Critics drawn to Erdrich's writing compare her work to that of Flannery O'Connor and Eudora Welty in its development of place and character. As O'Connor and Weltly did with southern characters, Erdrich creates intriguing characters who interact with and are partly developed by setting.

Critics also find echoes of William Faulkner in Erdrich's use of various and reoccurring narrators and in her experimentation with nonlinear narrative structure. Erdrich herself has voiced admiration for O'Connor, Faulkner, and Toni Morrison in interviews.