The Mighty Red ⭐

The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich 


This one is for my book club meeting on 11-10. I've never heard of it so let's see what that's about.
It has a Goodreads Choice Award for whatever that's worth. 

G👀dreads

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.

Genre: Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Indigenous, Native American

RSCBC = RSCBC BookClubRead

Useless side note - I'm not sure how it qualified as HF when it's early 2000. Typically they have to be 50 years or more in the past. 

Day 2: I'm about halfway into The Mighty Red. Its not what I was expecting and I'm not liking it very much. It's kind of a coming of age story. They haven't gotten much into the environmental impact yet. 

Day 3: I am not enjoying The Mighty Red at all. At one point I even went back to the list to make sure it was the right book. You know how sometimes you look up a title and there are four different books with the same title, different author? Not the case. Sadly its the right one. The only reason I'm even finishing it is because it's for book club. Not that that's a requirement. I have not finished several of the others that I haven't liked but then during the conversations I sometimes feel like I should have finished just to express my cons during the discussion. So I'm going to suck up but I don't think it's getting much of a ⭐from me! You know I start at five and then deduct along the way. I'm hoping to finish it on my drive to and from GV today.

⭐

Later - Done✔️ I'm giving it one ⭐ because I finished it. I don't rate them when I DNF. I was checking some reviews once and she said she never leaves zero stars because that might imply a DNF or that she simply forgot. So when it's really bad she still gives it one. That makes sense so one it is. But I'd go negative ⭐ if that was a thing! 

Overall Enjoyment 🎉➖None, dread comes to mind.

Did it grab and keep my attention? ➖🎣 Not even a little bit.

Would I recommend it to anyone? No ➖ 

Would I want a sequel 🕮 No ➖  That's a HARD NO.

Would I want to read more books by this author 📚  No ➖ *see update after book club meeting below.

Trigger Warnings 💣💥Librarian Google says: climate change, resource depletion, economic hardship, and environmental concerns. Meh, I don't really think the author got all of that across. There were other things like robberies and accidental death that might trigger some.

Spice 🌶 No

Plot twist 🌪 No. If only there was a plot to twist?

Tidbits: This confirms my choice of DNF every book I did not finish. If it doesn't capture my attention, why waste my time? People say "hang in there, it gets better". No it doesn't! 
It's supposed to be humorous even though its not listed in the genre. There was ONE funny quote and I don't even know who said it but it was a lady at the book club meeting talking about lack of sex appeal, cuz this is WHY we are in book clubs!

"You hit forty and it's a going-out-of-business sale. Yeah, it's hormonal. You're slashing prices. Lowering your standards. Everything must go."

That is my one take-away! 

Checking negative reviews after the fact, this one is spot on: "Trying to finish this book was like wading through sludge."

🎧Marin Ireland

**********
*Update after book club meeting discussion. Most of the group initially didn't like it, had a hard time getting into it, thought it was hard to follow, a lot of characters, but... they thought it got better after the half way point.
They all felt the writing was good and she has a way of describing things that make you feel like being there.
I had put in my review that I would not want to read more by her, but maybe I would depending on the topic since they all were in agreement about her writing style.

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