My mother told me of a quote the other day that I haven’t been able to get out of my head since. I’ve never read any Louise Erdrich, but this one quote—this perfectly put synopsis of heartbreak and recovery and the why behind it all—has convinced me I need to add this author to my list.
“Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won’t either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up.
And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness.
Tell yourself you tasted as many as you could.”
― Louise Erdrich, The Painted Drum LP
Have you? Tasted as many as you could, I mean?
Or are you, like me, still hungry?
Oh MY GOD. I LOVE that quote. Thank you so much for sharing….
I LOVE Louise Erdrich! She did a workshop with my novel-writing class in college and I have loved her ever since. I haven’t read Paited Drum, but A Plague of Doves is my favorite with Tales of Burning Love a close second. Definitely put her on your list. And I read We the Animals – fantastic! Thanks for sharing!