The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich: A review

Any time that I learn that Louise Erdrich has published a new book, I jump on it just as quickly as I can so when I heard about The Mighty Red I made sure to get access to it as soon as possible. It did not disappoint and was, in fact, everything one could wish for in an Erdrich book.

The novel is set in the town of Argus, North Dakota, alongside the Red River that flows north through Minnesota and into Canada following the border between Minnesota and North Dakota. It is an agricultural area and the main crop is sugar beets.

Sugar beets are the basis of the economy. Most of the families of this area are involved in some way with their production - growing them, harvesting them, transporting them, and processing them. They depend upon sugar beets and their fortunes rise or fall based on the outcome of the year's crop.

It is 2008/2009 but the author takes us back through the beginnings of sugar beet farming along the Red River. She shows us how the use of fertilizers and pesticides and growing the same crop over and over on the land has depleted the soil. By this point, only the use of genetically modified seeds and toxic chemicals keeps the fields producing. It is a time of recession and the economic downturn has hit the already struggling community hard.

We experience the story mostly through the character of Crystal Frechette who is a hauler of sugar beets. She works twelve-hour shifts on the highway during which she has plenty of time to worry about her 18-year-old daughter Kismet. When Crystal's husband, Martin, absconds with the town's church renovation fund, she and Kismet are left to live with the consequences of his action.

Kismet has transformed from a goth who had endured the derision of her peers and is now marrying Gary Geist who is set to inherit not one but two farms. Gary suffers from the trauma and fear resulting from a tragic accident and is ruled by his own need for redemption, while Kismet just yearns for escape. Their marriage forms the centerpiece of the novel.

Along with these characters, we also meet: Hugo, a homeschooled boy who is infatuated with Kismet; Eric, Gary's loyal friend; Winnie and Diz, Gary's parents who have their own marital struggles as well as the tension of trying to keep the farm going; and Jeniver, Crystal's lawyer, who possesses a sharp tongue to go with her brilliance. Each of these characters' stories help to fill out the portrait of a community going through changes and facing challenges.

As with so much of Erdrich's writing, the land itself is another character. The harsh climate and fertile soil of the Red River Valley helps to shape the lives of those who live there. The valley's cycle of flood and drought and of planting and harvest are metaphors for the challenges faced by its residents.

Erdrich employs multiple narrators to tell the story of people living through interwoven timelines that are a reflection of the meandering path of the river itself. By the end, she has given us a masterful story that reveals the tapestry of those lives and their environmental impact on the land they occupy.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Poetry Sunday: Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver

How about we share another Mary Oliver poem? After all, you can never have too many of those. In this one, the poet seems to acknowledge that it is often hard to simply live in and enjoy the moment, perhaps because we are afraid it can't last. She urges us to give in to that moment and fully experience the joy. Although "much can never be redeemed, still, life has some possibility left." Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is no...

Poetry Sunday: Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney

My mother was a farm wife and a prodigious canner. She canned fruit and vegetables from the garden, even occasionally meat. But the best thing that she canned, in my opinion, was blackberry jam. Even as I type those words my mouth waters! Of course, before she could make that jam, somebody had to pick the blackberries. And that somebody was quite often named Dorothy. I think Seamus Heaney might have spent some time among the briars plucking those delicious black fruits as well, so he would have known that "Once off the bush the fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour." They don't keep; you have to get that jam made in a hurry! Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust ...

Poetry Sunday: Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman

You probably remember poet Amanda Gorman from her appearance at the inauguration of President Biden. She read her poem "The Hill We Climb" on that occasion. After the senseless slaughter in Uvalde this week, she was inspired to write another poem which was published in The New York Times. It seemed perfect for the occasion and so I stole it in order to feature it here, just in case you didn't get a chance to read it in the Times . Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman Everything hurts, Our hearts shadowed and strange, Minds made muddied and mute. We carry tragedy, terrifying and true. And yet none of it is new; We knew it as home, As horror, As heritage. Even our children Cannot be children, Cannot be. Everything hurts. It’s a hard time to be alive, And even harder to stay that way. We’re burdened to live out these days, While at the same time, blessed to outlive them. This alarm is how we know We must be altered — That we must differ or die, That we must triumph or try. ...

The Nature of Things

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