The Mighty Red

Rural North Dakota, circa 2008-2009. Small-scale tragedies – loss of life, loss of money – have visited the farming community of Tabor. Large-scale tragedies – threats of ecological and economic disaster – are in the air and unavoidable. Inside a full cast of characters from Tabor, we have eighteen year old Kismet Poe, and her mother, Crystal, as the narrative nucleus to Louise Erdrich's The Mighty Red.

The Mighty Red moves quickly, with a straightforward structure of mostly short chapters. Erdrich weaves the characters and plot like the master she is, moving the story forward by keeping most narrative strings under great tension but always allowing for enough revelation and release. There's a solidity to each character and an unshakeable sense of place that cannot be attained by research alone. It can only be borne of a writer with a deep well of experience with such characters and in such a place.

While the characters shine bright, the real star is the land, and the “mighty” Red River which runs through it. Erdrich rages against the monoculture machine bluntly at times, though these on-the-nose critiques are tempered by some lovely metaphorical allusions to returning to the old ways.

There was a major plot twist which I foresaw and felt a bit deflated by, but I should have known better. Erdrich – with glee, I must imagine – later yanked the rug out from under me with a delicious twist within the twist. Outstanding.

The Mighty Red is a novel about loss and despair, about love and resilience. It's about people and the planet, about the ways both will change, and the ways both will not.