Graphic by Dani Ramirez
Written by Priscilia Iglesia
Louise Erdrich is not at all new to short-story writing, having published ‘Love Medicine,” also available at John Spoore Broome Library, and “The Red Convertible.” Yet this is the first short story collection of hers that I have read. My familiarity with her work, however, only extends to her novel “LaRose,” which was a standout amongst the crowded literary genre of family drama; and her children’s book “The Birchbark House,” which displayed her adeptness at portraying the depth of sadness that children can feel.
In the first story in the collection, “Python’s Kiss,” Erdrich continues to demonstrate how uniquely good she is at writing the perspective of a child. This story has an older narrator recounting the days when they were a child staying at their grandparents’ house while their sister was born; it is very good at describing the intensity and vividness that childhood memories can take on despite being blurred by time. There is a touch of mythical realism in this story that will reappear throughout this collection.
“Wedding Dresses,” the second story, is about a woman whose four wedding dresses get ruined by mold due to a burst pipe during the January thaw, leading her niece who is staying with her to beg for the story behind each dress. This story felt special for how it conveyed the feeling of a relationship with a relative who has had a storied life of secrets you do not know, and how that can be juxtaposed with the closeness of the relationship. It made me miss my family and wonder about the stories that might have been held in the hearts of my relatives who have passed on, which I might never know. Storytelling is one of the themes in this book; it makes an appearance throughout different stories, having another strong presence in “The Hollow Children,” where the setup for the story is tales being told in a bar after the men have reached their fourth beers.
The penultimate story in the collection, “Amelia,” brings to mind Maile Meloy’s short story collection “Half in Love” for its grounded, bright descriptions of working class life in rural northern America. The beginning of the story “December 26,” is similarly down-to-earth, at the start seeming like it is going to be a quiet story about the feeling of the day after Christmas and the aftermath of the mother’s slight overspending, then proceeding to travel down the path of many plot twists that elevate the drama while the story maintains its grounded quality.
In “Python’s Kiss,” Erdrich tells stories portraying Indigenous communities. These stories take many forms, from speculative fiction portraying possible afterlives in “Domain” and “Asphodel,” to a Western in “Love of My Days,” to everyday realistic fiction in “Assassin.” The collection is composed of stories Erdrich has been writing over the past couple of decades, some of which she started as long as 25 years ago, put down, and returned to when she felt equipped with the wisdom to finish them.
Sources
Erdrich, L. (2027). Python’s kiss : stories / Louise Erdrich ; [with illustrations by Aza Erdrich Abe]. (A. Abe, Ill.; First edition.). Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
Pedersen, Erik. (2026, March 25). Why Louise Erdrich says her book ‘Python’s Kiss’ took two decades to finish. The Orange County Register. www.ocregister.com/2026/03/25/why-louise-erdrich-says-her-book-pythons-kiss-took-two-decades-to-finish/
