"The Plague of Doves" @ Octavia Fellin Library (Part II)

In an earlier post, I mentioned one the more confusing plot points in Louise Erdrich's "The Plague of Doves" and how our group discussed it.  While I thought this was the most interesting part of our discussion, it was far from the only one.  Here, I'm going to run through some other topics we discussed.  If you ever find yourself in a book club with "The Plague of Doves" in front of you, these are all great aspects to bring up!

Early in the discussion, religion was brought up, and differing religions in the story play a central role in many ways.  Mooshum and Father Cassidy argue over elements of Catholicism and Mooshum's soul.  From sexuality to transubstantiation, Mooshum takes Father Cassidy's beliefs and turns them around.  In a similar situation, snakes and doves seem to have their roles reversed from what they would be in traditional Christianity.  Marn Wolde describes the snakes as having "judgement in them... And they have love"  (p160).  On the other hand, a swarm of doves is described devouring crops and crushing houses on the first page of the book.  That's not even getting into the cult founded by Billy Peace.

We found that characters were constantly haunted by the past, particularly their crimes or sins, and just as frequently they end up trying to avoid those ghosts as long as they can.  As a major spoiler, the man who committed the crime three Native men were executed for spends his entire life trying to avoid a meeting with the sole survivor of his murderous actions, only to be nursed to health by her.  John Wildstrand forces Billy Peace into kidnapping his wife.  As a result of this, Billy flees the town, joins the army, and founds a cult.

While these were just a couple of the topics we touched upon, there were a lot more.  Race and sexual identity both came up, particularly in relation to Evelina.  We touched on how the characters in the book deal with trauma and how labels/identities change how they perceive each other.  There was a lot in "The Plague of Doves." It was a great discussion and I think everyone in the group would highly recommend it.