" Midway through Louise Erdrich's new novel, "The Round House," an Ojibwa boy nearly dies trying to save his mother. A buffalo spirit speaks to him, saying "we are gone, but . . . now you understand. The round house will be my body, the poles my ribs, the fire my heart. It will be the body of your mother and it must be respected the same way. As the mother is intent on her baby's life, so your people should think of their children."

Generations later, a horrible crime desecrates the reservation's round house, where the tribe holds its sacred ceremonies. Thirteen-year-old Joe Coutts will spend the summer of 1988 on a mission to avenge an assault on his mother. She can't admit it was rape, and Joe doesn't quite have the language to think about it.

Suspects abound: the new parish priest, the stranger at the gas station, the janitor who'd been fired, the slightly cracked Bugger with his wobbly eye, even the governor. Joe signs up for catechism classes, partly to see if Father Travis has an alibi, partly to confirm his belief that some sins cry to heaven for vengeance."

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Louise Erdrich's 'The Round House' details crusade for justice (The Cleveland Plain-Dealer 10/2)

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