Rosie's Riveters: Mike and Anna Pigeon

Rosie's Riveters is a weekly posting written by Booklust readers about
riveting females in literature. Many readers have strong reactions to
the women in the books they read- either very positive or very
negative. These are the characters we find riveting, for good reasons
or bad ones, and they form the population of Rosie's Riveters. Through
this weekly post, we can discuss females we love to hate, or love to
love. And maybe, just maybe - we can determine why we react so strongly
to them.

If you are interested in participating, please comment on this post or
e-mail me and I'll add you to the line-up!

This week's post is by Mike, a real-life friend whom I met through other friends. He is sadly blog-less, but I'm sure I'd follow his blog if he had one. Mike lives in the Twin Cities and reads books across all genres. I have personally not read any books featuring his riveter yet, but I may have to pick one up soon after reading this post...

So, here's Mike!

Who is your Riveter? Anna Pigeon, park ranger What book does she feature in? She features in Nevada Barr's series of mysteries. Two of my favorites are Ill Wind and Deep South, though there are many others. Each book is independent, though some supporting characters recur. Do you love her or hate her?

Love her!

Describe her personality- how would you describe her to a friend?

The first thing that comes to my mind is that she's a cop. She has the attitude and outlook on life that can only come from being a long-time cop; I don't know how better to describe that part of a personality. But she isn't like a cop out of CSI or that you might know from walking a beat--park rangers are somewhat different: they don't usually go on the power trips that you might see on TV.

She's a middle-aged woman who has fought her way up in a male-dominated profession, and has the battle scars and defensive sarcasm that comes with that. She's kind and caring, fiercely independent, and tends to recklessly charge into tight situations.

Can you compare her to a celebrity?

The comparison that I keep coming back to is Hillary Clinton. She's got a take-no-prisoners attitude and isn't interested in your BS, but isn't afraid to show a more tender side from time to time.

What makes her riveting?

She talks like a park ranger and a cop. She thinks and acts (for the most part) like the cops and rangers that I've known. She's got a sarcastic side that feels like it has been developed over years of being "the woman" in a group of guys. The parks are interesting, the stories are well-told, but it's her voice that keeps me coming back.

What do you most admire/despise about her?

I admire her ability to get past the politics and bureaucracy and get to being a ranger. I admire her curiosity (they would be really boring mysteries if she wasn't curious) and her refusal to let her gender and size (she's 5'1" or so) restrict what she is willing to do.

Would you recommend reading the book in which the Riveter features?

Yes! I especially like the earlier books (I mentioned two above). The more recent books are much more towards the suspense-type than the mystery-type of things.

Any parting remarks? Thanks to Aarti for letting me do this!