It's told in four parts, each part narrated by one of three voices. The suspense of the novel is in the unfolding of the story each narrator tells, and discovering exactly how how the drum connects them to one another.
The book starts and ends with Faye Travers, a New Hampshire woman who appraises estates and actions estate property for a living. She discovers a valuable drum from the Ojibwe tribe of North Dakota, to which her mother is connected. Faye discovers the drums origins, and later how it continues to affect the Ojibwe living near its new owner.
Common themes run across the three stories. Redemption seems too strong a word for the strongest theme. Recognition, perhaps? Acknowledgment? Sort of a coming to terms. Unlike Beginners, which I watched recently, The Painted Drum seems to have a more realistic, if also slightly more depressing, outlook.
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