I listed to the audiobook format (I love Mark Deacon's narration).

The River is about two college buddies on a canoe trip in Northern Canada. They encounter a wildfire and a small cast of other characters that add urgency and danger to their trip. The nature writing is beautiful and though the plot is thin at times, it definitely picks up near the end. Ultimately it is a heart-wrenching tale of friendship and survival against the backdrop of a beautiful but threatening wilderness. ( )

It pains me to say it (because I really like Peter Heller) but this book was not great for me. He’s a great outdoor/nature writer and this book really brings out his love of rivers and fishing. Unfortunately, I don’t know much about paddling or rivers (and what I do know, I know from reading non-fiction by Heller) but this book seems to include a lot of technical stuff that likely makes the story better if you really understand it....but I don’t.

But more importantly I don’t think he sets up the central premise of the fighting couple in the fog and the murderous husband well enough. It seems like a leap that I didn’t quite buy into (same as Wynn, I guess) and that made me struggle all along to appreciate the character of Jack. I never warmed up to him and had trouble embracing the later sections.

As I mentioned, I really like Heller’s writing both fiction and non-fiction, and I feel like here he threw too much non-fiction into this fiction book and it suffered for it. Sticking with Goodreads two stars descriptor: Just OK ( )

Two men paddling down a river doesn't sound like it'll be much of a book, but add in a wildfire, a woman who has been found beaten insensible and you will have what might be a standard action novel. I the hands of Heller, though, it becomes more. This is a paean to river paddling in the north woods. This is a study (contrasts and compare) of a strong and trusting friendship between two white men from opposite sides of this country.
I'm sure I'll want to read this again, even tho I will no longer have the suspense of an unknown ending. ( )

An enthralling story of a canoe trip in Canada's northern wilderness. I love outdoor adventure stories so this was right up my street. Two college friends face a forest fire, a badly injured woman and some unwelcome company. It is filled with suspense that made it a page-turner, hard to put down. And although the ending was disappointing it did not lower my rating. ( )

"On this side were only low hisses, a ticking and chirping, a simmering crackle like a million crickets, hellfire crickets, singing of apocalypse and char."

Wow! I could not put this book down. It's a short novel, but it's intense! I expected to book to be a man vs nature story, but it's so much more than that. There is literary quality to this book that I did not expect. The character development, setting, and themes are incredibly well done. I don't want to give anything away. This novel had some twists that I did not expect, which is saying something, because I tend to figure out how these kinds of stories play out fairly quickly. I cried too, which was unexpected. I loved the descriptions, but I could have done with less description of the camping gear. I particularly loved the complex character development and how the friendship between Jack and Wynn play out under the most strenuous of circumstances. Although not pervasive, there is some explicit language.


CAWPILE Rating:

C- 9

A- 10

W- 7

P- 8

I- 9

L- 8

E- 8

Avg- 8.5= ⭐⭐⭐⭐

#mmdchallenge (a book by an author who is new to you) ( )