Love Medicine
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Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich is a novel about two families who live in North Dakota. Each chapter takes place during a specific year and the story as a whole takes place over about 60 years. The novel expresses racial, social, and political tensions in Native American families.
[edit] Characters
- Marie Lazarre is the half-Indian, half-white wife of Nector. She is often referred to as a "dirty Lazarre" because of her mixed heritage. She does her best to support Nector and raise her children; this motherly behavior contrasts with Lulu's.
- Nector Kashpaw is the full-Indian husband of Marie. He cheats on her with Lulu and begets the love-child Lyman Lamartine. He and his wife gradually grow apart, until finally Marie reads a note he sent to Lulu and learns of his infidelity.
- Lulu Nanapush uses her incredible sexuality to control the men around her, including Nector. She garners a respectable position in the tribe, but others' knowledge of her promiscuity continually haunts her.
- June is the foster daughter of Marie, and dies in the first chapter (whether she committed suicide is left unsaid). Her death greatly influences the other family members even many years after the fact.
