The beginning of this book was kind of slow for me. It's one of those books that doesn't matter unless you care about the characters, and I didn't care about the characters for the first hundred or so pages. I was interested, but not invested. The first two days I read this book, I got through about sixty pages, just enough to be consistently reading. And then I picked it up the third day and couldn't put it down.

This book starts with a simple concept. Irene discovers her husband is reading her diary, so she starts a second secret diary and uses the first to manipulate him. Then the book devolves into an entire family affair. I think this was why it was difficult for me initially to get into. The book became something I wasn't expecting from the beginning, and that adjustment took a while. I don't think the diary element was necessary at all to the story, although it was initially what drew me to this book.

But what was so wonderful was how real each of the family members was. This wasn't a melodrama, it was real people, a real family unit that was falling apart. By the end I couldn't tear my eyes away from any of the characters. They made the book worth it. Irene's husband was an artist who painted her almost exclusively, supporting his family off her portraits that were often emotionally and/or sexually revealing. That element was so well done and woven into their dysfunctional relationship beautifully.

I did think the pace picked up a little too much in the end. The majority of the story took place over the course of a few weeks, but the parts got shorter and the time frame got longer, and the story wrapped up really quick months after the events of the story. I was less interested in the actual ending than the overall arcs of the characters. The epilogue meant more to me than the climax did.

Considering that this seems to be Erdrich's lowest rated book, I'm very interested in trying more of her work. I would definitely recommend this book if you're interested in a study of a family falling apart. I loved it.