Of all the stories that have been told on this little globe we inhabit, there are few tales that entice me more than stories of revenge and retribution. I'm not talking the brooding tales of violent stoic men pushed beyond their limit by an underworld that destroys their single shot at happiness, but vengeance that takes plotting, manipulation and, most importantly, patience. While there's always room for a grim-faced avenger tossing murderous thugs through plate glass windows, the revenge stories that grip me are those who play the long game. I like anger that burns cold and steady instead of flaring out in a furious moment of cathartic rage. I like protagonists who keep the fires of their anger stoked low and steady, feeding them slowly and setting the scene just so before claiming their personal justice. Think Dumas' Count of Monte Cristo or Shoshanna Dreyfus in Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds more than Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest or the battered heroes of a James Ellroy novel.Such a protagonist is Fleur Pillager. Last of her proud line, the sole survivor of a smallpox outbreak when she was a small child, the final remaining tie she has to her family and her heritage is the land that had been left to her, vast acres of pristine untouched forests and an island in the center of a lake said to house the unsettled spirits of her bloodline. Having lost this land to a rapacious timber baron at the conclusion of Erdrich's Tracks, Fleur has abandoned her daughter to the care of the state-run Indian schools meant to westernize and "civilize" indigenous youths, secretly taken the name of Four Souls after her mother, and trudged down the railroad line from her North Dakota reservation to bustling early 20th century Minneapolis in order to track down and claim vengeance upon the white man who has pillaged and destroyed her land, the fiend John James Mauser.When she arrives and surreptiously takes a job as a laundress in Mauser's mansion she discovers that the unrepentant monster that she has come to do battle with is none too intimidating in person. Wracked by an unnamed ailment, which we now to be PTSD, acquired while serving in France during the Great War, the Mauser she finds strapped into his sweat-soaked bed is a shade, a convalescent gripped by fierce muscle spasms and ceaseless insomnia. There's no satisfaction in murdering a helpless invalid, so Fleur takes it upon herself to restore Mauser to health and vitality, winning his heart in the process and weaving a far more convoluted revenge than the simple assassination she had originally planned. Plunging ahead with the tenacity and strength that had made the Pillagers both feared and respected, Fleur finds that, even when in service to a righteous cause, anger has its consequences and the actions taken in its name will change not only those involved but will reverberate across generations.This tale is not simply Fleur's, however. In between narrating bits of Fleur's story, the lovable rascal Nanapush finds time to continue his own misbegotten adventures. Whether it be seeking his own brand of vengeance on a neighbor who has been a lifelong adversary, tormenting his long-suffering partner Margaret Kashpaw (who is quite adept at giving as much grief as she receives), or seeking to preserve the borders of the Ojibwe reservation from death by a thousand bureaucratic papercuts. Sagacious and buffoonish, often simultaneously, Nanapush proves once again why he is one of my all-time favorite fictional characters in a cringingly hilarious scene wherein he finds himself drunk in front of the entire tribe, wearing his wife's newly-made medicine dress, using every shred of his wit and loquaciousness to save both the lands of his people and his own honor.This is the third Erdrich book I've devoured in the past year and with every page I turned the esteem I hold for her increased. With a loose and digressive narrative style that fosters perfectly the notion that the reader is sitting at the storyteller's feet as she weaves the tale, it is all too easy to fall deep into her words and lose all awareness of the world passing around you. While a sequel-of-sorts to Tracks, each book reads just as well as a stand-alone novel and one need not be familiar with any of the preceding events in order to become immersed in Erdrich's captivating storytelling, though once you finish you may find yourself running to your library to pick up her other books.
Fleur Pillager sets out to avenge the theft of her land. She takes her mother’s name, Four Souls. She becomes the laundress in the family home of the land baron who robbed her family. She cures the ailing mogul, because she wants him healthy and strong minded when she kills him. In her close contact with Mauer, she seduces and is seduced by him.The most fascinating aspect of this narrative is the fact that Four Souls does not tell her own story. Nanapush, an elder tribesman and Polly, the genteel sister-in-law of the land baron narrate Four Souls’ turn from assassin to lady of the house. Readers are kept at a safe distance by seeing the story unfold through another character’s eyes, yet we know the very depths of Four Souls’ heart. It is as if we cannot come any closer, first person, without being scarred as Four Souls’ is.This story is a raw representation of one of the greatest misdeeds done to Native Americans. In forcing Indians to defend their land, white men taught the natives to see the land as a possession to be bought and sold.
What do You think about Four Souls (2005)?
Four Souls fills in the details of a number of stories that exist in the background of The Last Report of the Miracles at Little No Horse - I'm not sure (unlike No Horse) that it stands alone. It's shorter, less intricate, and therefore less compelling, but there's still an enormous amount to like. Not least among the things I loved was Erdrich's reflection on the big houses in Minneapolis, their legacy as holding the spirits of trees and land from the northern reservations. It's a stinging rebuke, all bound up in a description of architecture.I appreciated knowing more about Fleur's story - it made some of No Horse take on extra significance, and I love visiting all the places the Kashpaws and Nanapush exist.
—Catherine
I’m on a bit of a Louise Erdrich kick right now. I read Tracks many years ago, but never Four Souls. While looking through available titles at my library I found a double audiobook set, containing both novels. Oh my goodness, I am now in love with hearing Ms. Erdrich’s lyrical writing read out loud! Anna Fields brings all of the characters to life and adds such a richness to the storytelling. Four Souls, as with most of Ms. Erdrich's books, is thoughtful and thought provoking, heartfelt and heartbreaking, humbling and uplifting and LAUGH OUT LOUD FUNNY. The old man, Nanapush, has long been a favorite narrator of mine, and I thoroughly enjoyed visiting with him. As amazing as it was to hear Ms. Fields’ voice turn convincingly to that of an older than dirt Indian man, her performance as Polly Elizabeth, a whiter than white socialite, was phenomenal. Worlds collide in this one, with many unintended consequences. The end result is a story that wraps up only as neatly as life will allow, but with all the satisfaction of being dealt a winning hand.
—Shannon Green DesRoche
I really enjoyed the first half of this book. It started as a native American women from a reservation in Minnesota traveled to the city to seek revenge upon a timber baron who stole and ruined her land. She wormed her way into the household and eventually became the man's wife. Four Souls' story is told through two viewpoints: the eyes of a tribal elder through the eyes of his culture and the sister of the white woman who was previously married to the timber baron. However, the middle of the book suddenly switches stories. Most of the rest of the book contains a rather silly story of the tribal elder above and his relationship with his wife and nemesis. The endings of Four Souls and the white woman above are tied up neatly and quickly near the end of the book.Although I like the writing style, I didn't like the intrusion of another story when I thought (and wanted) the book to be solely about Four Souls. I'll have to try another one of her books and see if I like it better.
—Melanie Florence
