[6] Because of this, Erdrich's novels, including The Round House, are all primarily set in the same fictional location centered around the people who lived there throughout multiple generations.

[2] The Round House, specifically, takes place in the same reservation as one of Erdrich's previous works, Plague of Doves, and the same one that appears in the conclusion to the trilogy, LaRose.

One case pertains to the adoption of a woman, Linda Lark, which Joe marks as potentially relevant to his mother's attack.

Despite his previous reserved and calm nature, when Bazil later sees Linden in a grocery store, he and Joe attack the suspect.

[9] Yeltow is more concerned with protecting his political power and ridicule for sleeping with an underaged girl and tries to cover up his crimes by 'adopting' Mayla's child.

He explains how because Geraldine's attacker was Linden, a white man who is not a recognized reservation resident, the novel acts as a potential commentary on the Supreme Court case Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe, which decided that tribal courts cannot prosecute non-Indigenous people who commit crimes on tribal land unless authorized by Congress.

[10] Geraldine's rape stems from the real-world phenomena that Indigenous women face on reservation lands in the late twentieth century as outlined by Sarah Deer.

[11] As Julie Tharp points out in a critical study of the novel, Indigenous women have a 2.5 times higher chance of experiencing sexual violence in their lifetimes than the general United States population and statistically, roughly 37 percent of Indigenous women may experience sexual assault in their lifetimes.

[1] As Erdrich noted in a piece for the New York Times, the demoralizing attitude Geraldine exhibits refers to the lack of judicial justice that will be delivered on her attacker, Linden, given that federal prosecutors decline to prosecute 67 percent of sexual abuse cases committed on tribal lands.

[12] Critics have noted how Linden, a white man who rapes Geraldine coincides with the reality that Indigenous women are far more likely to experience sexual violence from non-Indigenous men.

[1] Coming of Age and Manhood Joe Coutts, who is the narrator of The Round House, is an adolescent teenager when the events of the novel take place.

[9] The Round House received critical acclaim,[13] winning the National Book Award for Fiction in 2012, competing against the likes of Junot Díaz's This Is How You Lose Her and Kevin Powers's The Yellow Birds.

[15] On the January/February 2013 issue of Bookmarks, the book received a (4.0 out of 5) with the critical summary saying, "Only Michiko Kakutani had some negative things to say about the schematic plot, but she conceded that the novel nonetheless "showcases [Erdrich's] extraordinary ability to delineate the ties of love, resentment, need, duty and sympathy that bind families together" (New York Times)".

[18] According to some of the most reputable literary critics, The Round House emerges as an emotional, deeply moving novel and one of Erdrich's best works.

[19][10] Ron Charles of The Washington Post focuses his review primarily on the protagonist, describing how "Joe is an incredibly endearing narrator, full of urgency and radiant candor.

"[20] Charles concludes by noting that, "beyond the rape and the investigation and any possible retribution, Joe’s sobering evaluation of his relationship with his parents is the most profound drama of the novel.

"[20] Molly Antopol of The San Francisco Chronicle praises the author's writing saying, "Erdrich's plotting is masterfully paced: the novel, particularly the second half, brims with so many action-packed scenes that the pages fly by.

[22] Another sharp criticism comes from a Boston Globe review stating that the novel is resolved quickly and abruptly shifts the plot toward its conclusion.