The Mighty Red

A Novel

De: Louise Erdrich

Narrado por: Marin Ireland

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK • A FINALIST FOR THE KIRKUS PRIZE FOR FICTION

"[A] sweeping, tender-hearted epic." —Harper's Bazaar

In this stunning novel, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award–winning author Louise Erdrich tells a story of love, natural forces, spiritual yearnings, and the tragic impact of uncontrollable circumstances on ordinary people’s lives.

History is a flood. The mighty red . . .

In Argus, North Dakota, a collection of people revolve around a fraught wedding.

Gary Geist, a terrified young man set to inherit two farms, is desperate to marry Kismet Poe, an impulsive, lapsed Goth who can't read her future but seems to resolve his.

Hugo, a gentle red-haired, home-schooled giant, is also in love with Kismet. He’s determined to steal her and is eager to be a home wrecker.

Kismet's mother, Crystal, hauls sugar beets for Gary's family, and on her nightly runs, tunes into the darkness of late-night radio, sees visions of guardian angels, and worries for the future, her daughter’s and her own.

Human time, deep time, Red River time, the half-life of herbicides and pesticides, and the elegance of time represented in fracking core samples from unimaginable depths, is set against the speed of climate change, the depletion of natural resources, and 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 humor, disturbance, and hallucinatory mourning. It is about on-the-job pains and immeasurable satisfactions, a turbulent landscape, and eating the native weeds growing in your backyard. It is about ordinary people who dream, grow up, fall in love, struggle, endure tragedy, carry bitter secrets; men and women both complicated and contradictory, flawed and decent, lonely 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 writes, The Mighty Red is about our tattered bond with the earth, and about love in all of its absurdity and splendor.

A new novel by Louise Erdrich is a major literary event; gorgeous and heartrending, The Mighty Red is a triumph.

©2024 Louise Erdrich (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers

Author should have narrated

Where was Louise? Marine was not up to par. Missed opportunity. Nothing else to say, 15 word minimum.

Narration was fantastic

Unfortunately I didn’t think the story was. I typically love Louise Erdrich books and although her beautiful writing style was there, the story wasn’t for me.

So, so good.

This book is one of my favorites by Erdrich. They are all great, but this one was really special. The narrator was perfect in every way. I can’t wait to listen again.

Sad and funny at the same time

Louise is a genius. This book is great. I might start it over from the beginning.

Great listen.

The narrator is excellent, and she fit the main character well. And the story is very well done! Loved it!

another wonderful novel

What I really enjoy about Erdrich is how the stories of being Indigenous are woven throughout in both subtle and central ways. The narrator was also excellent.

My new favorite book!

Loved the characters, character development, narration, overall story, and finding light through and at the end of the darkness.

I love Louise Erdrich writing! But I would not say this is her best.

Nothing really grabbed me in this story. I like her other writings much better. ( like the Tracks era)

Wonderful Book - A New Favorite Author

I had never read or listened to anything by this author but I will seek out more of her work. I love stories about people & families. I usually enjoy southern authors but this is a departure from my usual. I learned about an area of the country that I know little about. Beet farming was central in this tale. If that makes you think UGH…….don’t let it! It’s just the background & the story is rich & entertaining. Human nature, a little science, a little comedy & lots of great creative story telling. Always a mark of a good listen, I was sad for it to end! I listen to several Audiobooks a month & I say don’t pass this one by!

Well-defined and developed. believable characters.

I like the historical fiction aspect of this compelling story. And it had the right amount of wry humor and important uses of agricultural science.