Review by waffa2 -- American River: Tributaries

[waffa2]

[Following is a volunteer review of "American River: Tributaries" by Mallory M. O'Connor.]
[rbc=4]id200399-125[/rbc]American River: Tributaries is as the title infers, a novel about America and the melting pot of nationalities that comprise this country. The author, Mallory M. O'Connor writes a captivating story about three families and how their lives intertwine. The initial connection of the Irish, Mexican and Japanese families are due to geography, hence the title, all their immediate ancestors settled a stretch of river in Northern California near Sacramento. The Mockingbird Valley Ranch along the river is a primary location for the Irish family. Other cities on the west coast that play a major part in the book are San Francisco and Sacramento. The eastern cities of America where some of the story takes place is in Boston and New York. The story begins in the mid 1800s and ends in the 1960s, mostly detailing the 1950s-1960s era. The story primarily revolves around the adult children of each family along with their interaction with parents, friends and lovers. The parents of the adult children are also viable interesting characters with the author doing an excellent job at chronicling their lives. It is considered book one in a series by the author, but it does satisfactorily conclude situations and some story lines by the end of the book and still leaves you wondering what will eventually happen to the other characters.

Initially, I was somewhat confused about the multiple characters and had to go back and recheck the list of players at the beginning of the book more often then I liked. I personally like books that introduce the characters in a list prior to starting the book, especially when many characters are introduced at once. As the book progresses, the characters become clearer due to the author's excellent understated job at describing details. I like her style of writing in that it is not complex and tedious, but a fairly quick read in spite of using enough description to set scenes and personalities. The ancestors lives are described briefly at the beginning to set up the families and I would have liked a little more detail about them, but the author obviously wanted the meat of the book to be about the descendents.

I enjoyed that the people in the book were like anyone you may know in your life during that time period. They are human in their reactions to situations which makes them believable. Issues of prejudice are dealt with realistically without being too graphic or intense to the point where you have to stop reading. Most of the characters are a work in progress, just like we all are which makes relating to them easy and effortless. The families are quintessential American in that they touch on the different ways that the younger and older generation reacted to the turbulent times of the 1950s-1960s. There are powerful emotions and situations played out through the story, but treated in a sympathetic manner without being overbearing and becoming "way over the top" in gratuitous pathos.

Due to the fact that some of the characters are young classical musicians, the author mentions different pieces of classical music throughout the book, integral to their lives while also mentioning the more modern (rock & roll) music being played on the airwaves during this time period. Since this is the era that that I spent my childhood, the author did a good job at capturing the flavor of the times.

I gladly rate this book 4 out of 4 stars due to the enjoyment I got revisiting a part of my past through the eyes of the descendants from Ireland, Mexico and Japan. I enjoy a book that is descriptive enough, that if I were to close my eyes after reading a passage, I can see it, that's perfect, but not so descriptive that you get bogged down in the reading. This book is a good example of that. I feel that if you are looking for a good solid read for the afternoon and enjoy stories about people, their failings and triumps, then this is an easy book to recommend. Yes, this book does have romance, young romance, gay romance, interracial romance, interage romance all tastefully done and some very interesting twists and turns. I will probably download the next book in the series, I think I am hooked.

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American River: Tributaries
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