The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich Harper 2024, 384 pgs.
At the beginning of The Mighty Red, a somewhat confusing cast of characters is introduced; as the plot progresses, the chapters jump from one character’s story to another. However, in the small town in North Dakota where the novel is set, everybody’s life is entwined with everybody else’s, and the organization of the book is an example of that set of relationships.
The main character is a young woman, Kismet Poe, a recent high school graduate, intelligent and strong minded, with a successful college experience ahead of her. Under the influence of either drugs or alcohol or the need to be cared for and to be a caretaker–or all the above–she finds herself engaged to a young ne’er-do-well in town. Everyone else seems to know that she is making a huge mistake, and even she can see the truth in their concern, but the wedding proceeds. The wedding night is a disaster, the honeymoon never comes to pass; instead, Kismet discovers that she is united with the family in order to be a cook and cleaning lady. She is isolated, almost imprisoned, by her new mother-in-law, and her new husband, Gary, is the ultimate boor.
Fortunately, Kismet has a loving mother with whom she has a beautiful relationship, as well as a platonic friendship with Hugo, a nerdy sort of character who is nonetheless a steady and caring influence. Gary himself has moments which provoke sympathy in the reader; there are hints, from the very beginning, of something dreadful that has happened to two of his friends, an event in which he has been involved and about which he suffers mightily. Kismet is meant to be his salvation. Gradually she learns the truth about his recent past.
Intermingled with all that is going on with the main characters, there is also the fact that many of them, including Kismet, are descended from local Native Americans (just as the author herself is). There is also the issue of protecting the land from overdevelopment, from the local farming that is detrimental to the environment: the cultivation of sugar beet crops. The novel is an amalgam of all these themes, in a way that is entirely believable. And the reader’s feelings toward the characters are sympathetic, even toward Gary and his mother, who in general behave very badly.
The book ends in an optimistic way despite the suffering and pain that have permeated the plot. The “good guys” come out relatively well in the end, but not so well as to be unbelievable. Love may not conquer all, but it conquers most; there are more good people in this book than villains. It is a tribute to Erdrich’s skill as a writer that the reader is submerged in the intricacies of the various interactions among them, understanding with sympathy why mistakes of judgment occur, and seeing with clarity where they often lead. This is the kind of book that keeps one reading through the night.