—Book Club Book Review— Title: Go As A River Author: Shelley Read Publisher: Spiegel & Grau @spiegelandgrau Genre: Coming-of-age/Historical Fiction Sometimes you have the perfect picture and sometimes you have the perfect review; other times you have neither, but still a book so worthy you must carry on. After all, @bookfriendsbookclub will soon be announcing our April picks, so its about time I’ve reviewed and loved on our March books!
Go As A River is a beautiful, lyrical, poetic, heartbreaking, luscious prose filled (is that enough adjectives!) coming-of-age story that begins in 1948, when a young girl is just 17 and spans decades going well into her adulthood.
Victoria Nash loses her mother just before her teen years, leaving her as the only woman in the house to take care of her father, brother and uncle as they all run their family’s peach farm in Iola, Colorado. One day during a walk to town she meets an Indian drifter boy, Wilson Moon, and they fall in love not knowing the ripple effect and trajectory this will have on her life.
“But I’ve come to understand how the exceptional lurks beneath the ordinary, like the deep and mysterious world beneath the surface of the sea.”
This book is inspired by true events surrounding the destruction of the town of Iola in the 1960s.
“My home is at the bottom of a lake. Our farm lies there, mud bound, its remnants indistinguishable from boat wreckage. Sleek trout troll the remains of my bedroom and the parlor where we sat as a family on Sundays.”
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 💫 Our book club got to meet with the author and she said it took her almost 12 years to write this book. It’s apparent that she poured her heart and soul into this story, but also age, wisdom and experience. Her love of nature and the state of Colorado shines through almost as an additional character.
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