Meeting Report: March 2023

The DCBC met on Sunday, March 26, 2023 to discuss March's book: The Sentence, by Louise Erdrich (selected by Emily Y).

Attendees were: Emily Y, Miriam, Sarah, Jessy, Ashley, Emily O, Paige, and Ray.

The Sentence centers around Tookie, an indigenous woman in Minneapolis who is working at a small, independent bookstore after serving a prison sentence for unwittingly trafficking drugs on behalf of her friends. The bookstore's "most annoying customer" is Flora, who dies on All Souls' Day of 2019, and who subsequently begins to haunt the bookstore she frequented, and Tookie in particular. The Sentence follows Tookie through the mystery of this haunting, the COVID-19 pandemic, George Floyd's murder and the aftermath, all over the course of the year to All Souls' Day of 2020.

“Small bookstores have the romance of doomed intimate spaces about to be erased by unfettered capitalism."

― Louise Erdrich, The Sentence

'Tookie is an incredibly disarming main character, and she’s wonderfully human' (Miriam's review). We discussed Tookie's relationship to Flora, their shared history, and the sentence in an eerily indestructible book that caused Flora's demise. There were multiple uses of the title throughout the book, from Tookie's prison sentence, to the aforementioned sentence that killed Flora, and:

“There was a sentence people were chanting all over the world now. I can't breathe."

― Louise Erdrich, The Sentence

to name a few. The Sentence was also interesting for taking place during the pandemic, without really being about the pandemic. Just the perspective of a predominantly indigenous community and their experiences living through these recent events. Some of the pandemic thoughts Tookie has are of course 'comical' (Paige's review) in retrospect:

“I wondered if I could make a mask out of a cabbage leaf."

“It seemed like the virus would pass in about a month."

― Louise Erdrich, The Sentence

Some of us thought the book jumped around between too many different things, or was slow to get going. Others of us thought this made for a realistic depiction of how real life doesn't usually follow a neat path. Additionally, this choice on Erdrich's part may have helped underscore the chaotic feel of the year that was 2020. 'The discussion of real events from our own recent history in the world of this book was super cathartic...This book is highly realistic in a perfectly humane way, and doesn’t lose any of the promised whimsy from being so honest.' (Miriam's review) 

We also discussed our general enjoyment of the magical realism Erdrich employs in the 'genuinely spooky ghost interventions,' (Paige's review) like Tookie finding books on the floor, Flora's hand on the light switch, and finally, Tookie feeling as though Flora is trying to unzip her back and climb into her body. (I may have been holding my breath during that last one.)

There was also a discussion about Flora's (adopted) indigenous identity and how this related to her finding out her own ancestor was not actually native at all but a white sadist who targeted native people. This was "the sentence" that evidently sapped Flora of her will to live. And finally the cavalier attitude some supporting characters had to the skeletal remains of an indigenous person they had in their possession, contrasted with the horrified feelings of the native people in the bookstore (which remains were, finally, returned). 

Overall, everyone seemed to like it, at least to some degree! Lastly, as promised:

Pollux's Corn Soup

“[I]t is a corn soup. First he caramelizes fresh-cut sweetcorn, toasting it slowly in a heavy pan, adding onions. Then cubed potatoes tossed lightly in butter, to set a crisp. He adds all of this to a garlicky chicken broth with shaved carrots, cannellini beans, fresh dill, parsley, a dash of cayenne, and heavy cream.”

― Louise Erdrich, The Sentence

Here is the version Sarah made for our book club meeting. I made mine in a crock pot and took a couple of shortcuts to minimize dishes. I made my version vegan and forgot the cayenne (oops). Included some comments for things to try or do differently.

Served enough for about 12, so scale down (or up) accordingly!

Ingredients

A few Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
6 ears of sweet corn, cut from cob
1 sweet onion, diced small
2 medium russet potatoes, cubed small
2 large carrots, diced small (or "shaved")
8 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
10 cups vegetable (or chicken) broth (It looked like it needed more after 8, but I'd probably scale it back next time and try for a thicker soup.)
2 Tbsp butter (or the plant-based kind)
1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped

1 bunch fresh dill, chopped
1 (8 oz.?) container plant-based sour cream (or the dairy kind, or heavy cream per Pollux's recipe)
Salt, to taste
Cayenne pepper, to taste (I'll have to remember this next time)

Directions

1. In a heavy skillet (or my crock pot using "stove top" setting on high), heat olive oil over medium/medium-high heat and add cut corn. I let mine caramelize while cutting up the rest of my veggies, stirring periodically.

2. Add onion and let this caramelize as well. If I were doing this in a skillet / soup pot combo, I'd probably start a soup pot simmering my garlic in the broth to extract those flavors longer while the skillet is going.

3. Melt butter and toss potato cubes to coat. Toast these as well ("to set a crisp," though I just added mine to the crock pot as I went and they got as toasty as they got. But could also transfer the corn and onions to the broth if they're done caramelizing and try to get the potatoes crispier in the skillet.

4. Add carrots and beans. All the veggies should be in a pot with the broth at this point. I let simmer for about 30 minutes while I washed and chopped the fresh herbs, which I added toward the end and finished with the sour cream (or heavy cream, but I wanted the extra zip from the sour cream). Then add salt and cayenne to taste and serve. 

Tookie doesn't say what, if anything, Pollux serves this with and we enjoyed it on its own, but this soup could be an accompaniment to a larger meal, or could have a salad or bread or even a sandwich on the side. This was a first attempt for me, and as you can tell from the many comments, there are things I would experiment with for the next go-around. If you make it, please experiment and share your culinary adventures in the comments! 

The Verdict

Taken from the average DCBC member ratings on Goodreads who had marked the book as read and rated at the time of this writing:

The Sentence: 4.5 stars

Thank you to Emily Y for hosting!

Next Month: April 2023: The Monsters We Defy, by Leslye Penelope (selected by Sarah).

As always, the full book list for this cycle can be found here.