2014 summer reading book “The Round House” selected

This summer, incoming freshmen will read a book full of topics currently in discussion at UNC — sexual assault, legal justice and issues facing Native Americans.

The 2014 Carolina Summer Reading Program selection committee chose “The Round House” by Louise Erdrich for freshmen and transfer students coming to UNC next fall.

The summer reading program was established in 1999 as a voluntary way to stimulate discussion about a diverse range of topics.

April Mann, director of New Student and Carolina Parent Programs (NSCPP), said she hopes all UNC students will read the book, which won the 2012 National Book Award for fiction.

“I hope this book can positively contribute to some of the dialogue that is already happening on campus,” Mann said.

The novel is written from the perspective of a Native American boy whose mother is sexually assaulted on a North Dakota reservation. The story follows him on a journey for justice and through his adolescent struggles.

English professor Minrose Gwin said in an email that “The Round House” raises difficult but important questions.

“What happens to rape victims and their families when there is no legal remedy for such a devastating assault on human dignity? What does that do to people?” Gwin said.

A discussion of the book for new students will take place the Monday before classes start in the fall.

Mann said both the reading and the discussion aim to get students thinking critically, to show what UNC’s academic rigor is like and to bring new students together on a common ground.

Mann said that the novel not only provides the lens of fiction to look at tough issues through, but is also a coming-of-age story.

“I think it may be something that students connect with on a personal level too, beyond just issues that are in the book,” Mann said.

The selection committee, which is composed of students, faculty and administrators, is pursuing other opportunities to use this book as a discussion piece for courses that tie into the book or a visit from the author. They chose “The Round House” out of about 500 nominations from across the University.

Gwin, who served on the committee, said the process is a long one.

“It’s a lengthy, carefully organized process of subcommittees getting form hundreds of books to 50 then fewer and fewer until we have our top five choices,” Gwin said.

The committee members then read those five books over winter break and made their selection in January.

Megan Wright, a junior elementary education major, said she did not finish the assigned book her freshman year, “Eating Animals” by Jonathan Safran Foer, but said she would recommend that her sister — an incoming freshman — read “The Round House.”

“If they choose issues that are more prevalent like this book, maybe it’ll get the conversation going,” she said.

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