Ebook The River A novel edition by Peter Heller Literature Fiction eBooks

Product details File Size 3318 KB Print Length 273 pages Page Numbers Source ISBN 0525521879 Publisher Knopf (March 5, 2019) Publication Date March 5, 2019 Sold by  Digital Services LLC Language English ASIN B07DMZT6SQ

The River A novel edition by Peter Heller Literature Fiction eBooks Reviews

• As a fan of post-apocalyptic fiction, I devoured “The Dog Stars” and then started gifting copies to my reader friends. When he published “The Painter,” I read it immediately and it didn’t disappoint.
  
  I’m a guy. I like guy stuff. Heller writes about guys doing stuff—surviving after a worldwide calamity; communing with nature and killing a bad guy (unintentionally; he had it coming!); navigating a dangerous river and saving a woman in distress—so I’m in.
  
  “The River” is streamlined, coming in at around 250 pages. I read it in a couple of sessions, squeezing it into my schedule as often as possible. There’s no discernable fluff. It feels intimate and reminded me of Tim O’Brien’s work in its limited scope. The way Heller tells the story—it’s not a straightforward A to B journey; there are turns and backtracking and changes of pace—reflects the river itself. It starts at a meandering pace and quickly picks up speed.
  
  Heller writes with an authority born of experience. Everything feels completely authentic. So much texture. I think I said much the same in my review for “The Painter,” but his writing and his eye for detail really remind me of James Dickey’s “Deliverance.” Dickey was a poet who brought his keen eye for nature to novel writing and created a fictional touchstone that most stories of canoeing down a river will naturally be compared to, which is why I was surprised and pleased that Heller mentions “Deliverance” and name-checks Dickey.
  
  (Skip this if you're concerned about possible spoilers. Something occurred to me a few days after I finished the book and had some time to digest it. I was ultimately satisfied with the book's resolution, but I think it might have been more interesting for the "less manly" character to have had to step up to resolve the central conflict. As-is, it's fairly straightforward and unsurprising, and not much of an arc. There's circularity and *some* closure for the protagonist in terms of what's haunting him, but the resolution of the conflict doesn't specifically "kill his ghost." C'est la vie.)
  
  "The River" is another winner from Heller. He is an amazingly talented writer and I would be pleased to read anything he put out.
• The River tells the story of two young men, friends since childhood, who face an ever increasing series of threats while on what should have been a carefree end of summer canoe trip.
  
  The description of the most obvious threat, a huge forest fire, was breathtaking. I could smell the fire, hear its voice and see its power.
  
  The other threats are equally well described and I read with fascination and dread as the story advanced.
  
  The River explores the themes of friendship, responsibility, loss, love and endurance. I recommend it highly.
  
  My only complaint is that the author uses too many incomplete sentence fragments. I’ll read a sentence and be jerked out of the story as I try to make sense of what appears to be a sentence but without a verb. Or a noun. (This is my example of his writing.). He uses it instead of employing a semicolon or a hyphen. I found it annoying and bothersome.
• Turning to page one of a Peter Heller novel is commensurate with beginning a long awaited vacation to a secluded beach on a desert island. Left alone with a singular voice in your head, free to explore the foggy reaches of an excitable imagination. It is easy to compare Peter Heller to Jack London, or Jonathan Swift, or Stephen Crane, but it is also careless to do so. Peter Heller has earned his own position among these great authors and he steps past them with his innate ability to capture that deep loneliness that resides in each one of us. That drive to be honorable and good and always...always undiscovered. I am in awe of this writer's genius and I will continue to seek out and relish in his works.
• I picked up this book both because i enjoy outdoor adventure stories, but also because i took a 10-day canoe trip in that area at camp as an adolescent, and it was a formative experience in many ways. However, I stayed with the novel (which I read rather quickly) because of the poetic descriptions of the river, the ferocity of fire, and the remarkable relationship between the two young men. It recalled both Jack London and Jon Krakauer in its capacity to maintain a slow developing sense of suspense, while never losing sight of the miraculous power of nature. I immediately wanted to go back to the Canadian boundary waters and embark on a similar, yet safer, adventure.
• Peter Heller doesn't disappoint. Again. He isn't a formulaic writer..once again, it's a different kind of story, told in a different way. Just when you think you are settling in to enjoy a "camping story"...shit happens, big time! If you are a Peter Heller fan, you'll love this book. If you are not...I'm sorry for you.
• A mostly engaging read. Heavier than usual with Heller's outdoorsy-fisherman details. Good not great story has more potential than it lives up to. The compressed, summarized, after-the-fact concluding drama is not as satisfying as the pages that lead up to it promise. Too bad that stuff wasn't presented as active drama instead of as an abbreviated post script. The novel lacks a solid, knockout-punch ending. Feels like he rushed in writing the final parts. Not his best work but still pretty good.
• I got this book because my husband loved whitewater canoeing and taught me a thing or two in that area. I'm no expert,
  but I always made it back home, lol.
  This book is wonderful. It explores so much friendship, loss, learning, growth, handling tough situations, integrity, and strength.
  It's the story of two very close friends who set off together to take on their dream canoe trip in a wild, beautiful land but who stumble into a situation that will change them forever. Awesome writing that pulls you into every choice they make. I'll definitely be reading more from this author and, as an author myself, feel I learned a thing or two!!
• I was in enmeshed with this book from the very beginning and could really hardly put it down.
  The only disappointment was how it ended. It just left me with too many loose ends.