Marlantes’ style of writing is muscular and direct and his story moves
along at a comfortable pace with little time spent on frivolities. (Review by
Keith Millar)
Deep River is Karl
Marlantes’ third book, after Matterhorn, his best-selling epic based on
the Vietnam war and a memoir, What Is It Like To Go To War, which is
based on his own experiences of life after the Vietnam conflict.
Right from the start, he has established himself as
a great writer of historical fiction in the mould of a James Michener or Leon
Uris.
Deep River is a huge
blockbuster of a story. The book runs to over 700 pages and plots the lives of
a group of Finnish siblings who migrate to America early in the 20th
century to escape persecution by the Russian government which ruled their
homeland at that time.
The family settled in the Pacific Northwest of the
State of Washington. The way of life in this area was not unlike that in
Finland. The economy depended on logging and fishing and there was free land
that was covered with timber for them to claim. Seasonal work opportunities
were available all year. There was salmon fishing in the spring and summer, and
logging camps the rest of the year.
In what is quintessential historical fiction,
Marlantes draws on the history of the area and that of the logging and fishing
industry as well as the fledging labour movement in America to create a
dramatic and intense pioneering backdrop for the story of the Koski family over
a period of about 40 years.
His characters are strong and determined while at
times some of them may be a bit “boys own”. But they are very human as they
fall in and out of love, and become engineers, fisherman, widows. soldiers and
fugitives.
Marlantes’ style of writing is muscular and direct
and his story moves along at a comfortable pace with little time spent on
frivolities. One problem readers may encounter is difficulty in remembering the
unfamiliar Finnish names. So to overcome this, there is an index of names and
relationships (a la War and Peace) at
the start of the book.
For lovers of historical fiction (a genre which appears
to have been a bit neglected of late) I would heartily recommend this book. For
everyone else it is a great read. In a sense, a TV series in waiting.
Deep River is published
by Atlantic Monthly Press. Hardback: ISBN 97818649 882 3, Paperback: 978 1
78649 883 0 and E-Book: 978 1 78649 884 7. Cost R326 (Paperback) at loot.co.za
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