The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich

 

In Argus, North Dakota, sugar beets are king.  Most of the farmers grow nothing but that and use every chemical they can to up their production.  There isn't much industry so farming is the big business with the Geist family being the biggest farmers.  They bought up a lot of the littler family farms during recessions and now have a mega farm.  The population has a lot of Native Americans also whose families have been there for centuries.

Kismet Poe is the town beauty.  Although they are only finishing high school, two men are determined to marry her.  Gary Geist is the son of the richest family and the high school quarterback.  But Gary has issues having been in an accident after a drunken party at his house in which several of his friends died.  Since then, Gary has been anxious and bedeviled but he always feels safe around Kismet.  Hugo is the town genius.  His parents own the town bookstore and Hugo and Kismet bond around books.  He is probably the man that Kismet loves but Gary keeps pushing along with his mother who is planning the wedding no matter what misgivings Kismet has.

Kismet's mother, Crystal, works for the Geists, driving a front loader that moves beets from the farm to the place where they are processed.  She never married Kismet's dad as he seems a bit flaky.  That decision pays off when he disappears along with the church building fund.  

Louise Erdrich is an American treasure.  She writes about the Native American life in present days and is herself Native American.  I wait anxiously for each novel she writes and each one is a delight.  She writes about the characters' daily lives and along the way describes the ways that big business is ruining the American experience.  Her characters are not the rich but those working hard, living paycheck to paycheck and trying to make sense of their lives.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.