The Mighty Red

In this stunning novel,Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrich tells a story of lovenatural forcesspiritual yearningsand the tragic impact of uncontrollable circumstances on ordinary people’s lives. History is a flood. The mighty red . . . In ArgusNorth Dakotaa collection of people revolve around a fraught wedding. Gary Geista terrified young man set to inherit two farmsis desperate to marry Kismet Poean impulsivelapsed Goth who can’t read her future but seems to resolve his. Hugoa gentle red-hairedhome-schooled giantis also in love with Kismet. He’s determined to steal her and is eager to be a home wrecker. Kismet’s motherCrystalhauls sugar beets for Gary’s familyand on her nightly runstunes into the darkness of late-night radiosees visions of guardian angelsand worries for the futureher daughter’s and her own. Human timedeep timeRed River timethe half-life of herbicides and pesticidesand the elegance of time represented in fracking core samples from unimaginable depthsis set against the speed of climate changethe depletion of natural resourcesand the sudden economic meltdown of 2008-2009. How much does a dress cost? A used car? A package of cinnamon rolls? Can you see the shape of your soul in the everchanging clouds? Your personal salvation in the giant expanse of sky? These are the questions the people of the Red River Valley of the North wrestle with every day. The Mighty Red is a novel of tender humordisturbanceand hallucinatory mourning. It is about on-the-job pains and immeasurable satisfactionsa turbulent landscapeand eating the native weeds growing in your backyard. It is about ordinary people who dreamgrow upfall in lovestruggleendure tragedycarry bitter secrets; men and women both complicated and contradictoryflawed and decentlonely and hopeful. It is about a starkly beautiful prairie community whose members must cope with devastating consequences as powerful forces upend them. As with every book this great modern master writesThe Mighty Red is about our tattered bond with the earthand about love in all of its absurdity and splendor. A new novel by Louise Erdrich is a major literary event; gorgeous and heartrendingThe Mighty Red is a triumph.