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Wednesday, June 3, 2020

DEEP RIVER: REVIEW

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