Thanks to Pat Fuller (with Maggie's help) for introducing this book Go As A River and its author to us. Despite it being translated into languages all over the world, reviews were hard to find. This was a hidden gem. Since there were only six of us, we sat comfortably around my kitchen table and could hear and see each other much better, with no side conversations to distract. Victoria was a character we won’t soon forget. The fable like story had her assuming a woman's responsibilities as a newly motherless child, unappreciated by either her grieiving father, her damaged but vindictive uncle, and her truly evil brother. Her brutally lost love Wil propels her into the truly unimaginable. Poetic narration gave us a deep sense of her connection to nature and her successful transplanting of an entire peach orchard drove the plot. Themes of grief, connection, enduring prejudice and hate, and the unstoppable love of a mother for her child ran throughout.
Thank you to Chryso for those stuffed dates, most of which I ate, Maggie's superb lemon cake, and Nancy's still warm cheese sticks. Pat F. also came with an appropriate costume - first a straw hat and plaid shirt for Victoria's years as a farmer, and underneath a pop-art inspired t shirt which reflected how the novel brought us into the 70's. Great meeting.
