The Mighty Red

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Louise Erdrich has composed one of the most compelling and rewarding novels I have read in a very long time. I defy anyone to read the first page and not be intrigued and drawn instantly into the world that she creates. We are in the Red River Valley of North Dakota in 2008 in the middle of the global financial crisis. Crystal Frechette is a night-time trucker delivering sugar beets from the Geist farm to the processing plant. She is startled by a mountain lion leaping across her truck and sees this as an omen. Her beloved teenage daughter Kismet Poe is being pursued at high school by the son of the local oligarch, Gary Geist, but she is simultaneously interested in Hugo, a large bookish romantic who is planning to leave town and earn a fortune in the fracking fields to win her love and spirit her away.

Erdrich weaves more characters into this rich tapestry including Crystal’s wacky book group, her ridiculous husband Martin, a failed actor and frustrated dandy, and a town full of eccentrics. There is also a tragedy dangled before us for most of the book before the full picture is revealed.

The author also makes very clear where her sympathies lie on the issue of industrial versus more natural farming. The local, nutritious green plant in the story is considered a weed and is eradicated by chemical warfare so that the sugar beets can be grown and processed into unnatural and unhealthy sugar-laden treats. The author writes about this and the destructive method of fracking with sadness more than anger.

This is an epic novel in every sense of the word. It is my book of the year so far. It’s a brilliant reminder of the sheer joy of reading.