The River King

Rating:
Summary: Not up to her usual standard
Review: That said, this is still a worthwhile book, and for anyone not familiar with Alice Hoffman's work, it wouldn't be a bad introduction. But for those who are familiar with her work, I agree with those reviewers who found something missing.

I've always loved the way Hoffman entertwines the unreal with the realistic, and imbues the ordinary with extraordinary qualities that seem perfectly accurate at the time you're reading her words. Her writing is lyrical and evocative, yet it never seems overdone or precious or self-conscious. She's the type of author I consider a natural-born writer.

And all of the above does hold true for "The River King" -- it's just that the people whose stories she tells in these books seem to exist to serve the plot rather than the other way around.

For example, one of the main characters, Carlin Leander (well, maybe that name IS a bit precious...), is 14-year-old girl...14-going-on-25. Maybe if Carlin had been born to Bohemian parents and raised in, say, Greenhich Village, her behavior and personality would have made sense. But she's a poor girl from Florida. Of course that doesn't mean she couldn't be as world-weary and sophisticated as Carlin comes across, but given Carlin's background, it seems unlikely.

Then there is Betsy Chase, the photographer/photography teacher at the Haddon School (the snooty private establishment where Carlin's a swimming scholarship student), another main character. She doesn't quite make sense to me either. I can't somehow fathom a school like Haddon (which doesn't seem to have that many students) being flush with enough tuition payments to be able to hire a teacher just to teach photography. Even if such were the case, it seems just a bit too convenient that Betsy is hired as a *teacher* simply because she's a professional photographer who was previously hired to take class pictures. In addition, Betsy is made a junior house parent. Again, to me, this makes no sense; what are her qualifications other than being able to take pictures? Teaching/being responsible for teenagers requires much more than that.

Then there's Abel Grey, the cop who was formerly a juvenile delinquent. He's yet another character whose function seems to be multi-purpose. It's never explained how he makes the unlikely transition from being a law-breaker to a law-enforcer; we're just supposed to take the author's word for it.

At the climax of the book, Abel sets up Harry McKenna, the book's bad guy and Carlin's one-time boyfriend, who has helped cruely kill a student misfit named Gus Pierce, for cheating. This is because the town of Haddon is supposedly so much in the grip of the school that Abel's investigation of the murder has gotten him fired, since it threatens the school. So, Abel is reduced to breaking into the school and planting the answers to a test in Harry's room. This evidence of Harry's cheating gets Harry, always the fair-haired boy up until now, expelled virtually instanteously.

So here we come to one more thing that doesn't make sense. Why is Harry kicked out so quickly, with no due process at all? It's not a satisfying conclusion, for one thing; Harry still gets away with murder. And it's hard to buy that Haddon School would treat a student like Harry, whom it was willing to protect from any suspicion of harming Gus Pierce to the point of resorting to bribing the local police department, would then turn around and expel him "simply" for cheating. Cheating on a test = entirely unacceptable!; killing fellow student = our little secret?

If anyone is still with me, tell me -- DOES that make sense? Because it didn't to me.

As I finished the book, I almost felt as if I'd read the equivalent of a Lifetime TV movie. The only reason I didn't feel that way entirely is because of Alice Hoffman's talent as a writer. But in those book she just doesn't appear to sweat the details, and it shows.

Rating:
Summary: A deeply moving novel that has a sorrowful tone
Review: I bought this book on instinct after reading the plot summary and I was not dissapointed. I have read other books by Alice Hoffman and I thought this was probably one of her best.

Actually, this books is quite sad and the mood throughout is very melancholy. In most cases a sad book is not always enjoyable, however, I was deeply moved and at times I was on the verge of tears.

I must say that I found similarities between The River King and the novel "The Secret History" by Donna Tarrt. Both are based around a small elite college campus that have beautiful houses and mysterious going-ons. I highly reccomend reading Donna Tarrt's novel as well if you enjoy The River King.

Overall I found the book to be enjoyable and magical even with its sad plot and melancholy characters. I finished reading this book in one evening because I simply could not put it down.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: This book missed the mark for me. I did read it, but I did not find it necessarily engaging. I think that this may have been targeted for a younger audience. It was dark in an odd way - not like Practical Magic, however. I felt a little cheated when I finished the book - I did not have that 'good' feeling that comes after having read a 'good' book.

I do appreciate Alice Hoffman's talent, but I did not feel this book showcased it as well as others have. I much preferred A Probable Future.

Rating:
Summary: As always, Hoffman delivers magic!
Review:

To truly experience Alice Hoffman's work, you need the ability to suspend all rational thought for a bit. Hoffman's tales are conjured with both a writer's voice and a magician's wand. She is never boring.

In THE RIVER KING, Ms. Hoffman tells the story of a small town in Massachusetts...she divides the town into the haves and the have nots. An elite private school adds to the class distinctions.

When one of Haddan School's students is found drowned in the troubled Haddan River, city and students alike are effected.

Haddan School's own troubled past becomes part of Hoffman's tapestry. The fragrance of roses appears in the middle of winter. Fish appear out of nowhere. The dead boy's image shows up in photographs. Bees swarm in October. Mysterious illness strikes students. No one rests until the mystery is solved.

THE RIVER KING is one of Hoffman's best efforts. It is not light, easy, summertime reading. It is to be savored and will linger with you long after you've finished. Like Hoffman's past work, some mysteries are solved. Some will never be.

That's what it's like to read a good Alice Hoffman story.

Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Rose Hips and Silver Fish
Review: This was a great book! It takes place in the small town of Haddan, Massachusetts, and it is the tale of small-town secrets, innocence, guilt, and the unspeakable crimes committed by a group of rich,upper-crust boarding school boys. Of course there are a few ghosts thrown in for good measure, because where would a small New England town be without its requisite ghost stories? The characters were very interesting, and I liked the way the story was told from the point of view of many, rather than one. One of the things that I liked best about the book was its rich descriptive language, especially that of the geographical area. I could hear the chirping of the crickets in the summer night, smell the loamy dampness of the river's soil, and see the lush green fiddleheads growing by the riverbanks as Alice Hoffman described it in her story. I grew up in rural, small-town New England, and reading her descriptions made me yearn to go back there again. I have read other Alice Hoffman novels, including "Practical Magic," and this was even better in my opinion. I also thought this would make a great movie. Couldn't you just see Aidan Quinn playing the blue-eyed Abel Grey? I highly recommend this book to everyone out there. I think you will like it. It's wicked awesome!

Rating:
Summary: A Pleasurable Read
Review: The River King, by Alice Hoffman is a well-rounded book. There is the right amount of sentiment, tragedy, and suspense to balance the plot and the overall experience of the book. While this particular work does not excel in any of these categories, it is a nice combination.
It is set around the late 1990's at a private high school in the small town of Haddan, Massachusetts. The main story follows the lives of an incoming freshman, a new photography teacher, and a local police officer. Everything plays out in a continuous cycle of events that intertwine and include the past and the present.
While The River King may not be the intellectual thriller of Conrad, or have the wildly imaginative characters like in Faulkner, it is good writing for our day and age. The themes are modern and the story is life-like. I would recommend it as a good book to read for pleasure.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining... could've been more satisrying
Review: This book is uneven. I plan to read more of Alice Hoffman's books, and I thoroughly enjoyed this (I listened to it on tape). But the flaws that came to the surface (to use an appropriate metaphor) almost overrode the pleasure.

Slightly reminiscent of The Secret History, The River King deals with undercurrents in and around a small New England prep school. As two of the central characters, Carlin and Gus, meet in their first year at the school, we are intrigued by the background of the school and the pressure that's placed on them both to fit into the student body. Hazing pranks and ordeals that turn deadly result in tragic death, which is investigated by a local cop who carries a lot of baggage of his own. His involvement with a teacher at the school further complicates the story and his life. Magical realism - a whiff of the supernatural - informs the book and the behavior of the characters that knew or want to know about the victim's death.

The Good
- Alice Hoffman's writing style and dialog works - a small example are some of the sentences that come out of Eric (Betsy's fiance)'s mouth. We know pretty early on that he's a soulless academic, totally wrong for her.
- The magical elements are wonderfully portrayed, even if they don't exactly go anywhere. What's the point of all the minnows? And the sightings of all of the dark shadows and figures in the photographs?
- The death of one of the minor characters is depicted wondefully and is extremely moving. This passage is a tour de force of evocative writing.
- The symmetry and contrast of the love stories: Carlin and Gus, Betsy and Abel, and others.
- Things like the cat and its peripheral role in illustrating Harry's character. (But can we get over the rose motif? Please?).

The Bad
- This plot doesn't resolve as so much end. The really bad guy is let off the hook, for one, but in general, the cruelty and insensitivity of some of the surrounding characters in charge (Bob Thomas, the head of the school, Eric, the house parent at Chalk House) is never brought home to them or to anyone else. As a result, one is left with a bad taste in one's mouth. It's not always necessary for justice to be done, but at least give us some dramatic irony when it's denied.
- Back to the plot and the exposition near the end: what possibilities there were for the investigation to meet up with either a fortuitous chain of evidence, or, better yet, a conspiracy member who turns! What drama was shortchanged by the decision to merely lay out the facts of the victim's final night alive in narrative style, rather than to have it be discovered, deduced, or confessed to. It's as if at some point, Ms. Hoffman had been planning to call P.D. James, Elizabeth George, or another expert murder mystery writer, on how to get the facts out in the open (like there was any mystery in the first place) and couldn't find anyone to consult with. As it is, what curiousity we have isn't so much satisfied as grudgingly allowed to be answered - it's not far from "Oh, by the way, here's how the victim died". (It's not quite on the same order as waking up and finding it had all been a dream but has a bit of the same downer effect).
- The chronology in the story was hard to reconcile with the pace. Things seem to happen all at once, then a few weeks go by, then another flurry of events, then another few weeks ...
- Finally, I've never read a book that actually had too much back story, but if anything, this is it. There are so many allusions to Abel (the cop)'s brother's death, the suicide of a faculty member's wife a long time ago, and Abel's background as a womanizer, that, upon smelling one of these digressions coming, one wants to duck and shout,"You're losing the plot here!"

In the end, I'm interested in reading more by this author. I really like her style, characterization, and use of imagery; this latter makes it almost immaterial whether there are supernatural elements at play. In contrast to another reviewer, I would love to see this as a movie, although the amount of reframing and just plain major surgery that would be necessary would make it almost unrecognizable. I'm pretty sure Alice Hoffman wouldn't be pleased with the result. But there are excellent possibilities for this in the right hands.

Rating:
Summary: Maybe she's a great writer, but...
Review: I'm unfamiliar with Alice Hoffman's other work, but if this book is indicative of her talent, I'm inclined to remain that way. I have a tendency to continue reading books I dislike, just because I don't like to quit things halfway through, so I kept on reading well past the point I had begun to wonder "why am I reading this?". The plot is as worn as an old shoe and the reader must continually endure schmaltzy references to the "mysterious wafting scent of roses" indicating - what? A ghostly indication of the character's victimhood? As if we didn't recognize this on our own? The characters seem to have been ripped straight out of a melodrama, complete with fainting spells and evil sneers. And the ending is just halfhearted. There's sure to be a movie, where at least the only wafting odor will be that of popcorn.

Rating:
Summary: move over Practical Magic
Review: it is my belief that this is Alice Hoffman's best work, her writing is simply beautiful from beginning to END! this is the first novel of her's that i completely enjoyed, though i loved the movie Practical Magic the novel was severely lacking and her others i cannot seem to get into, but this novel pulled me and wouldn't let go, i loved the character of Able Grey and the whole situation built up around him and his mysterious family history, and how could u not feel sorry for the character of Gus and just want to love that poor teenage boy who couldn't seem to fit in...all and all it is a wonderful and beautiful book! go read it!

Rating:
Summary: A disappointment
Review: I had a hard time getting through this. I will usually give any book a good long time to kick in and hook my interest, but The River King just never did. Worse, it bored me to tears....when it didn't have me squinting at the pages, saying, "What?" To put it succinctly, this was one of the most bizarre and puzzling books I have ever read. The characters practically define the term "one-dimensional"; I never understood or cared about any of them - once I figured out who they were in relation to one another that is. They did not fit, alone or together with one another. As a matter of fact, everything in this book, from the plot (or lack of one) to the setting, from the dialog to the development was jerky, disjointed and malformed. What a waste of time!