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In a North Dakota reservation hunting accident one families father accidently kills the son of his neighbor's family , and by invoking an ancient tribal law turn over their own 5 year old son Larose to be raised by them as retribution. Parts of this book are beautifully written in prose and with insightful knowledge of ancient Indian traditions which Louise Erdrich is famous for writing about. There are quite a few characters in here and an array of subjects from 9/11 politics , Father Travis a Tae Kwon Do teaching , AA leading minister who's in love with one of the grieving mothers, high school volleyball games that turn into a near rumble.The very emotional parts where two families are trying to share a son and grieve the loss of a child and of causing others grief while very heartfelt somehow for me got all mixed up with other subplots mentioned above along with those of drug use , an old boarding school friend who's out for revenge,and another subplot of 6 generations of ancestors with the name Larose is also stirred into the pot. I know the author was trying to convey the traditional Indian culture along with the modern here , and many of my GR friends really enjoyed this book. But for my taste there were just too many odd diversions from what began as a very good central theme. 3 stars