Rating: 5/5
Review:
Exceptionally good
I thought The River was exceptionally good. It’s an excellently
written, truly gripping thriller.
The story is of two
friends who set off on a wilderness trip in Northern Canada, down a
remote river by canoe. They are very competent, well preapared and
fit, but the threat of a huge approaching forest fire emerges in the
distance, and then sinister events begin to emerge concerning a
couple they meet. It’s a simple tale in a way, slightly
reminiscent of Deliverance or tales of wilderness survival, but it is
far more than that. Peter Heller writes brilliantly of the joy and
beauty of the natural world his characters inhabit, he evokes their
friendship beautifully and the tension builds remorselessly without
ever becoming melodramatic. Some passages (about peril on the river
or about the fire, for example) are overwhelmingly powerful and he
really does manage to take you into the heart of the experience.
It’s not a long
book at under 300 pages, and is all the better for it, I think.
There’s nothing wasted and it goes to the heart of what Heller is
trying to tell us – about the land, about the fragility of human
life, about friendship and other things. I thought it was an
excellent book; it’s a thoroughly engrossing story, beautifully
told and with important things to say. Very warmly recommended.
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