Saints at the River by Ron Rash

★★★

This is my first novel by Ron Rash, but I did read Burning Bright, a collection of short stories, and I can't help but compare the two. My 3-star rating for this book is relative to my 4-star rating for Burning Bright.

Overall, this book just seemed lacking. The dialogue frequently seemed to me too formal and forced, not natural enough. It took almost the entire book to draw me in, and once I finally felt invested in the characters - right at the climax - everything was wrapped up a bit too quickly. The main character, Maggie, did grow on me, but her character was developed so slowly, mostly through intermittent flashbacks, that for most of the book, I found her uncompelling. Aside from Maggie and a couple other supporting characters, there were too many named characters that ended up playing only minor or passing roles, and I was kind of annoyed for having tried to keep track of them.

There are really two stories in this book. On the surface, the book is about a father trying to recover the body of his 12-year-old daughter, who drowned in the Tamassee River. The opening passage is heart-wrenching to read, particularly for a parent who can't help but imagine, "What if it were my child?" Unfortunately, recovering the body means disturbing the natural course of the river, and environmentalists protest the means of recovery. This particular controversy, while it does have merit, seemed exaggerated. The engineer who tries to bring in a portable dam is remarkably - and unreasonably - unwilling to heed the recommendations of the locals, who have valuable knowledge of the river, nor does he bother to make any concessions to appease the environmentalists.

Another story that runs like an undercurrent is the emotional upheaval Maggie feels upon returning to the river, where she was born and raised. Besides trying to figure out where exactly she stands on the river controversy, she also needs to come to terms with her strained relationship with her father. On top of that, there is a budding romance, which I found superfluous, but not actually as distracting as it could have been, except for the repeated references to "the small of my/his/her back".

I really liked the way the river and the mountains were prominent in the story, and as a reader I did feel like I could be immersed in the location. Apparently, the Appalachian South is a specialty of the author's, and I wouldn't mind reading another one of his books.