A review by lisabage
The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger

adventurous mysterious relaxing tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Awesome read. Something about his style is so comfortable, like reading on a blanket under a big oak tree in the middle of summer with a pitcher of iced tea. The plot unfolds steadily and ends with a big finale. Characters you want to spend time with and meet again. Highly recommended. 

P 451 chapter 41. After cutting a cottonwood branch. 

See the star? … there’s a story my people tell about that star. They say that all the stars in the sky are actually made inside the earth. Then they seek out the roots of cottonwood trees, where they patiently wait. Inside the branches of the cottonwoods, they’re dull and lightless, like you see here. When the great spirit decides that more stars are needed, the wind shakes the branches, the cottonwoods, and the stars are released. They fly up and settle in the heavens, where they shine and sparkle and become the luminous creations they were always meant to be.

Epilogue. P 644

Our lives and the lives of those we love merge to create a river whose current carries us forward from our beginning to our end. Because we are only one part of the whole, the river each of us remembers is different, and there are many versions of the stories we tell about the past. In all of them, there is truth, and in all of them a good deal of innocent misremembering.