Review of American River: Tributaries

[Elvis omusebe]

[Following is a volunteer review of "American River: Tributaries" by Mallory M. O'Connor.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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American River: Tributaries is an extremely powerful historical fiction book that follows three generation of families of Irish, Mexican and Japanese descent. The immigrants move to North California in the mid 1800`s and settle on the banks of the American river in a bid to build a fortune in an an extremely dynamic and racially prejudiced society.

The writer paints the characters in a very vivid and dynamic manner. Owen Mcphalan; who is of the Irish descent is the owner of the Mockingbird valley ranch which is located at the bank of the American river.Fate sees the Ashida's; who are of Japanese descent settle in at the ranch as Owen's servants while Carl; a Mexican from the Morales bloodline establishes himself as a maestro in classical music.It is through this music expeditions that Carl crosses paths with Marian ;Owen's estranged wife with whom they are involved in an extra-marital affair over the summer. In a twist of events, Kate; Owen's daughter founds herself in a relationship limbo. In a journey of self discovery and self doubt she is not sure whether she should continue her relationship with Tommy; the Ashida's son or Carl;Marian's ex-boyfriend.Owen's prejudiced character makes him perceive Carl and Tommy as foreigners because they are not from his supposedly superior race.The very thought that a "foreigner" would marry his daughter and inherit his property makes him shudder in his very own skin.

Will the racially partisan Owen accept Tommy a Japanese or Carl a wet-back into his family amid the increasing political aura of the racially prejudiced society of the 1960s?

When it comes to creative narration Mallory does it with a lot of proficiency. She takes the reader on a very elaborate journey through the three generation of families using the third person narration approach which makes her all knowing and flexible with her characters .Starting from the mid 1800s, she vividly takes us through the genealogy of the Mcphalans, the Ashidas and the Morales descendants and clearly shows how the lives of the three families later intertwine as they struggle to build a fortune in the novel North Californian environment.Just the same way The American River is born in the Sierra Nevada mountains in North California, fed by the three main tributaries to become a stronger river flowing to the Sacramento Valley below, the lives of three families;the Mcphalans, the Morales and the Ashidas is likened to the American river and its tributaries as we see their lives later interlink to form one big society.

I particularly found interesting the use of letters and journal entries to present an intimate view of the characters thoughts and feelings.The letters convey the shape of events to come with dramatic immediacy.For example in the journal entry on page 110 Kate writes down her abstract thoughts about her father and Tommy. Little did she know that her feelings were right and would play a very huge role in re-shaping her relationship with her dad and Tommy.

I did not find anything negative about the book as the highly distinguished author presents his ordeals in a very intriguing and immersive manner.I would therefore rate the character driven book four out of four stars .I would recommend the book for the history fiction lovers above the age of 16 due to the implicit sex scenes.

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American River: Tributaries
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