Where the River Ends

Long time readers of my site know of my professed love for the Southern story. For instance, Jan Karon’s Mitford series rank among my all time favorite novels. Each time I’ve read them, and yes, it’s been more than once (and maybe more than twice), I laugh until I cry. I also love Melanie Wells’ Day of Evil series, stories of suspense and spiritual warfare set in Texas. (A Southern setting though Texans would certainly agree that Texas is far more Texan than Southern. I know. I’ve lived there.)

I’ve often wondered what draws me to the stories of the South. The people, certainly (or, I should say, the characters). Our regional idiosyncrasies as well as our well loved traditions. Or maybe it’s because I’m a girl of the South, Southern born and Southern bred.

Certainly the novels of Charles Martin are some of my favorite Southern stories. I well remember reading one of his novels for the first time. It was The Dead Don’t Dance and I finished it with tears streaming down my face. Yeah, it’s that good.

Martin writes as a true son of the South. I’ve read and loved all his novels and anxiously awaited the release of this, his latest novel, Where the River Ends. It is very much a Southern story with a spot on description of both old money and no money, and characters aplenty. Martin writes poignantly of love and loss in each of his novels and this is one is no different.

In Where the River Ends, Doss is a fishing guide and struggling artist raised in a trailer park in south Georgia. His wife Abbie is a beautiful super model and daughter of a powerful senator from Charleston. Abbie is dying of cancer and makes a list of ten things she wants to do before giving in to death. Last on her list yet first on her priorities is a 130 mile canoe trip down the St. Mary’s River. Doss has promised her this journey so they steal away from the hospice care, the doctors and Abbie’s controlling father. The journey itself is somewhat unbelievable given Abbie’s deteriorating condition and a hurricane threatening the coast, not to mention the host of unusual characters they meet along the way.

One word of caution: Martin spares no detail in his description of the havoc cancer has wrecked on Abbie’s life and health. Though certainly not gratuitous nor disrespectful, it is not easy to read.

All of Martin’s novels contain a river motif, yet not so prominently as this latest novel. Here the river is featured almost as an additional main character, her moods and treks chronicled with as much word space as Doss and Abbie’s. Of course, their journey is inseparable from the river, but I found the detailed descriptions of the river’s path and personality to grow a little tiresome.

In fact, I really hate to admit this, but I think this novel suffers somewhat from a lack of editorial precision. For instance, at one point Doss and Abbie break for awhile in a boathouse that is dark and without power. Yet Doss makes coffee. How? There are some grammatical errors and repetition of similar phrasing just a page or two apart. I was also confused by what seemed to be two accounts of a critical conversation between Doss and Abbie at the end. All little things, but they detracted somewhat from the beauty of the story Martin wanted to tell.

I did enjoy this book. It is not my favorite Martin novel, but I liked it just the same. If you’re like me, and you like a story rooted in the deep South, you will like this book.

Wife and mother, Bible teacher and blogger, Lisa loves Jesus, coffee, dark chocolate and, of course, books. Read more of her reflections at Lisa writes….