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The Riverman (2014)

by Aaron Starmer(Favorite Author)

3.84 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0374363099 (ISBN13: 9780374363093)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

series

The Riverman Trilogy

review 1: 3.5 stars? 12 year old Alistair's neighbor and old friend Fiona tells him a story of another world and the man out to get her - is this fantasy or should be reading this as a plea for rescue from family abuse? I like the premise that the fantasy can't be real and it must be a metaphor for unspeakable things happening - that's a clever twist of view. But that's about all I like. It reads so much older (that's a sophisticated look at fantasy, for one. The degrading comments about women and sex is another. The teenager who had her baby at 14, etc etc) - it feels like it wanted to be a fantasy for adults looking back. And why is it set in the 80s? It also doesn't actually end - nothing gets resolved and you have to wait for book two. Not a Newbery pick for me at... more all.
review 2: I don’t know what to imagine about this book other than it grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. Alistair tells the story, but Fiona drives the rest of it, until Alistair realizes he must act. He is almost thirteen after all, and cares for Fiona very much, and wants to help her. Her story doesn’t make sense, and Alastair believes it’s a form of metaphor for something else happening in her home. Perhaps it’s her uncle, newly back from somewhere that wasn’t good. We don’t know where until the end. Perhaps there’s someone else in the neighborhood that’s the Riverman? My imagination whirled during the book, filling with “what ifs” or “if this, then…”. It’s complex, and I will need to consider carefully what student I might recommend it to. Definitely it’s older middle grade or young adult. It’s a fascinating book. less

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