wants from Tookie, but as the story progresses, it becomes transparent: She, too, is in need of the perfect language, the perfect sentence, and she’s waiting on Tookie to say what she needs to hear, to act. And how will our own ghosts haunt us if we too do not act? Do not take what we read and turn it into something greater? Ten years from now, will we look back on The Sentence simply as another novel we loved, or will we consider it for what it really is: A not-so-shrouded call to action challenging all of us to find the words and use them? “Books are essential, Tookie,” Louise says when the store is given permission to operate amidst the virus (190). And they are—but books are so much more than simply the words on their pages. They are how those words inspire us, encourage us. In sum, books are only as good as how we use them.
Ways to support independent bookstores and the societal issues discussed in The Sentence:
To support independent bookstores:
Learn about the Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster merger and its potential impact on indie sellers.
It’s not just about buying—here are other ways to get involved.
To support some discussed societal issues:
Donate to/volunteer for local and/or grassroots organizations fighting white supremacy. We have a roundup of orgs on this page.
You can also check out this collection of bookish related organizations fighting the prison industrial complex.
We also encourage you to check out @BookSnailMail’s book drops—raised funds all go to great causes.
Midterms are approaching and a lot is at stake. We are incredibly angry with our elected (and non-elected) officials and want to make sure that those who will fight for equity are in office.
Learn about the platforms of your running representatives. What are their thoughts on gun control? Reproductive justice and abortion rights? Incarceration? Policing? The pandemic?
The pandemic is not over—will all still play a part. Mask up, get tested, and isolate as needed.
“These were not just sentences, I thought. The door is open. Go! They were the most beautiful sentences ever written.”
—The Sentence, p24
Others’ thoughts on The Sentence
These reflections have stuck with us:
“As a native bookseller myself this was such a treat and my favorite read of the summer so far.” —@ndnbooknerd (You can also support them through Quiet Quail Books, their online bookstore!)
“While it’s about spirits, the violence of white folks yearning for Indigenous identity, the enduring importance of books and found family, it’s also about the constant violent presence of police brutality, trauma, racism, death & incarceration. How can a novel be one of the most heartbreaking you’ve read in a long while and also be one of the most humorous?” —@thunderbirdwomanreads (And support her on Patreon!)
If you liked The Sentence, read…
The Night Watchman (Note: While all of Erdrich’s titles are worth a read, The Night Watchman and The Sentence depart from her historical writing style.)
More recent reads
Thanks for reading! We’ll be back in two weeks with our end-of-month newsletter to dive further into critical bookish issues. In the meantime, feel free to send us any questions or suggestions for reads, newsletter topics, etc. through Instagram direct message or email. And if you’re a budding writer that wants to be spotlighted in our Collected Words series, reach out!
Stay tuned for next month’s book in focus, Heartbroke.
Xoxo,
Olivia and Fiona
This shot up my TBR