Sue's Reviews > The Beet Queen

This novel covers 40 years in the North Dakota bordering the reservation where the Kashpaw family lives. Several characters from other novels make large and small cameos as Erdrich fleshes out the stories of interconnected families in the area. Mary and her brother Karl arrive on a boxcar to stay with their aunt and uncle after their mother deserts them and this story tells what happens to them and the family and friends they connect with as they all hurtle towards the crowning of the Beet Queen at the end of the novel. Her characters are so interesting and enigmatic, and it makes for some great reading.