Perma Red

Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended
Review: Beautifully written first novel. I became very involved with the characters caring about Louise and hoping she would find a way out of her dead end, impoverished life that would also be true to her Indian heritage. That said, I thought the ending had a false feel to it - as if Earling was instructed to wrap up the story and give it a happy ending. I am not so easily persuaded that Baptiste would so easily change his ways and become a gentle kind person from what we knew of his past behavior. I can only believe it would continue be a destructive relationship for Louise.

That said I really enjoyed this novel and hope that it gets more attention. It deserves it. A great read.

Rating:
Summary: perma red
Review: I loved this book!!! Anyone who loves Montana and it's history will enjoy Ms. Earling's beautiful (and slightly hypnotic) work. It got me out of bed early and kept me up late. Well done!

Rating:
Summary: Armchair and Time Travel with Marvelous Companions
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Armchair and Time Travel with Marvelous Companions
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: On the road to Perma
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: A Stirring Look into a woman's life and heart....
Review: Perma Red is a disturbing, moving, and intriguing novel. It not only reveals the story of a woman and what she battles internally and socially, it reveals the struggles of people in the throes of culture conflict -- the superstitions and beliefs, the anger and confusion. The narrative unfolds slowly, but dramatically, and it was hard to put the book down. I had to know what happened to Perma Red. Baptiste's hold on her was both upsetting and spell-binding.

This novel is a great read for anyone interested in the struggle facing Native Americans in the last century or in the present, for anyone interested in Montana stories, and for anyone interested in such a woman's personal struggle. It is no wonder it won a 2003 Willa Award from Women Writing the West. Congratulations, Ms. Earling!

Gail L. Fiorini-Jenner, Author of ACROSS THE SWEET GRASS HILLS, a 2002 Willa Award Winner

Rating:
Summary: Perma Red, A review by Jenna Luchau
Review: Perma Red is a fictional story about one Indian woman on the Flathead Indian Reservation in the 1940's. Louise White Elk is a red-haired, wild, beautiful temptress, with three men all wanting her. Charlie Kicking Woman is the first of the three. Though he is a police officer and married, he is still deeply obsessed with her. Baptiste Yellow Knife is what they call a Black Indian. He follows the old ways and gives in to no one, especially the authorities. Harvey Stoner is a rich white man living on the reservation. He can buy Louise anything she ever wants, has everything himself, yet still seeks Louise. Perma Red is Louise's story about the dangers of these three men, and the dangers of living on the reservation in the 1940's. I, myself, live on the Flathead Indian Reservation. This book was very real to me because of the places and things Debra Magpie Earling describes. I know where almost all of the places she talks about are, that they are in fact real places, and that just made this book appeal to me all the more. While many things change with the times, some of these places and businesses are still standing and in business today. I really liked this book, and I would recommend it to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: Drowning in metaphors
Review: Perma Red is a wonderfully captivating look into the life of a young woman struggling to find a way out of and Indian reservation in Montana. The reason for the ambivelent romance between Louise (the main character) and Baptiste Yellow Knife becomes evident as the book progresses. Charlie Kicking Woman also gives us some insight into what is was like to exist as a Native American in the 1940s.

The prose in this book is so beautiful, I could hardly put it down. It is rare to find a book so eloquently written with such a rich and engrossing plot.

Thank you Debra Magpie Earling!

Rating:
Summary: Perma Red review by Debra Earling
Review: This book is about a young woman who does everything against all odds. She strives to be an original. It taked place on the flathead reservation in a Native tribe. She is opinionated and very independent. Her opinionated mouth often gets into trouble and makes her go through many journeys throughout the book. Many different men in the tribe ask for her hand in marraige but she always refuses... each man who askes is more dangerous then the one before.