The Antelope Wife: Connectivity

This novel was particularly unique in how the story was told. The story did not follow a linear pattern much like is seen in the majority of novels that are written today. It appeared as though everything had a way of connecting back, almost in a circular pattern. Many of the things I read as I progressed through the novel at times really troubled me. The story often would jump between different characters stories and from their past stories to their present stories. This was even more complicated because there was no background information given in the first part of the book. Characters stories came into perspective as the book neared its end, and the reader had ample amounts of past and current information on the characters. Even with all of this information, it still took a while for me to get a handle on what the big picture was because I had to put all of the pieces together; it wasn't spelled out for me on the pages.

Choosing to write the chapters of this story in this way is interesting because of the connectivity between all of the characters in the novel. For me, I had a hard time following how all of the people in the novel were related or connected until the very end of the book. Having the chapters jumping between characters and past and present didn't make the interpretation of the book any easier either. For instance, it wasn't until the end of the book that I realized that Cally was actually related to all of the people in the book in some way or form; through blood or by marriage. "Already, you want them, I know. But you will have to trade for them with their owner, your uncle's wife, Sweetheart Calico" (Erdrich 218). This was the only time in the novel that it was explicitly stated how two characters were related. There were implications in other parts of the novel but none were as explicit as this scene. This connectivity and how it was presented made for a challenging read, but was still an interesting story all the same.