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Unconvincing,
Pointless,
Informative

3 reviews

Once Upon a River: A Novel
by Bonnie Jo Campbell

Published: 2011-07-05
Hardcover : 348 pages
3 members reading this now
9 clubs reading this now
3 members have read this book
Recommended to book clubs by 1 of 3 members

From the National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist?an odyssey of a novel about a girl's search for love and identity.

Bonnie Jo Campbell has created an unforgettable heroine in sixteen-year-old Margo Crane, a beauty whose unflinching gaze and uncanny ability with ...
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Introduction

From the National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist?an odyssey of a novel about a girl's search for love and identity.

Bonnie Jo Campbell has created an unforgettable heroine in sixteen-year-old Margo Crane, a beauty whose unflinching gaze and uncanny ability with a rifle have not made her life any easier. After the violent death of her father, in which she is complicit, Margo takes to the Stark River in her boat, with only a few supplies and a biography of Annie Oakley, in search of her vanished mother. But the river, Margo's childhood paradise, is a dangerous place for a young woman traveling alone, and she must be strong to survive, using her knowledge of the natural world and her ability to look unsparingly into the hearts of those around her. Her river odyssey through rural Michigan becomes a defining journey, one that leads her beyond self-preservation and to the decision of what price she is willing to pay for her choices.

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Member Reviews

Overall rating:
 
 
  "Expected more"by J P. (see profile) 02/03/12

I wanted to empathize with the main character but I just never gott to the point of caring.

 
  "Still figuring out whether I liked this book"by Kim W. (see profile) 10/13/11

I read this as a potential suggestion for a book club choice, but several days later, I'm still wondering if I really liked it. As the mother of a teenaged daughter, I found the events befalling Margo,... (read more)

 
  "It didn’t grab me"by ELIZABETH V. (see profile) 09/01/11

ONCE UPON A RIVER by Bonnie Jo Campbell begins with description of the natural surroundings in the rural Michigan area where the story takes place and Margo Crane’s interaction with them. ... (read more)

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