Andrew J. Graff

Somewhat depressing of a marriage going under as husband buys a white water rafting business from his uncle in Wisconsin which is also going under. Lots of odd characters is Thunderwater WI and Swami, the angry wife, with 3 small children. Corporate land grabbing greed, a survivalist woman and how to pay the bills. I almost put it down at half way point since it was depressing but ending was good and an interesting conclusion well written about a historic flood in the 90’s. Also, an unexpected but good conclusion. One bone to pick- I didn’t like the names the author used for the family, all to similar and Swami - really?!… (mehr)

Excellent story of Sam and Swami, married with 3 kids, who are unhappy with the lives they are living. Sam convinces Swami to purchase his uncle's rafting business in a small river town in northern Wisconsin. The deal was to run the business in the summers and to return to their Chicago home and Sam's teaching job each fall. Sam purchases a new Winnebago for them to live in during the summer months and sell when they returned home. Their money troubles begin when nearing their destination, they hit a deer that immobilizes the engine. They are pulled into their river town and find a run down rafting company. They then learn of a new rafting outfit with all the bells and whistles. It's going to be a long summer.
Kirkus: Trouble doesn’t stay behind when this family moves up north.

With his wife, Swami, and their three kids in tow, Sam Brecht drives a shiny new camper van from Chicago to the river-and-lake country of northern Wisconsin, where they’ve just bought a recreational rafting company from Chip, Sam’s uncle. They’ve agreed to go just for the summer, but Swami doesn’t know that Sam’s teaching job has been cut, he’s booked the campground beyond summer, and he’s not planning to go back. Cowardly as it is, we can see why Sam keeps secrets from his wife, who refers to the children as hers and the business as Sam’s—neither as shared. Feeling “relief layered on top of the guilt” of their estrangement, Sam is relying on “a miracle” to solve the problems of his career and his marriage. When they arrive at Woodchuck Rafting, however, what they find is a disorganized (but charming) band of misfits. It’s unclear why they’d expect anything else: Sam and Swami met and fell in love as rafting guides. In flashbacks and chapters told from her perspective, we see that Swami is more than the ball-and-chain wife Sam fails to placate. While Sam falls back into old vices such as smoking pot at work, Swami takes charge of shoring up the business against three existential threats: a new VC-funded competitor, a land-grabbing mining conglomerate, and unceasing rain. The novel picks up steam as it reveals which is the greatest menace. At a town meeting with the mining company, Sam makes a pitch for saving the local environment and economy: “I don’t know how, exactly…But it’s up to us. If we both try.” The crowd is confused, but it’s clear Sam is speaking to Swami. As chaos mounts, can they save both their family and Sam’s vision of life up north?

A conventional story of marriage on the rocks with a background of local environmental drama.… (mehr)

Andrew Graff understands nature, the Midwest, men, and family struggles and his novels reflect these themes. True North takes place in the 1990s, as Sam and Swami’s marriage falls apart under the stress of finances and family, Sam decides to move the family to Wisconsin to take over his uncle’s failing river guiding business. Swami reluctantly agrees to go for the summer, but things quickly devolve as the town and the rafting company aren’t quite as Sam remembers and his uncle promised. What Graff doesn’t understand well is women, and the portrayals of the main female characters remain flat and cliched, but if you can accept these misses True North is a strong story about the environment, family, and finding your way back to each other.… (mehr)