Go as a River: A Novel

It was okay. The ending felt abrupt, but that may be due to listening to the audiobook instead of reading a paper copy where one can monitor how close to the end they are. I enjoyed the characters and the time period.

Sweet and touching story delicately woven through history.

Soooo good. Exceptional story.

Go as a River is a heartwrenching story about survival, motherhood, identity, and the pieces of ourselves we carry forward after everything is taken away. Victoria Nash is seventeen when she meets Wilson Moon in rural Colorado in 1948. Their brief relationship changes the course of her life. Racism, violence, grief, and an unexpected pregnancy eventually force Victoria away from her family's peach farm and into the Colorado wilderness. Her decision to leave her newborn son with another family becomes another loss she carries alongside Wil's death. Eventually, she returns home and attempts to build a life from what remains. Victoria's earlier years moved slowly for me. Her relationship with Wil is important to everything that follows, but I felt somewhat detached from her journey. My interest finally came when a letter from her son's adoptive mother appears on her doorstep. The history of Victoria's son became a moving part of the book. I was interested in learning about his adoption, childhood beside his adoptive parents' biological son, abuse from his adoptive father, and eventual search for his own identity. His life was incredibly difficult. I was heartbroken by what he endured. I was equally proud of the man he became. His adoptive mother's eventual search for Victoria felt less like a tidy reunion and more like a woman trying to understand where he came from after spending much of her life wondering why he had been left behind. This section also deepened the novel's exploration of legacy. Victoria gives up her child because she believes it is the only way he will survive. Decades later, he has to decide what that choice means to him. Love and abandonment can exist beside each other. Read allows that contradiction to remain complicated. When the government proposes the flooding of Iola, Victoria becomes the first resident willing to sell her property to the government. Her choice immediately makes her a target for neighbors who see her decision as betrayal. Their anger felt believable. Communities often romanticize collective resistance until an individual has to make the practical decision necessary to survive. Victoria's devotion to her family's peach trees was hard for me to understand. The Nash farm represents generations of family history, but it is also a place where Victoria spends years serving men who treat her terribly. Her brother participates in the violence that takes Wil from her. Victoria still pours an enormous amount of money and physical effort into relocating those trees when the government prepares to flood Iola. I would have watched that entire orchard disappear beneath the reservoir. Victoria would never make that choice. The trees mean more to her than the men who once controlled the land. Moving them allows her to decide what deserves to survive from her family's legacy. The orchard stops belonging to the Nash men and becomes something Victoria saves for herself. Her loyalty to Wil carries the same stubborn permanence. Victoria never pursues another romantic relationship despite having opportunities to do so. I could understand why she never felt compelled to build her life around another man after everything she experiences at the hands of the men surrounding her. Wil remains the great love of her life and Victoria learns that a meaningful life does not require replacing him. Reading a historical novel set in Colorado was enjoyable. I have visited several of the places mentioned throughout the book. The descriptions of the mountains, rivers, orchards, and unpredictable weather felt recognizable. Colorado peaches are famous for good reason. Although, I remain amazed anyone looks at this state's weather and thinks growing peaches sounds like a reasonable decision. Go as a River tells a moving story about what survives after people, homes, families, and entire towns disappear. Victoria cannot stop the river or recover everything it takes from her. She can decide what she carries forward.

Very beautifully written. I found the ending a little rushed. Overall I recommend but be prepared to cry if you read this at 1am.