The Antelope Wife

By Louise Erdrich,

Book cover of The Antelope Wife

Book description

Past and present combine in a contemporary tale of love and betrayal from Louise Erdrich, winner of the National Book Award for Fiction, 2012

'Everything is all knotted up in a tangle. Pull one string of this family and the whole web will tremble.'

Rozin and Richard, living in Minneapolis…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

3 authors picked The Antelope Wife as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Louise Erdrich’s novel, The Antelope Wife, focuses on a battered woman who turns to her ancient tribal beliefs in the spirits of Nature, and in particular, the antelopes of the prairie, to help her overcome abuse.

The Antelope Wife and the Antelope Goddesses are totem figures in Native American Mythology that symbolize freedom and independence, especially for those who are abused and beaten by their spouse.

The generations of Antelope women who follow the goddess are presented by Erdrich as strong, independent females who must overcome the hardships of life in the city by retaining their belief in themselves and…

The spiritual worldview so beautifully rendered in Black Elk Speaks reflects the landscape of the North American Great Plains.

The Four Winds emanate from the cardinal points of the compass, and above is Father Sky and below is Mother Earth all united in one Great Spirit. The spiritual worldview of the Ojibwa reflects the landscape of the woodlands surrounding the Great Lakes. It’s an animate, shape-shifting world of the Trickster/Culture Hero Nanabushu and Wendigo, the cannibal spirit of the hard and lean winter months.

In this magical-realist novel, Louise Erdrich, a writer of Ojibwa ancestry, weaves together the star-crossed lives…

Louise Erdrich’s novel, The Antelope Wife, focuses on a battered woman who turns to her ancient tribal beliefs in the spirits of Nature, and in particular, the antelopes of the prairie, to help her overcome abuse.

The Antelope Wife and the Antelope Goddesses are totem figures in Native American Mythology that symbolize freedom and independence, especially for those who are abused and beaten by their spouse.

The generations of Antelope women who follow the goddess are presented by Erdrich as strong, independent females who must overcome the hardships of life in the city by retaining their belief in themselves…

Want books like The Antelope Wife?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 59 books like The Antelope Wife.

Browse books like The Antelope Wife

Book cover of Circe
Book cover of The Penelopiad
Book cover of Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,187

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in kidnapping, American Indians, and the Ojibwe?

Kidnapping 119 books
American Indians 230 books
The Ojibwe 38 books