The Mighty Red
The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich
Reviewed by L. Bennett
Kismet stood quietly as the priest read the wedding ceremony. When he came to the "I Do" part, Gary responded as expected. Kismet said "Do I?" And therein was the dilemma. It was already a non-traditional wedding because Kismet's father had disappeared and she had to be "given away" by someone else. The events preceding and following the wedding fill the pages of Louis Erdrich's novel, set in a small farming town in the Red River Valley of North Dakota. With an intriguing set of characters she weaves the stories of small town lives into a novel that is about ordinary people. But when she peels back their public persona, the reader is exposed to thoughts and actions that reinforce ordinary while flying in the face of normal. It was a much different book than others I've read by Erdrich, and a pleasant change.
