This story is told over the span of about 150 years and it weaves the legacies of two native Ojibwa families through marriages, deaths, karma, and quests to be loved. Louise Erdrich starts the novel with a very poetic flair, I guess to emphasize the setting into motion of the events that will bind the Roy and Shawano families together. After that, the writing is more casual and matter of fact. Each character narrates a part of their own story, and somehow they all tie in with each other's, including a brave old dog, which proudly bares the name "Almost Soup" as a symbol of his survivor instincts. Many themes run wild through this book. There is love, history, social issues, cultural identity, male/female issues, spiritual and karmic law, and many many personal journeys are laid out. Somehow the mysterious Antelope Wife is the thread that sews many of these ideas together, and it isn't until the end when her freedom embodies the peace that everyone finally finds within themselves. Overall, this is a good book, but it's one that you may have to read over and over again until you finally "get it". I'm not even sure if I "got it", but if nothing else I was intrigued and entertained. Louise Erdrich is an author with much to offer in her simple tales, outlined in dramatic symbolism.