The Crown of Columbus

By Michael Dorris and Louise Erdrich

Book Overview

"A thriller and love story. . . . A mediation on power and betrayal. . . . An exhilarating novel of risk, redemption and discovery." -- Los Angeles Times In their only fully collaborative literary... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060160799
• ISBN13: 9780060160791
• Release Date: January 1991
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Length: 382 Pages
• Weight: 1.77 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

quite an interesting and entertaining story, actually

I remember enjoying this novel quite well, and even mentioning this to Louise Erdrich when she visited on a promotional tour for another book in England, back when it was recent. I think it is pretty true to life for a novel set around a university, and the images of Columbus remain, giving a very interesting point of view into how he may have actually looked at things. The times and his life were nothing if not complicated...

Best book I have read in 10 years

I loved the Crown of Columbus. Everything from the richness of the language and characterization to the intricate plot development. A quintessential love story, Vivien Twostar leaps off the pages: one can identify with her struggles - both as an individual and also in a relationship. While the feckless Roger Williams adrift in his sea of academic and masculine arrogance is a wonderful counterfoil. Beautifully written prose...

Captured my attention . . .

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. Once I got past the misleading synopsis on back of the novel and accepted the novel for what it really was, I became intensely involved. Roger Williams and Vivian Twostar are stereotypes, which is the point. They are cariactures; Dorris and Erdrich having a little fun with the stereotypes people have placed on them. The depth of character found in Erdrich's other novels is clearing missing;...

Crown of Columbus proves thrilling yet educational

In Crown of Columbus, Erdrich created a thrilling novel around historical information regarding Columbus. She further explored many of the cultural perspectives about the meaning of Columbus and particularly looked at Columbus' meaning to many Native Americans. In addition to the educational and historical perspective, she created characters who were real and complex. Erdrich also developed a suspensful end to the story...

Among the worst I've read

I am a very big fan of Erdrich and the one other book of Dorris' I read, "Yellow Boat.." was good if seeming to me, a bit derivative from some of Erdrich's work. But "Crown of Columbus" ranks among the most tedious, unoriginal works I can recall. The characters, especially Roger Williams, are all too familiar stereotypes of ivy league social dynamics, painfully etched in more interesting tales elsewhere. Indeed, every character...