Thoughts on reading Yellow Earth by John Sayles.

Sayles’ cinematic collection of vignettes capture the utter bleakness of a North Dekota town experiencing a Fracking boom. Centered on a Three Nations Reservation, the existential and nihilistic forces of American Capitalism seep into every nook and cranny of Yellow Earth until the pressure breaks the towns soul, eradicating any barrier to the black gold underneath and leaving nothing but a carcase of life in its wake.

The book shines in Sayles’ eclectic cast of Characters: Field Biologists, Three Nations Leaders, county sheriffs, oil salesmen, grifters, a Mayor, young girls and old men find their lives tangled up in blue; black gold remains indiscriminate of identity. I, in my immaturity, am drawn to depictions of America’s rural west, and enjoyed Sayle’s refrain from glorifying the aspects of freedom commonly associated with the setting. Though dark, this book is entertaining enough to successfully and compellingly deliver a tale depicting the emptiness of a town roiled by the greed begot of Hydraulic Fracturing.