Perma Red [Hardcover]

Debra Magpie Earling (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 6, 2002

Louise White Elk dreams of both belonging and escape, and of discovering love and freedom on her own terms. But she is a red-haired, tough, and beautiful temptation, and at least three men, each more dangerous than the other, want to control and possess her: Police Officer Charlie Kicking Woman, who struggles between worlds; charismatic but scary Baptiste, who refuses to yield to anyone; and Harvey Stoner, who owns nearly everything.

On the reservation, danger looms everywhere, rising out of fear and anger, deprivation, hunger, and poverty. But just as often for Louise, and for those she loves, danger arises from longing and desire. And from making a choice.

Perma Red is a love-crossed saga about a young woman coming of age under perilous circumstances, and about the consequences of her often contradictory desires. In this breathtaking tale of the American West, a tragic love story unfolds against a classic clash of cultures.

In the tradition of Michael Dorris's Yellow Raft in Blue Water and the novels of Louise Erdrich, Perma Red is an enthralling, devastating debut by a commanding new voice.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Earling follows the literary trail blazed by Louise Erdrich in her poignant if familiar debut novel, which explores life in the tiny town of Perma, Mont., through the adventures of the restless Louise White Elk as she struggles with a problematic passion for irresistible bad boy Baptiste Yellow Knife. The tempestuous duo's love-hate relationship is complicated by Charlie Kicking Woman, the local police officer who admires Louise from afar even as she breaks up his marriage. The other romantic subplots are less captivating - Louise's affair with the reservation's white real estate mogul, Harvey Stoner, is contrived and stilted, and Baptiste's attempts to arouse Louise's jealousy are even more forgettable. Narrated alternately by Louise, Baptiste and Charlie, the plot veers between hallucinatory, poetic descriptions of reservation life and tumultuous romantic encounters as Louise and Baptiste conduct their erotic duel, until the passions finally give way to murder. When Harvey decides to attack Baptiste, Louise and Charlie are left to make their own pivotal choices. Earling offers first-rate characterizations, and she does an equally fine job portraying tribal life in the Flatland Nation. The predictable and disorganized plot makes this book less memorable than it might have been, but there's little doubt that Earling has considerable potential.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In this beautiful first novel, set on the Flathead Reservation of Montana in the 1940s, Earling traces the youth and young adulthood of Louise White Elk and the men who try to win her heart and soul. A red-headed, mixed-blood temptress, Louise always has a man or two, none of whom is any good for her. Throughout, a third-person narrative alternates with a first-person account by Charlie Kicking Woman, the police officer who tracked down Louise when she ran away repeatedly as a child but whose interest in the woman is less than professional. Louise is also entangled with Baptiste Yellow Knife, who adheres to the old ways and resists all contact with whites and authorities. The abject poverty is keenly felt, as is the pride that allows one to prevail and the resignation that keeps one from aspiring to more. This novel will stand proudly among its peers in Native American literature and should have strong appeal to fans of Louise Erdrich. Debbie Bogenschutz, Cincinnati State Technical & Community Coll.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Blue Hen; publsihers publicity material laid in edition (June 6, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039914899X
• ISBN-13: 978-0399148996
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #140,567 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars insightful period piece, June 7, 2002

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Perma Red (Hardcover)

In the 1940s on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana, Louise White Elk finds herself pulled in opposite directions. She knows that Baptiste Yellow Knife is considered the local bad guy and she has known that since he blew some weird white powder into her face when she was nine. Still she finds the lure from the excitement that Baptiste generates by dancing to his own drum hard to resist. Like a moth to the light she is drawn to Baptiste though her brains screams not go down that path because she has experienced his abusive selfishness.

On the other hand married police officer Charlie Kicking Woman also struggles with the pull of two worlds as he tries to enforce the law. Though married, he desires Louise, but does his best to hide his feelings for the enigmatic woman. Hanging over this potential triangle is the impact of Harvey Stoner who owns everything and is willing to use his material advantage to "buy" what he covets, but will that include murder?

PERMA RED is an insightful period piece that works at its best when Charlie, Baptiste, and Louise stand on center stage and either interact or fail to relate. Whenever Harvey or Charlie's wife enters the engaging story line's "sacred" triangle, they seem to disjoint the plot as intruders. Still, Debra Magpie Earling paints a discerning portrait of 1940s life on a reservation starring three strong key characters.

Harriet Klausner

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars On the road to Perma, May 19, 2003

By 

Courtney Stenson - See all my reviews

This review is from: Perma Red (Hardcover)

Perma Red is a book I greatly enjoyed, though I don't believe it would be a book everyone could appreciate, that's why I gave it three stars, which should actually be 3.5 stars or 3.75 stars. If it were me alone, I would have given Debra Magpie Earling and Perma Red five stars *****. Let me see if I can further explain...
I picked up the book because I drive through the all the towns she writes about in this novel when I go to the Flathead Lake each summer; threfore, I knew exactly where she was talking about when she talks about Dixon and Perma, Kailspell, and Polson. So, I loved it because I could relate to the area...the Flathead River and the dangerous roads are exactly as she describes them. And describes them and the books characters she does...avidly. This book, so full of description, takes the reader into the fields and mountains Louise runs through...through the doors of the homes on the reservation and into the lives of three (perhaps four) characters so detailed and intertwined, that I thought I could perhaps run into them again. The souls, desrires, and weaknesses of Baptiste, Louise, and Charlie, (and Harvey)are placed throughout the novel so the reader never knows more than they should before the story unfolds. More than that, their downfalls are human.
One reviewer said this book has a lot of methaphors, and they are right...just look at the title and then read the book...you will understand what I mean. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't buy the book. Quite contrary, I would say.
I liked this book enough to share it with my friends, and family, and with the book club I belong to.
As I stated earlier, this isn't necessarily a novel one would pick up right away. However, if you want something different to read, and give the book the chance it deserves, I believe you will remember Louise as a fierce surrivor--someone you know has seen "it all" first hand. Further, you will remember this book (hopefully) for the beauty and tragedy it brings to you.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Armchair and Time Travel with Marvelous Companions, April 1, 2004

By 

K. B. Brown "Renaissance woman" (Sierra Madre, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Perma Red (Paperback)

Okay, I don't get the Publishers Weekly review -- or, for that matter, the customer who got irritated with the metaphors. I didn't find the relationships contrived at all -- and I didn't find the metaphors overwhelming. Yes, this is literary fiction, but for all that the story caught me up, the settings made me once again long to see Montana (a lifelong wish) and the characters seemed real and understandable. I loved the look into a different culture and time. The last scene in the novel (and no, I won't spoil it for you) still sings in my brain twenty-four hours after I closed the back cover.