Writing with subtle compassion and magical imagination, Erdrich has done justice to the complexities of existence in general and Native American life in particular. Her prose shimmers: a piano being carried across the plains is 'an ebony locust.' This novel will be remembered for a cornucopia of set pieces, all bizarre and stunning: wounded and taken hostage by a bank robber and pinned to the running board of his Overland automobile, Agnes, 'her leg a flare of blood,' briefly touches hands with her astonished lover as the car crosses his path old man Nanapush, impaled on fish hooks that pin him to a boat that's hitched to the antlers of a wounded moose, careens through the woods in delirious exhaustion. The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse is a work of an avid heart, a writer's writer, and a storytelling genius.Įrdrich seems to be inhabiting her characters, so intense and viscerally rendered are her portrayals. or manufacture a protective history for Leopolda, though he believes her wonder-working is motivated solely by evil? He is faced with the most difficult decision: Should he tell all and risk everything. Father Damien alone knows the strange truth of Leopolda's piety, but these facts are bound up in his own secret. To further complicate his quiet existence, a troubled colleague comes to the reservation to investigate the life of the perplexing, possibly false saint Sister Leopolda. Now, nearing the end of his life, Father Damien dreads the discovery of his physical identity, for he is a woman who has lived as a man. The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse deals with miracles, crises of faith, struggles with good and evil, temptation, and the corrosive and redemptive power of secrecy.įor more than a half century, Father Damien Modeste has served his beloved Native American tribe, the Ojibwe, on the remote reservation of Little No Horse. In a masterwork that both deepens and enlarges the world of her previous novels, acclaimed author Louise Erdrich captures the essence of a time and the spirit of a woman who felt compelled by her beliefs to serve her people as a priest. infused with mystery and wonder.” -Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The last report on the miracles