The Round House

　　榮獲2012美國國家圖書獎
　　亞馬遜書店2012最佳圖書
　　被譽為美國原住民版本的《To Kill a Mockingbird》

　　1988年的春天，原住民婦人Geraldine Coutts在北達科塔州的保護區受到攻擊，案發過程就連他的先生Bazil與13歲的兒子Joe也無從得知。身心受到重創的Geraldine 像是變了個人似的，Joe試著幫她，卻讓她更封閉自我。面對家庭驟變，Joe被迫提前進入複雜的成人世界。

　　父親雖然是族裡的法官，也僅能按照法律的規則走，並無法讓母親從傷痛中恢復。Joe決定跟好朋友們一起找出真相，他們循著線索進入部族裡的聖地圓屋，而這一步，僅僅只是事件的開端而已……。

　　本身即是Ojibwe族的作者Louise Erdrich透過這個案件以及詳細刻畫Joe對案件的探尋及心理變化﹐揭露美國原住民部落在尋求公平正義過程中﹐部落法律和聯邦法律之間的衝突及其複雜性﹐以及最終部落的人民極可能走向集體失語﹑集體創傷的不公正待遇。(文/博客來編譯)

　　One Sunday in the spring of 1988, a woman living on a reservation in North Dakota is attacked. The details of the crime are slow to surface as Geraldine Coutts is traumatized and reluctant to relive or reveal what happened, either to the police or to her husband, Bazil, and thirteen-year-old son, Joe. In one day, Joe’s life is irrevocably transformed. He tries to heal his mother, but she will not leave her bed and slips into an abyss of solitude. Increasingly alone, Joe finds himself thrust prematurely into an adult world for which he is ill prepared.

　　While his father, who is a tribal judge, endeavors to wrest justice from a situation that defies his efforts, Joe becomes frustrated with the official investigation and sets out with his trusted friends, Cappy, Zack, and Angus, to get some answers of his own. Their quest takes them first to the Round House, a sacred space and place of worship for the Ojibwe. And this is only the beginning.

　　Written with undeniable urgency, and illuminating the harsh realities of contemporary life in a community where Ojibwe and white live uneasily together, The Round House is a brilliant and entertaining novel, a masterpiece of literary fiction. Louise Erdrich embraces tragedy, the comic, a spirit world very much present in the lives of her all-too-human characters, and a tale of injustice that is, unfortunately, an authentic reflection of what happens in our own world today.

作者簡介

　　Louise Erdrich lives with her family in Minnesota and is the owner of Birchbark Books, an independent bookstore. Ms. Erdrich is a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, and this story — which will, in the end, span one hundred years in the life of an Ojibwe woman — was inspired when Ms. Erdrich and her mother, Rita Gourneau Erdrich, were researching their own family history. Chickadee begins a new part of the story that started with The Birchbark House, a National Book Award finalist; The Game of Silence, winner of the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction; and the acclaimed The Porcupine Year.

　　Ms. Erdrich is also the bestselling author of many critically acclaimed novels for adults, including the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Plague of Doves and National Book Award finalist The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse. She is also the author of the picture book Grandmother’s Pigeon, illustrated by Jim LaMarche.