by Shelley Read ★★★☆☆
Beginning in the late 1940s and spanning over 20 years, Go As A River follows main protagonist Victoria "Torie" Nash from her age-17 summer through a series of misfortunes and difficult decisions all the way to 1970. Even prior to where we pick up Torie's story, she had to deal with tragedy. Torie was just 12 when her mother, aunt, and favorite cousin (who was more like a big brother to her) were killed in a car accident, leaving Torie to assume the role of matriarch, keeping house and cooking for her father, live-in disabled uncle, and her younger brother Seth.
Fast-forward five years to the summer of 1948. Torie is walking through town to retrieve her 15-year-old brother from the local "poker cabin" when she has a chance encounter with a drifter named Wilson Moon. While their interaction is brief, the attraction is mutual, and she continues to think about him long after that first exchange. There's a problem, though -- he's Native American, and at that time and in that part of the country (Colorado), the anti-Native American sentiment ran high among the local white population. Chief bigot in the early pages of the book is none other than Torie's brother Seth, who is quickly painted as an emotionally unstable and potentially violent villain.
The story unfolds from there, and what I initially assumed would be a "forbidden love story" from 75 years ago was partially that, but more a story of a young woman making difficult decision after difficult decision, with almost no support from family or friends. Torie was forced into adulthood too soon, and without friends or any type of meaningful mentorship, she is forced to try to figure out the challenges of life on her own. Her father is still grieving the loss of his wife; her uncle is grieving the loss of his legs (and spirit) in World War II; and her brother has gone through most of his life without the discipline someone with his demeanor desperately needs.
Dubbed as "A tragic and uplifting novel of love and loss, family and survival—and hope—for readers of Great Circle, The Four Winds, and Where the Crawdads Sing", I went in with a certain set of expectations. I loved two of those books (Great Circle was my #6 best book of 2021; Where the Crawdads Sing was #1 in 2018), and there's no way I'd put Go As A River in the same category as those, nor would I ever call it uplifting. The book is mostly tragic and starkly short on inspiring moments. Even when additional characters are introduced with a parallel storyline, much of their tale is also steeped in sadness. The town is universally bigoted, which makes me wonder how Torie, with only that as an example, not only managed to be open-minded but also fell in love with the focus of that bigotry. Like several of the books I have read this year it features a strong female lead persevering in a world dominated by mostly sub-par men, which makes me ask the question again: why do these authors feel the need to lower the bar of comparison? Like with some other recent works (Mother-Daughter Murder Night, Weyward), it just feels ham-fisted and the lack of nuance only diminishes the point they are trying to make about the strength of their female protagonist.
Overall, it was...fine. It's not awful, but it's not one I'll be recommending to anyone.
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