Reviews

Mink River by Brian Doyle

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jenic's review

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4.0

Beautiful writing.

aggief's review

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emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

4.25

tom_the_reader's review

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective fast-paced

Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

This was a very intriguing novel about a fictional town in Oregon and the creative people who live there. The book jumps around a lot with short sections. It was clear that Brian Doyle had fun while writing and I think he is a great story teller. Personally, I wasn't a fan of how the book doesn't use quotation marks. I'd recommend that readers keep a character list so they can keep track of everyone.

lucieferg's review

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5.0

A lovely ode to the Pacific Northwest, totally steeped in the wetness and greenness of the Oregon coast. It was a pleasure to get lost in Doyle's tangled, bittersweet writing after having had many quick reads.

book_beat's review

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5.0

“Human people, says Moses, think that stories have beginnings and middles and ends, but we crow people know that stories just wander on and on and change form and are reborn again and again. That is who they are. Stories are not only words, you know. Words are just the clothes that people drape on stories. When crows tell stories, stories tell us, do you know what I mean? That’s just how it is with crow people.” — MINK RIVER

About thirteen years ago, I read a short story entitled JOYAS VOLADORAS by Brian Doyle. It is short as short fiction goes — only three pages in length — but I returned to it again and again. Flying jewels, hummingbird heart beats, the weight of a short life. The story never left me.

I was starting to fall into a reading rut last week. I read a few hyped books and found them lacking, draining. And JOYAS VOLADORAS popped into my head. Has Doyle written anything I might enjoy? And this question, this simple three page story, led me to MINK RIVER.

MINK RIVER is set on the Oregon Coast. It is bursting with magical realism, moving prose, and unforgettable characters. That quote above? That’s Moses the philosophizing crow. And there’s Worried Man and Cedar who are best friends that run the Department of Public Works. And Michael the policeman who sings Puccini, only Puccini. And so many more.

Doyle has a way with words and stories that is unlike anything I’ve ever read. He understands nature and can describe the minuscule aspects of life that make us feel most human and most alive. But he injects mystical elements that feel so natural, you can’t help but to believe they are real: life CAN be lived and enhanced with a philosophizing crow.

Parts of the storytelling reminded me of Wendell Berry’s writing. Doyle gets at the essence of this town, how all the people are interconnected and dependent upon each other — it is little odd and very beautiful.

zamreads's review

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4.0

Mink River is a very poetic yet often very real novel (aside from the occasional marvel like a talking bird or disembodied voice); the poetical and realistic exist in such a way that reminds me to find the beauty in the seemingly mundane. Plot unfurls as in a lyrical prose poem more than as a novel, but the language flows beautifully and river-like, happily with the occasional rapid. Nature and language and names and time and humanity and cultures blend and intertwine like currents, and I'm glad I swam in them.

s0ymilk's review

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5.0

This book is the literary equivalent of sitting next to a window as it rains outside, or watching the sun rise, or sticking your feet in a cold stream on a hot day. There's absolutely no way to capture it succinctly, and it feels wrong to try.