Kathy
Steffen’s novel, First, There is a River delves deep into the world of
the riverboat and its crew on the Ohio river in the early 1900’s. The Spirit
of the River is one such riverboat that offers escape and a second chance
at life for Emma Perkins. It was
published in 2007 by Medallion Press, Incorporated.
On the
surface, it seems as though Emma Perkins has the perfect life. She has two wonderful children and a hardworking
farmer of a husband that loves her very much.
But that hardworking husband is a façade, and Jared is not as loving as
he seems. Jared uses his belief in God
as justification for punishing Emma when she isn’t the perfect wife he wants
her to be. For years, Emma did nothing
and let him abuse her, afraid that he would harm her children or take them away
from her. But when Jared sells the
children into labor at a nearby farm, Emma seeks refuge and escape onboard her
uncle’s riverboat, The Spirit of the
River. On the river, Emma is
seemingly safe from her abusive husband and uses that time on the river to
regain her self-confidence and self-worth, all the while gaining the courage to
stand up to her husband once and for all and regain the life she so desperately
wants back.I’m not quite sure what to make of this book. I liked it, especially in the beginning, but I felt the middle dragged a bit and the end was just mediocre. It’s a decent read for a weekend or on vacation, but it’s not very memorable and I doubt I’d ever read it again. I thought Ms. Steffen did a great job capturing life aboard a riverboat in the 1900’s, and the scenes depicting riverboat life were vibrant and very well illustrated. The characters of Emma and Gage were also very well written, and I found that I kept reading because Emma and Gage were so interesting and I wanted to find out more about them. At first, Emma is meek and afraid to speak up for herself, her husband Jared has basically beaten the spirit out of her, and it was fascinating to watch her transform into the spirited, confident woman she once was while riding on the river. I also thought Ms. Steffen uses the river brilliantly as a metaphor for life. The river twists and turns, there’s bumps and slow, low sections, but all the while it keeps flowing just like life, and you can either submit and drown or go with the flow and continue on.
Despite all
the positives this book has to offer, there was a lot left to be desired as
well. For one thing, the narration gets
a bit confusing about halfway through.
There aren’t any clear breaks when the point of view switches, and all
the narration changes kind of creep up on the reader which can be confusing. I know there were several times it took me a
minute to figure out that there was a narration change and realize who’s point
of view I was reading. I really liked
Gage, I thought he was an interesting character, but the supernatural nightmare
element implemented in his story about mid-way through was really weird. It wasn’t fully developed and it felt uneccessary
and very distracting. If you’re going to
write about the supernatural either commit fully to developing it, or leave it
out altogether. And my biggest problem
with the book was the character of Jared.
From the start we know he’s not a very good dude, but to have him use
his belief in God and the Bible as an excuse to punish his wife as violently as
he does just felt like the easy way out.
I didn’t like the bible-beater husband story arc, and I think with a
little more creativity the author could’ve given us a more original reason as
to why Jared thinks he needs to beat his wife.
There are
also a lot of secondary characters that don’t really seem all that vital to the
initial plotline. It felt as though they
were just in there to supply a little filler during the slow periods, but then
the end came and their tiny storylines were never finished. I understand there needs to be more than just
the main characters, but having a half-hearted attempt at developing other
characters without finishing their storyline was a little frustrating. I would’ve much preferred they just serve as
background characters instead of making me interested in them only to have
their respective story’s cut short.
Overall it’s
a decent book. The storyline is
promising and I did like the riverboat aspect very much. I’d have to give this book a C grade for the
efforts. It’s not very memorable, I
doubt I’ll read it again and aside from wanting to know more about Emma and
Gage, I didn’t feel connected to anyone else in the story. It’s good for a weekend or a vacation
read. I can’t judge too harshly since I
did read it rather quickly, but it’s not something I can recommend
whole-heartedly. It’s a good, but not
great book despite how great the Spirit
is on the river.
