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The Sentence cover art

The Sentence

By: Louise Erdrich
Narrated by: Louise Erdrich
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Summary

Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2022

Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Night Watchman

In this stunning and timely novel, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrich creates a wickedly funny ghost story, a tale of passion, of a complex marriage and of a woman's relentless errors.

Louise Erdrich's latest novel, The Sentence, asks what we owe to the living, the dead, to the reader and to the book. A small independent bookstore in Minneapolis is haunted from November 2019 to November 2020 by the store's most annoying customer. Flora dies on All Souls' Day, but she simply won't leave the store. Tookie, who has landed a job selling books after years of incarceration that she survived by reading 'with murderous attention', must solve the mystery of this haunting while at the same time trying to understand all that occurs in Minneapolis during a year of grief, astonishment, isolation and furious reckoning.

The Sentence begins on All Souls' Day 2019 and ends on All Souls' Day 2020. Its mystery and proliferating ghost stories during this one year propel a narrative as rich, emotional and profound as anything Louise Erdrich has written.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Louise Erdrich (P)2021 Hachette Audio UK

Critic reviews

Louise Erdrich is the rarest kind of writer, as compassionate as she is sharp-sighted (Anne Tyler)
[A] powerful, endearing novel (Erica Wagner)

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What listeners say about The Sentence

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Loved this book

Moments of deep insights permeated this novel. Connecting the characters with real recent events was powerful . Lyrical and dreamy but profound.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

I wanted to love this…

This author is wonderful and the book has all the elements I love but sadly it didn’t come together for me. It started strong and ended perfectly but I struggled in the middle with the overall storyline. It felt like a stream of consciousness, rather than an intricate storyline and plot. The characters were so alive and real and kept me listening. Maybe this type of book needs to be read to be truly appreciated.

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1 person found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

possibly good story completely let down by reading

story intriguing with great start and evolution, but I was unable to finish as reading terrible.. she had a lovely voice but every sentence has gaps in the wrong place, and emphasis bizarrely placed, making it v irritating to listen.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Well read and written, but

It’s no doubt very well read and written. However, it seems to be a short ghost story padded out with a commentary on anything that was in the news while it was being written - BLM, covid etc. I can’t recommend it as there’s no structure.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Mixed feelings

I almost gave up on this at least 5 times during the first couple of hours but something had grabbed me enough to make me stay. The narration was not a style I enjoyed- very breathy and slowly enunciated - the author herself, and this was one initial reason for hovering over the stop button. The first third of the story also didn’t seem to be going anywhere much but the character of Tookie was just enough to hold my attention. Her unusual backstory, especially foreign to someone from Ireland, was intriguing so I stuck with it to see where she’d end up. I am interested in reading about places, people and worlds I know nothing about. Once the haunting began and particularly the reality of Covid arriving, that combined with real life racial issues brought reality into a narrative that had seemed too unreal up until that point. I haven’t read any other Erdrich books so I had no preconceptions or knowledge of her style of writing or subject matter and while I didn’t totally love the book she hooked me enough to keep me listening to the end.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Social issues,racism,white issues

Too complex...hard to follow sometimes.Unclear who was real and who was a ghost.Well written though.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Perfect and timely

Loved this. Funny, soulful and important. Beautifully read by the author. The story loops and twists across a calendar year, both recognisable and magical, making a perfect, deeply satisfying circle.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A beautiful book. A must read.

Wonderfully narrated by the author. Superb story telling. Moving and thrilling in equal measure. Highly recommended.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful

This was a deeply moving account centred around a year in the life of a woman and her book stop. It’s also about a haunting and search for identity
Plenty of layers and beautifully written

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    5 out of 5 stars
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magical and real

pleasantly surprised at the creative plot and immersive storytelling. Louise Erdrich put a bit of everything in this and it worked very well.

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