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

Amazing!

I grew up in the Red River Valley in the 50s I could so relate to this book. The smell of the sugar beet plant during harvest. We lived 15+ blocks away from the plant yet we would close our windows the smell was so horrible. The small planes flying over the fields spreading fertilizer. Later in life my mother getting breast cancer then much later my sister getting ovarian cancer, there was always talk about all the chemicals that were sprayed on the fields all around us, not knowing and wondering how much harm was being done to our bodies.

Beautiful Story

Louise Erdrich always has such a wonderful way with language, characters. A beautifully told story.

What a story

So good. Took me by surprise, the description was small compared to the scope of the book. I will definitely read more by this author. And listen to more by this reader, she was great.

The earth ain’t no joke

Again, Louise teases out a story with history, magic realism, love, tragedy, facts of life with both people and nature. And the greatest respect for each.

The life of teens growing up near the Red River.

Really about teenagers and their secrets. It wasn’t a fav of mine. Disliked the references to Catholic “

A Mesmerizing and Compelling Story

Louise Erdrich is a gifted storyteller whose writing is lyrical and full of rich life and characters. Marin Ireland’s narration is superb as usual. I laughed and cried as I listened. Very well done!

Red River beautiful and profound

Narration was extremely talented. Writing was miraculous. She is a literary genius. The story relevant for all times.

Amazing tale!

I loved the character development over the entire book. So many twist and turns people evolving and changing from self absorbed to selfless greedy to generous.
I’ve always enjoyed and admired Louise Erdrich’s book but think this one is extra special.

wonderful and amazing

The book was sad... it was happy... it was stressful... it was joyous...
my emotions followed their emotions! well written and worth every moment... Highly recommend

Narration issues…

The narrator’s interpretation of the female main character was off putting. I wanted to like the story because of the reputation of the author, but the narrator was distracting. She spoke in a manner that made the characters seem stupid and “valley girl” speak. Both genders Very difficult to listen to. I would suggest reading this one and not listening to it.