53 pages • 1 hour read
Future Home of the Living God
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Summary and Study Guide
Overview
Future Home of the Living God is a 2017 speculative fiction novel by American author Louise Erdrich. Told by Cedar Hawk Songmaker, a pregnant Native American woman in her mid-twenties living in Minneapolis, the story consists of her reflections as she waits to give birth. In the novel’s pre-apocalyptic America, human evolution has reversed, meaning that the species has begun to biologically regress into an infertile state. Meanwhile, the United States government has undermined citizens’ rights to bodily autonomy, and radical religious groups try to seize control over human reproduction. Cedar is threatened by one such group when it starts to round up pregnant women for the “protection” of their unborn children. The novel highlights the fragility of human rights and political institutions, criticizing America’s narrative of inevitable progress. Cedar’s increasing marginalization as a Native American and a pregnant woman represents the negative consequences of taking stability and freedom for granted.
The novel begins several years into the reproductive apocalypse. Cedar, the adopted daughter of two Buddhist hippies, Sera and Glen Songmaker, decides that it is time to meet the woman who birthed her. She travels to the Ojibwe reservation outside Minneapolis, and meets the woman, Unlock all 53 pages of this Study Guide Plus, gain access to 8,900+ more expert-written Study Guides. Including features:
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By Louise Erdrich
