finished reading

Ultimately, this is a saga of a crime family.  It's gritty. A crime family committing horrible crimes for what they consider altruistic reasons. The narration is from the point of view of the matriarch, Babs Dionne, and her daughter, military veteran Lori Dionne.  The well-developed secondary characters are mostly their relatives.  It's a well-written, well-crafted character-driven book.  Dealing with the much-maligned Franco-American population in Maine.  Not a lot of Franco-American history is taught outside of Maine.  It's a history fraught with prejudice, including Klan activity. Babs Dionne is combating cultural negativity in her own way.  She is proud of her heritage and celebrates it at every opportunity.

I just don't know what to say.  This is so well-written yet so gritty.  I recommend it, but it's not for everyone.

From the publisher:

Ron Currie Jr.'s "The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne" is a gritty, character-driven thriller set in the insular Franco-American community of "Little Canada" in Waterville, Maine. The narrative centers on Barbara "Babs" Dionne, the formidable and fiercely protective matriarch of a local crime family that controls the town's drug trade. Her reign is thrown into turmoil by two simultaneous events: the disappearance of her troubled youngest daughter, Sis, and the arrival of a menacing enforcer known only as "The Man," sent by an outside kingpin to seize control of the territory. The title itself foretells a grim fate for Babs, but the story is as much about the "how" and "why" as it is about the "what."

The novel unfolds through the eyes of its deeply flawed yet compelling characters, most notably Babs and her eldest daughter, Lori. A Marine veteran haunted by her experiences in Afghanistan, Lori battles addiction and her own complicated relationship with her formidable mother. As Lori desperately searches for her missing sister, the narrative delves into themes of family loyalty, the corrosive nature of violence, the preservation of cultural heritage, and the devastating impact of the opioid crisis on a small, tight-knit community. The story is a brutal and often heartbreaking exploration of a mother's relentless fight to protect her family and legacy, even as outside forces and internal demons threaten to tear everything apart.