The River, Peter Heller (4.5)
I always appreciate a well written story with a compelling plot, interesting characters and a good sense of place. This book has all of that. Two seniors in college are on a river trip in a remote part of Canada. They are travelling in a canoe going along a river with lakes along the way. A large wildfire is growing nearby, and they come across two pairs of somewhat suspicious characters. The rest of the story balances the approaching fire, the mystery of the strangers and their own survival. I happened to read this while on a lake in a forested part of northern Wisconsin with the Canadian wildfire smoke blowing in – very apropos.
Whistler, Ann Patchett (4.5)
Ms. Patchett writes about families well. The characters in this story are interesting and well thought out. The protagonist runs into her estranged stepfather at a museum in New York and they work to get to know each other anew. I liked that their obvious affection from the past is underlying their adventure in finding out why they had drifted apart. I also appreciated that while the mother could have been written in two dimensions, her actions become more understandable as the story unfolds. The twists and turns of the plot do not feel like trickery or coercion.
