The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich
Published 2008 · 352 pages · 105,557 words · about 10 hours at an average pace · literary fiction, historical fiction, polyphonic novel
How hard is The Plague of Doves to read?
The Plague of Doves scores 77 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it very challenging. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.
- Vocabulary: 68 out of 100
- The text incorporates specialized cultural terms like "Mooshum," "Metis," and "snoose," alongside specific religious vocabulary such as "scapulars" and "transubstantiation." Occasional literary words like "murmurous susurration" and scientific terms like "prognathic jaw" also appear, requiring readers to engage with a lexicon beyond common contemporary fiction.
- Sentence structure: 70 out of 100
- Sentences frequently extend to considerable length, employing multiple subordinate clauses and descriptive phrases to convey intricate details and internal thoughts. While generally grammatically clear, the prose demands sustained attention to navigate its elaborate structures, comparable to the navigability of long paragraphs in "2666."
- Abstraction: 72 out of 100
- The narrative, though grounded in concrete events of reservation life and family history, consistently delves into philosophical and symbolic territory. Billy Peace's abstract sermons on Armageddon and the Antichrist, combined with the narrator's internal reflections on justice, identity, and the nature of spirit, elevate the content beyond a purely literal interpretation, akin to the metaphysical digressions found in "Gravity's Rainbow."
- Information density: 78 out of 100
- The novel presents a complex tapestry of intergenerational family history, shifting first-person narrators, and embedded historical events, demanding high attention from the reader. Intricate relationships, cultural details, and thematic layers are woven throughout, creating a dense informational experience that requires careful tracking of connections, similar to the demands of "War and Peace" or "2666."
- Narrative indirection: 80 out of 100
- The novel frequently requires readers to infer meaning, employing multiple first-person narrators whose perspectives are often limited, biased, or explicitly unreliable, such as Mooshum's embellished historical accounts. Events are layered through generations of storytelling, demanding readers to actively connect disparate narratives and interpret the subjective experiences of characters like Evelina and John Wildstrand. This approach, reminiscent of *Pedro Paramo*, prioritizes reader assembly of meaning over direct exposition.
- Symbolic density: 80 out of 100
- Symbolism is deeply woven throughout the narrative, starting with the literal and metaphorical 'Plague of Doves' which represents both natural and colonial forces. Recurring motifs like salamanders, embodying both devilish and emissary roles, and the turtle with carved initials, signifying enduring love and loss, carry significant meaning beyond their literal presence. Billy Peace is explicitly framed as a 'Christ figure' or 'martyr,' elevating his actions to an allegorical level, making the text richer than *The Great Gatsby*.
- Ironic distance: 75 out of 100
- A pervasive ironic distance exists between the characters' perceptions and the deeper truths, particularly evident in the humorous yet critical portrayal of Father Cassidy's hypocrisy and the community's selective morality. John Wildstrand's elaborate kidnapping scheme, designed to resolve his personal life, ironically leads to unforeseen consequences and his own downfall. This subtle critique of human folly and societal norms creates a gap between what is said and what is truly meant, akin to the nuanced irony in *Lolita*.
- Resolution withholding: 78 out of 100
- The narrative consistently resists definitive closure, leaving many questions and emotional arcs open-ended, reflecting the enduring impact of historical trauma and personal struggles. Mooshum's fluid storytelling about the lynching of Holy Track and others highlights the elusiveness of a single 'truth,' while the adult Evelina's final reflections on Billy Peace's transformation and her mother's resignation ('No one's ever going to stop him') underscore a lack of neat resolution. This approach creates a lingering ambiguity, similar to *The Crying of Lot 49*.
- Structural complexity: 85 out of 100
- The novel exhibits high structural complexity through its non-linear chronology and shifting first-person perspectives, moving between Evelina's childhood, Antone Coutts's courtship, and historical expeditions. Chapters like 'SOLO' serve as enigmatic prologues, while the interwoven narratives of different generations and families (e.g., Milk, Peace, Coutts, Wildstrand, Buckendorf) demand constant reorientation from the reader. This multi-layered and fragmented structure, more intricate than *Midnight's Children*, requires active engagement to piece together the overarching story.
How The Plague of Doves is regarded
The Plague of Doves holds a literary regard score of 82 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.