If you are aiming for a romance novel that can incorporate daily struggles and does the unusual to show not only the good parts of love but also the bad parts, Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich is for you. The novel offers remarkable tales that exemplifies experiences that many individuals have once in their lifetime. Louise Erdrich’s novel involves numerous individuals who are struggling and aiming to find a healthy and truthful love. As one of the character states, “….Love made me turn my head away, and I couldn’t know what was going on between Lamartine and my husband…”
Love is responsible for making people blind, and this theme is expressed fully within the novel. The novel encompasses other varying feelings that love portray and it does so in a spectacular manner. Within the novel, love has been exemplified as truthful, struggling as well as lustful. Every character has their own issues concerning love and Louise guides them through varying scenarios that assist them to identify what their relationship is lacking and what can be done to better it. Erdrich not only writes about love but also focuses on identity. She opts to use characters who are of Indian descent, and these characters are seen struggling to live in a modernized world while still upholding their Chippewa tradition.
In the novel, Louise Erdrich can successfully wed the styles and themes as it is more of narrating various stories thus leaving the readers to determine any meaningful patterns present in the novel .the author can portray how storytelling can become a spiritual act and a means of achieving transformation and transcendence. Forgiveness is regarded as the actual “love medicine” as it brings a sense of wholeness regardless of broken connections. Moreover, the novel acts as a stylistic embodiment of Louise’s theme through a series of narratives and the work as a whole becomes a kind of “love medicine” of healing as well as forgiveness.
