Of course, Erdrich also brings in details of life on an Ojibwe reservation unfamiliar to most readers. In some ways, it feels comfortable and familiar, like “Encyclopedia Brown” with darker content, or “Stand by Me” with not-quite-as-dire a crime at its heart. There are teen crushes, outrageously inappropriate old people, and faithful friends. To all this weighty drama Erdrich brings a touch of humor, while she imbues the new generation - Joe and his three best friends - with a sense of potential and hope. The authorities may not be able to bring about justice, even after a clear suspect emerges.

Both he and his father know that the attack took place at the intersection of native and state lands – jurisdiction isn’t clear. His father does his best to try to bring some normalcy back to the household, but the sadness there weighs on Joe. Joe’s mother is devastated, almost beyond the reach of her friends and family. The tribe’s mythic-slash-spiritual history is also present Joe learns forgotten legends when Mooshum talks in his sleep. Interspersed with this quest are more mundane scenes from Joe’s everyday life - boyishly lusting after his uncle’s buxom girlfriend, reading his father’s books, skinny-dipping with his friends, going to his grandfather Mooshum’s birthday party. He quizzes his father, eavesdrops on conversations and bikes around the reservation with his three closest friends, investigating.

She is so traumatized that she initially will not speak of the incident or name her attacker, and Joe decides to find the culprit. In the novel, Joe, a sheltered 13-year-old, must come to terms with crime, justice and adult sexuality after his mother is brutally raped. Erdrich has been building this narrative world since “Love Medicine” in 1984 yet for those who don’t yet know it, this book provides a decent entree. With its cover now adorned by the National Book Awards’ gold medallion, “The Round House” will, presumably, find a wider audience than it would have before. 14 illustrates just how idiosyncratic literary competitions can be. That this book - good, but not extraordinarily so - won the National Book Award on Nov. Louise Erdrich’s “The Round House” is a solid coming-of-age novel set on a fictional North Dakota Ojibwe reservation, the subject of much of her work.

Novel the round house