Kismet Poe is graduating from high school and has two
boyfriends. One of them, Gary, is a
popular athlete with a tendency toward recklessness, but he presents Kismet
with an engagement ring, and she is too shocked to say no. Her other boyfriend, Hugo, is planning to
find a job in the oil fields so that he can earn enough money to win Kismet’s
affection, whether she is married to Gary or not. As for Kismet, she seems smart and
industrious but allows Gary to coax her into a marriage she doesn’t really want. Why she cannot extricate herself from this plan
is somewhat of a mystery. Her mother,
Crystal, is devastated that Kismet is abandoning her college plans to marry
Gary, while Gary’s mother is ecstatically planning a lavish wedding. After Kismet reluctantly and hilariously says
her wedding vows, she becomes something of a Cinderella figure, but Gary is no
prince. We, and Kismet, finally become
privy to the details of an event that puts Gary in an even worse light, if that
is even possible. Since this book takes
place in an agricultural community, Erdrich manages to weave in her concerns
about the ecological impact of sugar beet farming, but she also sprinkles in
more humor than I recall from her other novels.
In fact, this is my favorite book of hers since
The
Master Butchers Singing Club.
Crystal and Kismet are the delightful anchors here, and the storyline
makes for an entertaining read. Even
Gary, with all his flaws, is more pathetic than despicable.
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