An honest and insightful look at the ups and downs of marriage and how all love stories, no matter how romantic and storybook they may seem at first, tend to flatten out under the weight of real life.

How I love her writing! her books are always good and give me something to ponder. Well written and plotted with well developed characters. Great read.

Louise Erdrich is an incredibly gifted writer. As usual, this book shows her talent to the world! The Red River is only one of the characters in this story, along a variety of quirky, fascinating people in North Dakota...There is "humor, disturbance, and hallucinatory mourning." Huh?? The people are complex, sometimes maddening, both flawed and decent, and overall the story is riveting. Riveting!!! Recommended for both Erdrich fans and those new to her masterful storytelling. Five stars.

I finished this book a couple of days ago and can’t stop thinking about it. These characters are flawed, gorgeous, and authentic—living their messy, complicated, everyday lives. I found myself both cheering them on and groaning at their choices. The Red River itself is a character within the book, meandering and moving in ebbs and flows, just like the people in the story. Erdrich’s language is poetic—she makes sugar beet farming sound beautiful, while simultaneously sharing its ugliness. This book is meant for savoring.

Let me state for the record that I love Louise Erdrich's books. The Mighty Red was just meh for me. She writes interesting characters and that is true of this title too, but I just didn't feel very affected by the story. It wasn't a bad book, just landed pretty neutral for me.

Centered on a teen love triangle but featuring an entire community filled with eccentric characters, this book explores the impacts of the 2008 recession on rural and indigenous lives. Kismet Poe is a high school misfit who’s stollen the heart of both the wealthy and popular Gary and the shy and bookish Hugo. Though Kismet is fiery and her mother Crystal empowers her as much as she can, she finds herself floating through her life. When she kind of accidentally agrees to marry Gary, there will be ramifications for the town that no one would expect. The more I read Erdrich, the more I love her sense of humor and this book was as zany and poignant as I had hoped. My biggest complaint: I wanted the scene where a group of women discuss Eat, Prey, Love at a book club to go on for at least another ten pages.

This is a book about why you shouldn't get married until your brain is fully developed.

It felt like one of Erdrich's most modern and young novels, writing from the perspective of troubled 18-year-olds who are experiencing love, lust, tragedy, jealousy, and an impending recession.

For many reasons, it reminded me a lot of Beartown, mostly because of Marin Ireland's audiobook narration but also the world of sports, a tragic accident, sexual violence, parental gossip, and vague social convictions of the guilty, all in a cold, rural northern climate.

I enjoyed the economic and agricultural settings of this book, which also brought to mind The Seed Keeper. Interestingly, this book was heavy yet funny and brought me back into the land of Erdrich.

The Mighty Red will end up as one of my favorite books this year. Interesting characters abound in this story and Erdrich's writing is gorgeous.

I had a hard time connecting with the characters in this book. There were hardly any that were likable at all. A couple of plusses were short chapters and the setting of North Dakota. I loved The Roundhouse by Erdrich and was disappointed that I didn't like this book more.

This is a Read with Jenna Book selection.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper for the advanced digital copy of the book.

Three teenagers coming of age in North Dakota during the Great Recession. Drama, tragedy, and lots of love. Even some comical situations.

The Mighty Red is a well-written, often heart-wrenching book. Witnessing the slow, completely-avoidable calamity of Kismet's young life was tortuous, but the characters and plot are unforgettable.

I was really excited for The Mighty Red and have seen some rave reviews. Unfortunately this one didn’t work for me and at 30% I decided to DNF. I’m not feeling drawn to the characters or writing as I was in the other Erdrich book I read and loved. Instead it is feeling like a slog. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free ebook to review.

This review will appear in the Charleston Gazette Mail in the next two (2) weeks. A copy will be forwarded upon request; please email erinb25314@yahoo.com.

I was not able to get to this novel before the pub date. Louise Erdrich is an important literary voice and they don't give out starred Kirk's reviews for nothing. This is also a Jenna's Book club pick as well. Congrats Ms. Erdrich!

This is both gorgeously written and perfectly accessible. Louise Erdrich writes her characters and the environment of this one with such depth that it's impossible for them to not seem like real people that I know, a place that I understand. Short chapters and a variety of insightful viewpoints.

As the Red River travels it's way through many a town, Louise Erdich gives us a snapshot of life in a small North Dakota town and it's surrounding beet farms. The characters are all connected through the town's singular focus on each segment of the beet market. Life has for generations flowed smoothly until the nation's financial crisis in 2008 brings small disasters that will eventually become larger issues their fractured lives may never overcome. Each character stands in the spotlight for the bright seconds they can only live once, then watch as the lights dim and move on. There are varied stories attached to each thread that will weave the characters into the story of a land that has supported them for too long while they ignored the damage they have done until it is too late.

Erdich's ability to give the reader a visual story is a strength that she continues to make us see the whole of her story. Her characters are three dimensional and generate emotional responses; running the gamut from a gentle smile to a gasp of surprise when you least expect them. Her books are not just a great story, they are an experience that demands you share them with your reading community.

The writing style was awkward to the point of distraction, and really kept the character development at bay for me. (At one point, I guess a character rolled his truck but it was barely mentioned again? Like your truck flipped? And it’s just…fine?) Storyline picked up in the last 1/3 of the book. Decent plot outline.

About trauma and pain and the lengths we will go to, if misguidedly, to save those we love. Not my favorite Louise Erdrich but she’s so good, this was well worth my reading time.

An interesting novel that just flowed along like a river. Sad, but sweet at times. Liked most of the characters, most of the time. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

Crystal, a trucker, lives in a small North Dakota town centered around the sugar beet farm owned by the Geists. Her 18-year-old daughter, Kismet, begins dating Gary Geist and quickly finds herself engaged even though she is also in a sort-of relationship with the bookseller’s son, Hugo. Kismet is swept along by Gary’s devotion to her and his insistence that she has saved him from some dark memories surrounding an accident that occurred earlier in the year. While the details of the accident are danced around for most of the novel, we know that things ended in tragedy for two of Gary’s friends (and we suspect that there is more to the story than is being told).

Louise Edrich is fantastic and I’ll happily read everything she writes. As always, she is able to evoke the natural landscape beautifully and writes interesting characters while focusing on Indigenous and environmental issues. That being said, this one was not my favorite as I just couldn’t quite understand why Kismet was so easily swept up in Gary’s life. I kept thinking that perhaps the characters were meant to be allegorical in a way that I was missing. This novel reminded me of the aspects of Barbara Kingsolver’s later books that bother me a bit - a little too much telling (about the negative environmental impact of industrial farming) and not quite enough showing.

I would still recommend this book to fans of Louise Erdrich. For anyone new to Louise Erdrich, I would recommend starting with something just a touch stronger, such as Love Medicine or The Sentence.