The Master Butchers Singing Club-Chapter 5-SPOILERS

This thread is set up for discussion of the book by Louise Erdrich, and will be posted chapter by chapter (as I finish them or if you want to participate, you can post an OP for the next chapter). This way, we can see how our opinions of the book and characters change or not over time. If you are joining the discussion, stop after each chapter and post before going on so you don't have more information than anyone else reading this.

I know----this took a while for me to get to. Forgive me. It was a longer chapter, and well, I have been lazy.

Chapter 5 - The Buthcher's Wife

Delphine walks in Waldvogel's Meats and meets Eva. Eva is pleasant and helpful and starts conversation with all new customers, so they chat, getting to who Delphine's father is....and that tells Eva a lot since she knows Roy Watzka from the singing club. Eva invites her into the kitchen, which, to Delphine, is everything she could hope for. She loves it and feels comfortable with Eva as she has coffee with her. She tells her of what happened at their house, since everyone in town will know soon enough anyways and we all know how important it is to be the first to have juicy rumors! Dephine breaks down and cries again with Eva, who is compassionate with her.

She heads back home with her purchases to find the sheriff and the undertaker, who is her best friend from childhood, Clarisse. They are glad to see each other, but Clarisse has a lot of work to do. Cyprian has been busy, fixing things up and getting a fire ring together. They still have to stay in the tent. She cannot believe how beautiful he is, and how faithful to stay with her through all that has happened since they got into town.

Delphine asks Cyprian about what she saw by the river with the other man. He has been hoping this question would never come up, but had planned to tell her that she was all he wanted....but she knew it was not sexually. All he can do is answer that it is the same reason that she wants to be with a man. She accepts this, but it is disheartening to know that their relationship will never be what she has always dreamed of when she would fall in love.

The next day, Delphine goes back to the meat store and Eva invites her to coffee again. She sees Fidelis for the first time when he comes in to the kitchen. He exudes energy and power, and he leaves without ever acknowledging her. Eva asks her to come to work there and she jumps at it....because she needs to make money and she wants to be around Eva.

We find out how generous Eva is with the poorest people in town. The town's rag lady, Step-and-a-Half, comes in for some meat scraps that Eva sets aside for her. She trades some rags for the scraps. Eva also helps people who are traveling because of the Depression as well as the town's poor, and the dogs that come. And all the dogs are not canine---I am speaking of Fidelis' sister, Tante, who is a bitch. And Delphine instantly doesn't like her...she is rude and just takes things and worst of all, she makes Delphine think about her life. And that is not a reflection that she wants to have.

Dogs----they seem to show up in every chapter in one way or another. I am beginning to think this book has an underlying story of dogs. I don't know where it is going, but they keep showing up. The Kozkas have gotten out of the Chow business and are breeding German Shepherds, and they give one to Eva. Fadedrose is right, Chows are not a pleasantly tempermented dog. The dog loves Eva and seeing how she treats the dog makes Delphine admire Eva even more.

Cyprian decides that he has to do something to make money himself, and plans to go to Canada to get booze. Prohibition is over, but people resented the taxes put on it and there is good money to be made bringing tax free booze from Canada. So off he goes.

The sheriff comes by the store to ask Delphine some questions, and she forgets that one of the sons is behind the counter and can hear. She learns from him that the child in the cellar was Ruthie Chavers---a girl. She has not known this, and she realizes that she thinks that girls would have been stronger and tougher than a boy would have been. I figure this rises from her own feelings about herself and what she has endured. Hmmmm.

Eva is sick---in so much pain that she finally gives up pretenses and asks Eva to take her to the doctor. Fidelis is out. It turns out that she has a large tumor and must be treated immediately at the Mayo Clinic a few hours away. Delphine leaves a note for Fidelis and heads to the surgeon with Eva.


It just doesn't seem to get better for Delphine----she is not catching a break. There is her father, the mess at the house, Cyprian leaving to run booze, and her friend/mother figure Eva in dire shape. She has to keep holding up against life. She is so much in love with a man who can never be a husband to her, and he loves her in all ways except sexually. She is being so strong....I don't know how she keeps going, but I suppose we have all had times like that where we have no choice but to stay strong.