Reviews with content warning for Racism - Ga als een rivier

Every time I finish a book, my husband will always ask what it was about. This is one of the few books where my answer is "How much time do you have?"; it's near impossible to give an easy synopsis of what I read here, but I do know that I enjoyed it.

This was a book about many things: family, love, loss, motherhood, perseverance, survival. It made me think about a lot of big questions without posing them directly or giving me an answer. The prose was wonderful to listen to (I enjoyed the audiobook), and the atmosphere felt like a dappled summer day, which is a nice change given that it's snowing outside.

Pacing here was medium-slow, especially because it was hard to tell where the plot was going at times. But I was always interested in listening and I felt like I really cared about our protagonist. I also really, really liked where this book ended. Perfect choice.

I'd definitely pick up something else by Shelley Read and will look out for future releases of hers! Give this one a read if you like historical fiction and heavy slice-of-life, introspective novels.

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jesss's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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proudtobeabookaholic's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

40-tal i Colorado, USA. Familjen Nash äger en persikofarm och tonåriga Victoria är ensam kvinna kvar efter moderns död några år tidigare. En dag möter hon en främling på gatan, Wilson Moon, och de blir blixtförälskade. Wilson är indian och illa sedd av de flesta i samhället så de håller sitt förhållande hemligt. När Victoria upptäcker att hon är gravid måste hon fatta ett svårt beslut.

Den här boken har jämförts med Där kräftorna sjunger och jag skulle absolut säga att den är i samma anda, men det här med jämförelser är alltid riskabelt. Det är vackra naturbeskrivningar och Victoria är en kvinna som i många fall får klara sig själv. Hon får uppleva många svårigheter och hon håller all sorg inom sig. På något sätt upplevde jag tempot i boken som både snabbt och långsamt. Tidsperioden är mellan 1948 och 1971 och så gör vi nedslag vissa år, så jag antar att det är därför.

Slutet kändes lite abrupt och jag hade gärna sett att boken varit lite längre. Samtidigt så var det på sätt och vis naturligt att den slutade där den gjorde. Vill inte säga mer för att undvika att spoila.

Jag lyssnade på ljudboken i uppläsning av Anna Maria Käll och hon gjorde som vanligt ett riktigt bra jobb.

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mdavis26's review against another edition

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5.0

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miranda226's review against another edition

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Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No

1.0

I wanted to like this book and had the plot been different I would have greatly enjoyed the style of writing. But I can’t excuse using the brutal murder of a Native man as a plot device to help the naive white woman main character grow, which honestly she doesn’t even have that much character growth afterward. I understand that this prejudice, racism and murder matched the time period - my problem with the novel is that it doesn’t feel like it was _this_ author’s story to tell.

Zelda is one of the only redeeming characters, and I would have been much more interested in hearing her story.

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reading_ladies_blog's review against another edition

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emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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shegetsliterary's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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alixcallender's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I have great affection for Victoria, and I loved the slow, reflective, mournful pacing. But I do take issue with a few things:

- Far to many peach metaphors. We get it.
- Where is Wilson Moon’s actual personality?
- The near-end was overly fluffy and convenient. (Without giving anything away, I will just say that I am not convinced that Victoria could have imagined *that outcome* with such accuracy, nor do I believe that two people can glean such perfect and correct meaning from a pile of rocks.)

It was very much like Where the Crawdad’s Sing, so if you liked that story you’ll probably like this one too. It’s a poolside read. I read it quickly, and enjoyed it!

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