Call number
FIC ERD
Collection
Genres
Series
Publication
Harper (2001), Edition: 1st, 368 pages
Description
A story of suspect miracles, tests of faith, and the corrosive and redemptive power of secrecy. Over the years, Father Damian has seen the reservation through its most severe crises, yet he is more than a heroic priest. He has lived with and served the Ojibwa people as a man of the cloth, and also as a woman. However, where does fact end and reality begin? NPR sponsorships. Deals with miracles, crises of faith, struggles with good & evil, temptation, & the corrosive & redemptive power of secrecy. For more than a half century, Father Damien Modeste has served his beloved people, the Ojibwa, on the remote reservation of Little No Horse. Compelled to his task by a direct mystical experience, Father Damien has made enormous sacrifices, and experienced the joys of commitment as well as deep suffering. 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. He imagines the undoing of all that he has accomplished -- sees unions unsundered, baptisms nullified, those who confessed to him once again unforgiven. To complicate his fears, his quiet life changes when a troubled colleague comes to the reservation to investigate the life of the perplexing, difficult, possibly false saint Sister Leopolda. Father Damien alone knows the strange truth of Sister Leopolda's piety, but these facts are bound up in his own secret. In relating his history and that of Leopolda, whose wonder working is documented but inspired, he believes, by a capacity for evil rather than the love of good, Father Damien is forced to choose: Should he reveal all he knows and risk everything? Or should he manufacture a protective history? In spinning out the tale of his life, Father Damien in fact does both. His story encompasses his life as a young woman, her passions, and the pestilence, tribal hatreds, and sorrows passed from generation to generation of Ojibwa. From the fantastic truth of Father Damien's origin as a woman to the hilarious account of the absurd demise of Nanapush, his best friend on the reservation, his story ranges over the span of the century. In a masterwork that both deepens and enlarges the world of her previous novels set on the same reservation, 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. 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.… (more)
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User reviews
LibraryThing member kambrogi
This story is as powerful and mesmerizing a tale as I have yet to read by this marvelous author. Here we have the story of an aging priest who reflects back on a life ministering to Ojibwe Indians on an isolated reservation. The story spans the better part of the 20th century, and is true to the
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times without being focused on history as much as character. The priest's astonishing secret of a double life, coupled with the fascinating characters who people his tale, and the haunting, lyrical style of Erdrich’s spot-on magical realism result in an outstanding work of literary fiction. Show Less
LibraryThing member -sunny-
Nearly five stars, but somehow failed to reach the emotional or ideological/conceptual levels I associate with 5-star books, though I can't say I have any solid criteria on which to base my ratings. But filled with exceptionally beautiful and striking scenes, images, words, stories, and people, not
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to mention objects, times, settings, and thoughts. All that good stuff that makes a good book, even a great or wonderful one. Maybe it's that I took a while in reading it, got it in small chunks rather than in a few concentrated stretches. But combination and clash of cultures, times, religions, traditions, people, families, genders, past and present, memory and forgetting, myth and reality...wonderful juxtapositions, lovely language. Show Less
LibraryThing member -sunny-
Nearly five stars, but somehow failed to reach the emotional or ideological/conceptual levels I associate with 5-star books, though I can't say I have any solid criteria on which to base my ratings. But filled with exceptionally beautiful and striking scenes, images, words, stories, and people, not
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to mention objects, times, settings, and thoughts. All that good stuff that makes a good book, even a great or wonderful one. Maybe it's that I took a while in reading it, got it in small chunks rather than in a few concentrated stretches. But combination and clash of cultures, times, religions, traditions, people, families, genders, past and present, memory and forgetting, myth and reality...wonderful juxtapositions, lovely language. Show Less
LibraryThing member splinfo
3/2013. Have just re-read this book after Round House. Although I remembered much of this wrong, I relished every utterance. This title stands as the book that brings more to me than other bit of fiction. It's my #1 book of all time. Deep thanks to the voice of Louise Erdrich and her lense on the
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world. Agnes/Father Damien is the best fleshed out woman character I have ever met, inspirational, one to admire and love. I hope to build manidoo and manidooens into my world. Show Less
LibraryThing member shannonkearns
A fantastically rich novel. Erdrich writes the story of a woman who, after a tragedy occurs, disguises herself as a male priest and goes to live among the Obijwe as a missionary. Erdrich weaves together the tales of the people on the reservation as well as the past and present of Agnes/Father
There are a lot of time shifts in this book which can occasionally make it hard to follow. Events overlap and collapse in on themselves and you have to really pay attention. At times the book reads as a collection of shorter stories with an overarching theme.
I loved the character of Father Damien; his interior life, the letters he writes to the Pope, the things he feels about falling into a calling that wasn't his own. The book has really interesting things to say about gender, about missionary work, and about the relations between First Nations people and white people.
I really loved this book. I would highly recommend it to others.
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Damien. The language of the novel is beautiful and the characters are rich and nuanced. There are a lot of time shifts in this book which can occasionally make it hard to follow. Events overlap and collapse in on themselves and you have to really pay attention. At times the book reads as a collection of shorter stories with an overarching theme.
I loved the character of Father Damien; his interior life, the letters he writes to the Pope, the things he feels about falling into a calling that wasn't his own. The book has really interesting things to say about gender, about missionary work, and about the relations between First Nations people and white people.
I really loved this book. I would highly recommend it to others.
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LibraryThing member RavenousReaders
For more than a half century, Father Damien Modeste has served the Ojibwe on a remote reservation. Now, nearing the end of his life, Damien dreads the discovery of his physical identity, for he is a woman who has lived as a man. As you read his/her story you are immersed in the life of the Ojibwe
Reviewed by:
Suzie
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reservation, both historically and in the present day. An intriguing story filled with fascinating characters, and spanning nearly 100, years this book makes us aware of how little we really know about the people we know, even those we see every day.Reviewed by:
Suzie
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LibraryThing member LynnB
Passion. This is a story about a young woman who becomes a nun, then becomes passionate about music and leaves the convent. She meets a farmer and lives a life of erotic love with him and devotional love to her music. And loses it all -- her music, her lover and part of her memory.
She assumes the
This is a wonderful story. Like other novels by Louise Erdrich, I loved the large cast of characters and her ability to make every one of them vivid and important. I loved the examination of human vs. divine passion, of what happiness really is, of whether certain gifts come from God or from the devil, and in the end, does it matter?
She assumes the
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identity of Father Damien Modeste who is killed on his way to his posting at the Ojibwe reserve of Little No Horse. And spends the rest of her life devoted to the Ojibwe people and her duties as their priest. But all is not smooth sailing as passion for music and for fellow priest Gregory disturb her contentment.This is a wonderful story. Like other novels by Louise Erdrich, I loved the large cast of characters and her ability to make every one of them vivid and important. I loved the examination of human vs. divine passion, of what happiness really is, of whether certain gifts come from God or from the devil, and in the end, does it matter?
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LibraryThing member ksmac
Engrossing story of a woman posing as a Catholic priest on an impoverished reservation and her "reports" to the pope of events she believes are miracles
LibraryThing member lilysea
My very most favorite Erdrich! And Erdrich is one of my favorite authors.
LibraryThing member katydid-it
Not quite as good as Erdrich's "The Master Butcher's Singing Club", but I liked it quite a bit. A bit magical realism, a bit historical fiction.
LibraryThing member ruthseeley
This book made me laugh out loud more than once. It's probably my to-date-favourite Erdrich novel.
LibraryThing member MarianV
A novel that begins with an unlikely premise -- an ex-nun, fleeing a flood comes upon the body of a drowned priest. The priest was on his way to serve at the Chippewa mission at Little No-Horse Reservation & the ex-nun decides to serve in his stead, taking on his complete identity including his
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gender. The story comes together perfectly. Louise Erdrich brings on her cast of Chippewas we have come to know from her previous novels & new characters are interwoven into the plot. A dispute concerning the proposed sainthood of an unstable nun whom the "priest" knows was not a worker of miracles adds tension to the narrative. Forbidden romance & the hardships of a primitive environment also complicate the story. But it is the people themselves that Ms. Erdrich portrays in all their humanity that makes this an unforgetable work of literature. Show Less
LibraryThing member juniperSun
Erdrich's writing has matured over the years. I wish I had saved all the quotable lines in this book. Agnes/Father Damien is much more introspective and thoughtful than I expect from a settler of that era and, in a way, not believable as a potentially real person. But the theme of the novel pulls
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you along. Show Less
LibraryThing member KinnicChick
A complicated and fascinating tale. Takes place on an Ojibwa Reservation in North Dakota. The main story is about Father Damien, a priest who loves and lives among the people, serving them for over 50 years, all that time concealing his real physical identity - beneath his old fashioned cassock, is
The complex story contains many interwoven relationships with several generations involved and the mysteries surrounding Sister Leopolda, but what truly shines is the love of Father Damien for his people to the very end.
Beautifully written.
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the body of a woman. And nearing the end of his life he worries that he will be found out. Now the church has sent another priest to interview Damien and investigate the stories of a local nun to learn if her life was worthy of Sainthood. The complex story contains many interwoven relationships with several generations involved and the mysteries surrounding Sister Leopolda, but what truly shines is the love of Father Damien for his people to the very end.
Beautifully written.
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LibraryThing member the_awesome_opossum
The Last Report of the Miracles at Little No Horse frames itself as an extended epistolary scrapbook of the chaplaincy of Father Damien Modeste to the Ojibwe people. He writes to the pope as a final confession at the end of his life, professing two things: one, that he is a woman who stole the
Much of the novel feels nearly picaresque, as readers encounter Ojibwe characters' lives and backgrounds, but stick most emotionally closely to Father Damien. Yet Father Damien (nee Agnes, an identity she assumes only in the privacy of her own home and as necessary) sees him/herself as a transitional point between God and the people. The shape-shifting of gender identity reflects this: the work of a missionary is to constructively be who the people need.
One of Father Damien's final assignments is to investigate the possibility of sainthood for a member of his community named Sister Leopolda, a pious and passionate Ojibwe nun of whom Damien is nevertheless skeptical. Yet, as he looks for proof of sainthood among her antisocial behavior, and struggles for a response to Rome's hope that her passionate and extravagant character was divinely-inspired, Damien must also confront his own deceptive self-portrayal. Which is the greater good, to offer a community honesty, or comfort?
Parts of this book were slow, due to the aforementioned distance put between the reader and the Ojibwe characters, but Damien was a nuanced and thought-provoking character to sustain the narrative.
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identity of a dead priest; and two, the Ojibwe community has been nurtured and flourished under his care despite the fraud.Much of the novel feels nearly picaresque, as readers encounter Ojibwe characters' lives and backgrounds, but stick most emotionally closely to Father Damien. Yet Father Damien (nee Agnes, an identity she assumes only in the privacy of her own home and as necessary) sees him/herself as a transitional point between God and the people. The shape-shifting of gender identity reflects this: the work of a missionary is to constructively be who the people need.
One of Father Damien's final assignments is to investigate the possibility of sainthood for a member of his community named Sister Leopolda, a pious and passionate Ojibwe nun of whom Damien is nevertheless skeptical. Yet, as he looks for proof of sainthood among her antisocial behavior, and struggles for a response to Rome's hope that her passionate and extravagant character was divinely-inspired, Damien must also confront his own deceptive self-portrayal. Which is the greater good, to offer a community honesty, or comfort?
Parts of this book were slow, due to the aforementioned distance put between the reader and the Ojibwe characters, but Damien was a nuanced and thought-provoking character to sustain the narrative.
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LibraryThing member bibliophileofalls
A bit on the long side, I was caught up in the story early on, got bogged down in the (too long) middle and very much glad I stuck with it as the end was very amusing and also meaningful. A lot about the "spirit world" of the American Indians and how it conflicts/parallels the Catholic religion as
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told by a priest. Show Less
LibraryThing member JenWarren
The events in the book seem unbelievable at times, but blend together to make the sad, funny moving story of Father Damien and his parishioners.
LibraryThing member pajarita
What a beautiful ending for another complex story by Louise Erdrich!
This is a book that twisted my opinions around its premises more times than once. At times preposterous, and at times profound--this tale binds the reader up into its characters' choices. Choices that we don't always agree with,
And although sometimes I felt that small plot twists were a bit pat, I found that their weave into the greater tapestry of Erdrich's telling were more forgivable once we understand where she has brought us.
This is a book that twisted my opinions around its premises more times than once. At times preposterous, and at times profound--this tale binds the reader up into its characters' choices. Choices that we don't always agree with,
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but seem frequently to find ourselves complicit in. And although sometimes I felt that small plot twists were a bit pat, I found that their weave into the greater tapestry of Erdrich's telling were more forgivable once we understand where she has brought us.
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LibraryThing member alpin
In 1912, Agnes DeWitt adopts the cassock and persona of a Catholic priest who drowns en route to his missionary post in remote North Dakota. For almost a century, Agnes binds her breasts and, as Father Damien, lives a “sincere lie,” ministering to the Ojibwe people she comes to see as her own.
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This novel, written in 2001, is the sixth in the series that began with “Love Medicine” in 1984 and features many of the same members of the Ojibwe clans in the earlier books as well as Louise Erdrich's elegant, lyrical prose and mix of realism, fable, and humor. The devotion and passion (both earthly and spiritual) of Agnes/Damien hold it all together, despite some sluggish patches in the Ojibwe stories, and make this an emotionally affecting novel. Show Less
LibraryThing member Beamis12
I just loved this book. Such a wonderful portrayal of Father Damien (actually a woman who finds her life as a priest through very strange circumstances) and the Ojibwa Indians on a Dakota reservation. The prose was beautiful and while the story went back and forth from past to present, Erdrich does
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such a fantastic job acquainting the reader with all the main characters and their stories this was not confusing to me. I felt like I was intimately acquainted with all of them, and loved reading about their lives. Some parts made me laugh and some parts made me sad, I had such compassion for most of these characters. Didn't want the book to end. Show Less
LibraryThing member brangwinn
Oh, what a story. A former nun lives her adult life as a priest on a reservation for more than fifty years. This story enriches the canvas of reservations on which Erdrich paints her stories in words. The characters and the deep emotions shown by the characters are worthy citizens of Erdrich’s
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world. Show Less
LibraryThing member ageoflibrarius
so imaginative--can't wait to see what happens next. and the writing itself is wonderul
LibraryThing member zina
Amazing story - have recommended it to everyone. Historical, gender issues, combines native american and catholic beliefs in an unforgettable tale.
LibraryThing member MaureenCean
I hope the folks who are kind enough to read my reviews do not mind that I don't summarize the plot - I am satisfied for the most part with what GR has to say and so many reviewers summarize it too - and I just don't have the time, so I just give you my reactions - thanks if you keep reading. This
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was a book club selection - I could not finish it in the time I allotted before the meeting. My bad, given that I am the leader of the club...but I was heartened when no one else had finished by the time of the meeting. That being said, I really did like this book, and the fact that her latest work earned a major book award just underscores the fact that I am just a regular reader, and not any sort of literary scholar. I enjoyed the spiritualism, and how it compared and contrasted with the Catholic faith, I found some aspects of the early part of the book to be just bizzarre - especially Agnes' bond to music, then replaced by sensuality - and then her journey to to the Ojibwe. It was in a sense mythological on its own. Part of my enjoyment I am sure was sourced from the fact that I adored mythology as teen, from anywhere on the planet, including Native American. I am pleased that it ended the way it did, with the focus of possible beatification shifting to the true hero/heroine. Show Less
LibraryThing member Cheryl_in_CC_NV
There's an LP at CC, and others in ILL.
Awards
National Book Award (Finalist — Fiction — 2001)
Indies Choice Book Award (Honor Book — Adult Fiction — 2002)
Minnesota Book Awards (Finalist — 2002)
Booklist Editor's Choice: Adult Books (Fiction — 2001)
Pages
368
ISBN
0060187271 / 9780060187279