Genre: Historical (2008?) Fiction; Literary Fiction

The novels of Louise Erdrich never fail to challenge me. I admire her breadth of knowledge, her commitment to culture, and her extraordinary writing. Reading her newest The Mighty Red, displayed all of her talents and definitely challenged me.

I genuinely don’t have the chops to write a critical review of Louise Erdrich. So, like I’ve done in the past, I’m just going to talk about what I like. She forces me to think about the choices I make impacting our earth in my day to day living. In spite of growing up among corn fields and farmers, I am not as aware of the issues of farmers and farming as I could be. I respect her exploration of the treatment of the land, and its impact on the country surrounding the Red River. I know from my farming friends that their choices are never easy and making a living often seems impossible. I see small farms struggling to stay relevant. I appreciate Erdrich’s exploration of these issues from every angle. I admire her characters. Crystal and Kismet are strong women. Winnie has her own kind of strength as well. They are strong women fighting on a number of fronts. And in the case of Crystal and Kismet, they are strong women who believe a tiny bit in magic and a great deal in the power of their ancestors. The supporting characters (the men?) are equally well developed. Erdrich has a gift in creating people who are neither wholly good nor evil. They are as equally complex as the people in our lives. The setting is uncomfortably aligned with my own: small town life - surrounding farms. People struggle;are victims of an economy they can’t control; get up, go to work, use icy hot and look for small reasons to celebrate. They love and they lose. Everyone mostly knows (they think) everyone else’s business. Mistakes can follow you for a very long time in a small town. Erdrich expertly captures the vicissitudes of such lives.

In and among all of the chaos of these lives in The Mighty Red, Erdrich captures hope. When completing an Orion questionnaire online Erdrich responded “Yes. What is the alternative?” when asked if she was optimistic about the future. I value this response primarily because her honesty about problematic issues is unflinching, and she is using her art in a way that will hopefully raise awareness and effect change. After all, what is the alternative?

Erdrich, Louise. “Louise Erdrich Answers the Orion Questionnaire.” Orion, Orion Magazine, 1 Oct. 2024, orionmagazine.org/article/louise-erdrich-orion-questionnaire.