At our library the staff reads a book each month to discuss
it and the genre it falls in. This month, for Western, one of
my staff selected Perma Red by Debra Magpie Earling (Blue
Hen, 2002) as an example of a novel of the West. To my great
surprise, I found myself reading a work of noir. The basic
concept of this novel is that we are watching the life of
Louise White Elk, a woman who is fated to be chased by three
men throughout her life. None of these men will do her any
good, and eventually there are at least two murders in the
book. I don't want to say to much about the end, but let's
just say if we all read it, we would talk about at length on
this list.
Besides the fact that this book won the Spur from the Western
Writers for the Best Novel of the West, Earling acknowledges
James Crumley at the beginning of the book. I recommend this
book for the noir, for the well-developed characters, for the
Native American spiritualism, for the setting, and for its
use of language.
Best, GWN Gary Warren Niebuhr P. O. Box 341218 Milwaukee, WI
53234
piesbook@execpc.com http://my.execpc.com/~piesbook/piescatalog.html
Author of MAKE MINE A MYSTERY and A READERS GUIDE TO THE
PRIVATE EYE NOVEL
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