Reviews

This Bright River by Patrick Somerville

tobinlopes's review against another edition

3.0

Somerville's The Cradle was outstanding. It was humorous, complex, and heartwarming. He was hitting on all cylinders in that one.

This one is a little different flavor due to a few missing cylinders. In my case I might be a little more picky due to just having read Gone Girl in which both man and woman were extremely well-written. Somerville writes for a woman in this one and those are the portions where the writing suffers. The worst section is about 2/3 of the way through.

Having said that it's still a human tale with complex characters and a few laugh-out-loud moments. He didn't wrap things up in a nice little bow. Instead he stopped, and started, his telling at appropriate points.

Recommended for anyone who likes good stories about flawed people.

I gave it a 6.5/10 on my personal scale.

-tpl

pamseven's review against another edition

4.0

For the majority of this book I was completely hooked. It was the "can't wait to get back to see what happens" kind of feeling. Toward the last third or so of the book, that really waned for me. The writing became more stream of consciousness-y and convoluted. So much happens to the two main characters it's really difficult to believe. So maybe the real issue I have with the book is that it failed to suspend my disbelief and therefore i could never totally buy in.

caseyfalkenstein's review against another edition

mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

_johnson's review against another edition

Rambling, rambling, rambling nonsensical paragraphs of disjointed sentences. Just bad writing, couldn't keep me invested. Got sick of it.

plan2read's review against another edition

3.0

This book begins with a riddle and ends in a twisty mess, but sandwiched in between there's some really interesting character stuff. Major points given for writing authentic dialogue, including wit, sarcasm, and the slacker language of those who like to communicate in guarded yet direct ways.

christiek's review against another edition

4.0

Somerville does an excellent job of making our main character whose something of a lame sap pretty darn likable anyway. The Wayne sections were a bit of a slog, and Lauren really ought to have had more narration in the first 200 page. She pops up so randomly it felt quite disjointed. Stream of consciousness writing is so difficult. I think Somerville is quite good at it, especially with Will.

karenchase's review against another edition

5.0

Three down, one to go. This is the third book I have finished reading on our vacation, and maybe because I picked it up in the latter stages of the trip, when we were winding down our adventures and spending more time relaxing, I sped through it in the time I did. A comment on the cover of the book sums it up: the story makes you want to linger but you simply cannot. It starts with a description of an event that is so striking that it would not leave my brain through the entire rest of the story, although it is not revisited until the denouement, when so many other things have happened that I was unable to discern what it was or where it would fit in. This isn't a mystery novel, in the conventional sense, but this element is a hallmark of a successful mystery. Aside from that, the engaging nature of the prose and the intriguing, almost-unlikeable protagonists kept me turning the pages. In fact, the undercurrent of menace was so subtle that I almost didn't realize what it was until it exploded in my face and I had a moment where I actually didn't want to go on reading, except that I couldn't stop. The long denouement, which includes the unraveling of the initial intrigue, eventually draws the story together, and to a satisfying close. There is a kind of hipster quality to this writing, but I find myself hoping I read more of this guy's books, despite that. Also, as an aside, I will remind myself that I found this book by searching the term Wisconsin--Fiction in the library catalogue. All hail cataloguing and subject headings!

runkefer's review against another edition

3.0

I had this book on my list because I was intrigued by the whole controversy with the NYT review. The one where Janet Maslin savaged the book because she misread the prologue. To be fair, the prologue is not that useful to the book. I hadn't even remembered there was a prologue by the time I finished the book, so I had to reread it. So, what did I think of this book? It was a page-turner. I was intrigued by the characters and there was a whole lot of action. But I have to agree with Ms. Maslin that the plot did echo all the water imagery. It was kind of free-form and floaty. A lot of violent undercurrents in one small midwestern town. I can't say it was predictable, and maybe that's one issue with the book. The revelations at the end didn't exactly fit with everything that had come before. There was a tacked-on feeling to the end, as if someone read the first draft and asked "but what really happened to…" and the author set about to explain everything. Even so, I enjoyed reading it.

sasha_fletcher's review against another edition

5.0

I cannot say enough good things about this book. I think I have 5 pages left. I can say that it's been over a year since I read anything I felt this invlved in, that I honestly dreaded putting the book down because I didn't want to not be reading it. I can say it's been even longer since I felt this invested in characters. I can say that reading this book made me feel a little more alive. Or, that it made me feel more. That my capacity for feeling increased as I read the book. It is a very good book, and everyone should read it.

radioactve_piano's review against another edition

3.0

Having completed the book, I find I actually liked it overall more than I thought I would while reading it. Story was compelling enough to keep me reading. I could relate to the small town bullshit. The mystery was enough to keep me guessing (turns out I was correct much earlier on than I expected, but it wasn't clear until the final pages).

I still think the dialog is shit, though.

Somerville has such a great way with words. Crisp, witty writing sets up every scene... and then the dialog starts. And it is horrible. The only way to differentiate between speakers is to keep track of each set of new quotations (or note the "he said"'s). For a book built on very different characters, they all sound exactly the same.