This book felt like being wrapped in a blanket--it was soft, warm, and comforting, even in the hard parts, and the pacing was like being rocked in a boat. This all could be because I read it every night before bed (which is why it took me so long to finish) but I do find Erdrich's prose to be extremely comforting.

She cites the Billy Tipton biography in the back as something from which she drew the character of Father Damien (or at least makes reference to the book in talking about the plausibility of Damien's life), and given the way that book was written, I'm not super surprised to see the sort of gender nonconforming character roll out the way it did--if you (like me) are trans and aware of the critiques of the Tipton biography, you'll see a lot reflected there, but the space made for sort of the flow of gender here doesn't feel vicious? I'd love to hear a trans Two Spirit Ojibwe person's perspectives on it, because my feelings are obviously really tied up in the ways I see trans and gender nonconforming people make appearances outside of books written with Ojibwe culture in mind, but I was sometimes uneasy about the way Damien was written, and sometimes I was okay with it.

Regardless, it was a beautiful book and I'm very glad to have read it. As someone who hasn't read much else of Erdrich's stuff, particularly the other books set there, I'm interested to see how they all fit together, but I will say I don't think you need to have read those to get into these and feel warmed by it.