The River

Peter Heller is nothing if not consistent. The River is the third Heller book I’ve read and it was similar to the other two (The Painter and Celine) in that it features bold descriptions of outdoor beauty, characters spending time fly fishing, and excellent dialogue. Also, the powerfully observational way Heller writes is one of my favorite aspects of the stories he tells. “Maybe in the fires that consumed those stars were decibeled cyclones and trumpets and applause.” That’s some award-winning stuff. In terms of content, Heller somehow always inserts roan horses, drunk assholes, and uses “Well” as a full sentence. I love those threads, as well as his ability to add blink-and-you-miss-it aspects of old Western movies and books –in this one, Zane Grey gets a nod. But Heller’s biggest flex is his gift for writing wilderness thrillers with heart – and The River is definitely that. However, the major difference between The River and the aforementioned books is that this one took some time to get going.

Our protagonists are Jack and Wynn – two buddies who have a ton of fishing, camping, outdoors, and survival experience – and they are on a river trip they have been looking forward to for a while. All is well until they encounter a wildfire (“it smelled like devastation”), a woman so beaten and injured she may not survive, a man who is out of his mind and may be responsible for the woman’s condition, and two drunks who are the definition of serious trouble. “He thought the distant fire was like a war zone, like a front in some battle that was too distant to hear but that would in a matter of days change your life forever.” That kind of specific description sends goosebumps up your spine.

Even though I live with an outdoorsman, it blows my mind how some people are keenly adept at understanding nature – how to experience it and sometimes how to survive it – and so much of that is not freaking out when things become dire.“That’s what adventures were all about: dealing with unforeseen dangers.” Jack and Wynn, as different as they are, both have that skillset and those instincts which makes their adventurous friendship a fun read. “Wynn almost laughed. That Jack could judge a man’s character in two seconds, at two hundred yards.” How these friends handle every devastation and deviation they comes across is admirable, impressive, and tough.

In fact, Jack and Wynn’s ability to bravely survive, while putting someone else’s life before their own, carries the second half of the narrative as they constantly make life or death decisions while keeping their cool. “They passed one patch of spruce, maybe ten trees, singed but standing. How? Like retracing the tracks of fate. And if it was hellish at first, within a few minutes it was holy.” I can only imagine.

Clearly I’m not going to ruin the ending of this book – it’s a doozy – but I will tell you that it’s worth it. Somehow Heller continues to write enthralling stories about characters who have big picture differences while also exhibiting small similarities.

Quotes:

“Overnight it seemed summer had surrendered to fall.”

“life was about being agile in spirit and adapting quickly”

“There’s always relief in committing to a decision, even when there’s no choice.”

“a great storyteller had to know when never to lie”

“He and Wynn had that in common, a literary way of looking at the world.”

“Professor Paulson said alliteration was dangerous if you don’t know how to use it.”

“Strange that words took so much life force.”

“The day seemed interminable, it defined natural law, no day could last this long.”

“His mind turned away from the conclusion and he forced it back.”

“a crescent moon clawed out of the smoke”