Review by aubreylaudel - Go as a River

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aubreylaudel 's review for:

Go as a River by Shelley Read

3.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This was such a beautifully written story about love, nature, perseverance, and navigating grief. While I did enjoy parts of this story especially towards the end, it was just so tragic and dealt with harrowing topics including lynching and racism, and it was hard to read at times. I found myself disappointed in how the main character dealt with these topics- she didn’t think to ask Wilson about his past and did not bother to research his tribe or the Native Americans that inhabited that land.

To me it just seemed like she could have done more to get justice for Wil, or at least be prepared to learn what hardships her son would have to go through as a mixed race man

. Instead, Victoria spent years in grief and solitude with her peaches, with only a few friends to keep her company. While there were some moments of strong character development, she seemed to take two steps back

once she moved to her new farm in Paonia, letting fear, shame and grief take over her life. When Victoria finally gained the courage to share her story and find her son at the end, I was very disappointed that we didn’t get to experience their reunion

. Overall I did think this book was beautifully written, but I found it very depressing and slow paced. I wish we could have learned more about Wil’s character and more about their romance as well.

Content Warnings