Recommended by the Reviewers Club
Not a River begins with two men, El Negro and Enero, and a boy, Tilo, on a fishing trip, and circles back to a previous trip when Eusubio was with them. It slowly reveals the memory that is playing on both men and what happened to their friend. The fishing trip is further disturbed by a visit from ‘a local’ whose questions unsettle the trio.
The second narrative follows Siomara and her two daughters, Lucy and Mariela. The girls are entering womanhood, and the mother is becoming more protective. It is clear there will be blood, death, perhaps menace and/or violence — and more than one episode. The suspense builds slowly. In less than 100 pages, Not a River depicts disparate elements of a broken community, marginalised families, and their efforts to bond, heal, escape, punish, revel and cope with the aftermath of it all.
Highly recommended for fans of thought-provoking literary fiction.
4/5 Stars