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Suzanne
Rating:
Review
This book was a bummer to read. It’s just one sorry and depressing thing after another. It also has little to do with the master butchers singing club. The story focuses mainly on the characters and families of Fidelis and Delphine. Fidelis, whose family immigrates to North Dakota from Germany after WWI, is the master butcher who starts up a singing club like they had back in the Old World. His character is not very well developed, but that might be on purpose, because he has to work so hard no one ever really gets to know him. Delphine is in a weird relationship of convenience with a circus performer – they have a road-show balancing act together for awhile, and pretend to be husband and wife to satisfy the morals of their time. She also has a drunk for a father who plays a horrifying role in the book. Just skip this one.
Best and Worst Line:
The title - it intrigued me and tricked me into reading the book.
Kim
Rating:
Review
I didn’t really like this book. The book jacket described this novel much better than it was. Beginning in the early 1900s in Argus, North Dakota, Fidelis Waldvogel is a master butcher who recently emigrated from Germany with his wife, Eva and a young son. Also living in Argus is Dorothy Watzka with her father, Roy, and a temporary co-worker/former lover Cyprian, who happens to also be a balancing expert. Then there’s Kozka, the rival butcher across town, and Step-and-Half, the loner with a quick gate. Plus others I won’t get into right now, because there’s just too many. With all these interesting characters, how can a book go wrong? It does, and not quickly either. At nearly 400 pages, it was a long, drawn-out process. I did like Ms. Erdrich’s writing style, as it was descriptive and enlightening, which is why this book got two flip-flops and not just one.
Best Line:
“Bad smells made her angry, they were a personal affront.”
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