Crack sniper Fidelis Waldvogel survives the First World War because
of his ability to remain perfectly motionless. Emigrating from his
small German town to America with the widow of his dead comrade, he
continues in the family line of master butchers and prospers in the
small North Dakotan town of Argus. But his calm exterior hides a
heart burdened with overwhelming love and barely controlled rage,
constantly threatening to explode. As Fidelis's family and small
community grow a new war threatens, patriotic loyalties are split,
and he suffers losses he would never have thought endurable,
forcing his emotional catatonia to find a means of expression. This
is a beautifully imagined and executed story, bursting with
characters of such deeply felt and hidden yearnings that one feels
the entire emotional landscape of Argus as if it were one's own
home town. By turns historical drama, murder mystery, love story
and rights of passage fable, The Master Butchers Singing Club is a
tight, precisely drawn narrative in which the painful intimacies of
an isolated community belie the gruff exteriors of people hardened
by war, separation and loss. There is not a wasted word in this
novel, not one incompletely drawn character nor a single
superfluous sentence. Erdrich captures a profound sense of place in
the barren plains of North Dakota, weaving images of the
inhospitable landscape seamlessly through the fabric of lives lived
on the edge of disaster. There's an existential quality to her
prose in the characters' constant skirting of physical and
emotional danger and in the ever-present threat of loss and fear of
emptiness that they endure. In the breadth of its scope, vision and
realization, this is a stunning book by a gifted storyteller.
(Kirkus UK)
A powerful novel from one of the most celebrated American writers
of her generation, and the winner of the National Book Award for
Fiction 2012 In the quiet aftermath of WWI, Fidelis Waldvogel
leaves behind his quiet German village, and sets out for America
with his new wife Eva - the widow of his best friend, killed in
action. Finally settling in North Dakota, Fidelis works hard to
build a business, a home for his family - and a singing club
consisting of the best voices in town. But his adventure into the
New World truly begins when he encounters Delphine Watzka, a local
woman whose origins are a mystery, even to her. Delphine meets Eva
and is enchanted. She meets Fidelis and the ground trembles...
Spanning the decades from the Great War to the fifties, 'The Master
Butchers Singing Club' is a gift to readers everywhere, unfolding
its themes of love and death, lightness and gravity with the
eloquent prose, sly humour, and depth of feeling that only a
masterful writer can offer.
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