Murder on the Red River

Well intentioned but maudlin and simplistic

Really enjoyed this novella. Set in the same part of northern Minnesota that my mom grew up in, the names of small towns and bigger cities were immediately recognizable to me as places we drove past/through on my way to visit my grandparents. Knowing her seemingly idyllic chidlhood took place in the same part of the state that was forcibly removing indiginous kids from their homes and sending them to boarding schools or white foster families makes the story of Cash more immediate and powerful for me. This is a murder mystery, of course, but it is also clearly setting the stage for something deeper - the story of a young indiginous woman, brutalized by the system, trying to decide what she is going to make of her life. It can be tough to read - Cash lives a hard life, and resorts to many destructive numbing behavoirs. But it is impossible not to root for this brash, imepetuous, smart, reckless young woman. I am excited to see this series progess, and will definitely be reading more. 

Marcie Rendon uses language sparingly, perhaps because her main character, Cash, only has more than a few syllables for the few humans she trusts most. And who can blame a young woman dragged through the 1960's foster system in rural Minnesota where indigenous children were treated worse than many of the farm animals the children cared for? How much can a person communicate when most of the people you run into hit you with racial slurs, sexism, and come-ons?

The repetition of Cash's day-to-day existence (wake up, smoke, work, drink beer, play pool, rinse, repeat) might seem dull unless you consider that Cash is young, hard-working, and doesn't have much. When I was first on my own, the days were sometimes like Cash's because I didn't have much money to do the things I could afford by my later twenties.and if you're a young woman who believes her future will be no different than today, then the long barrel of same, same, same makes sense.

The resolution to the murder at the center of the story seemed a little too easy to figure out, but the story of the Day Dodge family was really heartbreaking and sticks with me after the book ended.