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cimorene1558's review against another edition
4.0
Completely unlike what I expected, but pretty darn good, and quite creepy.
brandypainter's review against another edition
3.0
If Hokey Pokey and Far Far Away had a book baby, it would be The Riverman by Aaron Starmer. With one big exception, I actually liked the characters in The Riverman, which means I was invested. In the end I was torn between my liking for the characters and appreciation of the prose and some issues I had with the plot and setting. Despite my reservations it is a dark haunting tale that is beautifully written.
Originally posted here at Random Musings of a Bibliophile.
(I received an ARC from publisher in exchange for a fair review)
Alistair and Fiona are kids on the brink. On the brink of leaving their childhoods behind. On the brink of discovering each other. On the brink of oncoming sadness and disaster. Fiona desperately needs someone to listen to her and she chooses Alistair. The more he listens to her the more Alistair needs her to be okay. The more he needs to be the one to make her okay. To be her hero. She is elusive. He reads things into her story and draws his own conclusions about what she is saying. And then acts on them. The predictable disasters ensue (and some not so predictable ones as well). I thought they were at the perfect age to tell a story such as this. There was an underlying tension in their relationship, but they conducted it while riding bikes, sitting near a rock, and talking on swings. It is a hard to reach balance in a book with such dark undertones, but Starmer finessed it well. Fiona is terrified of The Riverman in her fantasy world, who is stealing other kids and making them disappear. Her fear is so real and it leads Alistair to desperately want to figure out what reality she is substituting her fantasy for. Who is the Riverman really? This book is about both their journeys of discovery and loss. There were times when I felt Alistair's voice sounded too mature and world weary in contrast to how he acted and actually spoke. That was explained at the end though. Sort of. I think. (More on that confusion in a moment.)
The prose and imagery Starmer uses is excellent. The descriptions bring everything to life. And there are some gems of philosophy hidden as well, but not in a way that is pretentious or obnoxious. It's done in a way that will work for the intended audience I think. The mystery of Fiona's world and how it overlaps the real world kept me turning pages. I knew the identity of the Riverman almost from the beginning, but I don't think kids will. (And it didn't temper my enjoyment of watching Alistair get there.)
My enjoyment was not without some serious reservations though. One of those was the length of some of the scenes and how unimportant things were drawn out. An example of this was Halloween which took up three chapters and a whole lot of detail when only one small section of it really advanced the plot, or even spoke to character development. That whole sequence felt more like a nostalgic look back at the awesome fun of neighborhood Halloween. I was bored. I laughed when I hit this particular line not even halfway through the book because it was so descriptive of my own feelings reading the book:
Stories taunted me. Even ones I didn't believe dared me to see them through to the end. The idea of Aquavania was absurd, but Fiona's fear seemed so real. I suspected that the end of her tale would reveal the true source of that fear, and I hated her for roping me in, but I hated myself even more for letting her drag me along. Because the tension-the not knowing-was unbearable. Why can't someone spoil the ending for me? I thought.
Ironic. Probably unintentional.
The other element that bothered by was the time period. It is set in 1989 and I can't see any good reason why except that it conveniently go rid of all modern technology. Or possibly this was also part of the nostalgia of the author.
Most of all however, the end bothered me. I don't mind ambiguous or open endings. I don't need perfect closure. What I do need is for the end to make some kind of sense. To give me something. This book reminded me a lot of the TV show Lost. Great concept, excellent set-up, characters that were intriguing and made you want to see them make it, but then it went on a little too long until the original vision was lost and there was nothing to do but end it in a confusing and completely unfulfilling way. I've seen a lot of people say they thought it was brilliant and mind-blowing. To me it felt like a bit of a cop-out.
I would certainly recommend this to readers who like books that blur the line between fantasy and reality. And don't mind lack of closure. I would be careful about handing it to younger MG readers. This is one where you should know the content and the potential readers if they are younger than 12.
I read an ARC of The Riverman received from the publisher, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, via NetGalley.
Originally posted here at Random Musings of a Bibliophile.
(I received an ARC from publisher in exchange for a fair review)
Alistair and Fiona are kids on the brink. On the brink of leaving their childhoods behind. On the brink of discovering each other. On the brink of oncoming sadness and disaster. Fiona desperately needs someone to listen to her and she chooses Alistair. The more he listens to her the more Alistair needs her to be okay. The more he needs to be the one to make her okay. To be her hero. She is elusive. He reads things into her story and draws his own conclusions about what she is saying. And then acts on them. The predictable disasters ensue (and some not so predictable ones as well). I thought they were at the perfect age to tell a story such as this. There was an underlying tension in their relationship, but they conducted it while riding bikes, sitting near a rock, and talking on swings. It is a hard to reach balance in a book with such dark undertones, but Starmer finessed it well. Fiona is terrified of The Riverman in her fantasy world, who is stealing other kids and making them disappear. Her fear is so real and it leads Alistair to desperately want to figure out what reality she is substituting her fantasy for. Who is the Riverman really? This book is about both their journeys of discovery and loss. There were times when I felt Alistair's voice sounded too mature and world weary in contrast to how he acted and actually spoke. That was explained at the end though. Sort of. I think. (More on that confusion in a moment.)
The prose and imagery Starmer uses is excellent. The descriptions bring everything to life. And there are some gems of philosophy hidden as well, but not in a way that is pretentious or obnoxious. It's done in a way that will work for the intended audience I think. The mystery of Fiona's world and how it overlaps the real world kept me turning pages. I knew the identity of the Riverman almost from the beginning, but I don't think kids will. (And it didn't temper my enjoyment of watching Alistair get there.)
My enjoyment was not without some serious reservations though. One of those was the length of some of the scenes and how unimportant things were drawn out. An example of this was Halloween which took up three chapters and a whole lot of detail when only one small section of it really advanced the plot, or even spoke to character development. That whole sequence felt more like a nostalgic look back at the awesome fun of neighborhood Halloween. I was bored. I laughed when I hit this particular line not even halfway through the book because it was so descriptive of my own feelings reading the book:
Stories taunted me. Even ones I didn't believe dared me to see them through to the end. The idea of Aquavania was absurd, but Fiona's fear seemed so real. I suspected that the end of her tale would reveal the true source of that fear, and I hated her for roping me in, but I hated myself even more for letting her drag me along. Because the tension-the not knowing-was unbearable. Why can't someone spoil the ending for me? I thought.
Ironic. Probably unintentional.
The other element that bothered by was the time period. It is set in 1989 and I can't see any good reason why except that it conveniently go rid of all modern technology. Or possibly this was also part of the nostalgia of the author.
Most of all however, the end bothered me. I don't mind ambiguous or open endings. I don't need perfect closure. What I do need is for the end to make some kind of sense. To give me something. This book reminded me a lot of the TV show Lost. Great concept, excellent set-up, characters that were intriguing and made you want to see them make it, but then it went on a little too long until the original vision was lost and there was nothing to do but end it in a confusing and completely unfulfilling way. I've seen a lot of people say they thought it was brilliant and mind-blowing. To me it felt like a bit of a cop-out.
I would certainly recommend this to readers who like books that blur the line between fantasy and reality. And don't mind lack of closure. I would be careful about handing it to younger MG readers. This is one where you should know the content and the potential readers if they are younger than 12.
I read an ARC of The Riverman received from the publisher, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, via NetGalley.
mathildeliva's review against another edition
3.0
3.5
I would most definitely have given this book 5 stars when I first read it as a 12-year-old.
I would most definitely have given this book 5 stars when I first read it as a 12-year-old.
izumisano's review against another edition
2.0
I think its safe to say, I didn't get this book. I think I would have liked it better if it was just about Fiona and her adventures in Aquavania instead of through Alistair's perspective. I got impatient trying to figure out where this was going.
shelvesofsecrets's review against another edition
3.0
This book left me unsure how I should feel about it. It wasn't what I expected, then it was, then it wasn't again and now I don't even know anymore.
Here's what I do know:
This book has a bit of a retro feel. It's set in 1989, so I don't know if that counts as historical fiction or just retro. Either way, these were the days of floppy disks and duct taping a walkman to the handlebars of your bike.
I really wanted to know what was going on! Stramer had my attention and curiousity the entire way through. What was going on with Fiona? What was Aquavania? Who was the Riverman?
That book was dark for a middle grade. Maybe I'm just wimpy. But there were some pretty major themes going on for middle grade reader. Like missing children and child abuse.
I didn't like part of the ending. It was unnecessary and sad (probably).
Here's what I don't know:
What the heck happened with the ending!?! This book had one of those vague, I'm just going to leave you with unanswered questions. Like I actually turned the page to keep reading and all of a sudden he was thanking all the people. But what happened to Fiona? And Alistair? And Kyle? And Charlie? So many questions. I feel like I used to enjoy these vague endings, but currently I just feel a bit confused and deflated.
How I feel. I just don't know. I enjoyed most of the book, but the ending threw me sideways and now I just don't know. I think 3.5 is my actual rating on this one. And I'm certainly harbouring some resentment.
Here's what I do know:
This book has a bit of a retro feel. It's set in 1989, so I don't know if that counts as historical fiction or just retro. Either way, these were the days of floppy disks and duct taping a walkman to the handlebars of your bike.
I really wanted to know what was going on! Stramer had my attention and curiousity the entire way through. What was going on with Fiona? What was Aquavania? Who was the Riverman?
That book was dark for a middle grade. Maybe I'm just wimpy. But there were some pretty major themes going on for middle grade reader. Like missing children and child abuse.
I didn't like part of the ending. It was unnecessary and sad (probably).
Here's what I don't know:
What the heck happened with the ending!?! This book had one of those vague, I'm just going to leave you with unanswered questions. Like I actually turned the page to keep reading and all of a sudden he was thanking all the people. But what happened to Fiona? And Alistair? And Kyle? And Charlie? So many questions. I feel like I used to enjoy these vague endings, but currently I just feel a bit confused and deflated.
How I feel. I just don't know. I enjoyed most of the book, but the ending threw me sideways and now I just don't know. I think 3.5 is my actual rating on this one. And I'm certainly harbouring some resentment.
eacolgan's review against another edition
4.0
This wasn't a perfect book (so few are) but it was a really, really good one. I absolutely love Starmer's language-- he writes with a flow that kept me in Alistair's head without it feeling navel gazey or self-centered. The story is all about Fiona-- and then, abruptly, it isn't. The end confused the hell out of me-- it took my entire book club to settle on a believable explanation that both made sense and satisfied what we wanted from the story-- but despite all that, I loved this. It was a little creepy, a little sweet, a little weird, and a lot interesting. Definitely would reread and recommend.
shebephoebe's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Alistair really looked around and said, “You know what? This isn’t NEARLY complicated enough. I’m going to invent several new problems just to spice things up.”
This book started out strong, tripped on its own shoelaces a couple of chapters in, and fell flat on its face. It then spent the rest of the story trying to convince you it was the cat’s fault—when there isn’t even a cat.
Why does the 12-year-old protagonist read as 15? Why do all of the reveals come out of left field with as much foreshadowing as a shadow puppet dog? How were there so many characters and yet almost no genuine human interactions between them? How does a person lose an index, middle, and ring finger but NOT the pinky or thumb on the same hand? Why was the story giving off fantasy signals at the start when it apparently meant to be magical realism/horror with way more ambiguity than it had earned? Was it set in the 80’s just to keep the main characters from conveniently googling all of their questions? HOW DOES A PERSON SPEND TWELVE YEARS ALL ALONE IN A MAGICAL WORLD AND STILL NEED ONE CONVERSATION WITH AN EXTREMELY CONFUSED CHILD TO FIGURE OUT THE BIG REVEAL??? Was she sitting on her hands talking to chartreuse giraffes for that entire period?
The most frustrating thing to me was that there was so much potential here, so many angles we could have explored, so many places we could have dropped a few clues; yet the portal fantasy aspect was blander than a cheese sandwich and Alistair’s obtuseness was the only thing keeping the real world story thread tangled long enough to make a book out of it. By the time we got to that final scene, I shrugged and said “This might as well happen”.
This book started out strong, tripped on its own shoelaces a couple of chapters in, and fell flat on its face. It then spent the rest of the story trying to convince you it was the cat’s fault—when there isn’t even a cat.
Why does the 12-year-old protagonist read as 15? Why do all of the reveals come out of left field with as much foreshadowing as a shadow puppet dog? How were there so many characters and yet almost no genuine human interactions between them? How does a person lose an index, middle, and ring finger but NOT the pinky or thumb on the same hand? Why was the story giving off fantasy signals at the start when it apparently meant to be magical realism/horror with way more ambiguity than it had earned? Was it set in the 80’s just to keep the main characters from conveniently googling all of their questions? HOW DOES A PERSON SPEND TWELVE YEARS ALL ALONE IN A MAGICAL WORLD AND STILL NEED ONE CONVERSATION WITH AN EXTREMELY CONFUSED CHILD TO FIGURE OUT THE BIG REVEAL??? Was she sitting on her hands talking to chartreuse giraffes for that entire period?
The most frustrating thing to me was that there was so much potential here, so many angles we could have explored, so many places we could have dropped a few clues; yet the portal fantasy aspect was blander than a cheese sandwich and Alistair’s obtuseness was the only thing keeping the real world story thread tangled long enough to make a book out of it. By the time we got to that final scene, I shrugged and said “This might as well happen”.
Content Warnings
decidedly NOT middle grade