“River
is a heartbreaking journey of loss, love, and healing. It is
a work not to be devoured, but savored for its quiet nature.
It is a love song to the river and to those who pass away
too quickly.”
Katie Glasgow, Mitchell Books, Fort
Wayne, IN
“Many
reviewers will write that this or that book is so compelling
‘I could not put it down’ or ‘I was up all night reading.’
Lowen Clausen’s
River
is not that book. It should be slowly enjoyed like the long,
solo kayak trip that is experienced within its pages. It is
a tale to be savored for the bittersweet tale that unfolds,
the heartbreaking humanity of the main character but most
especially for the lovely descriptions of the natural
beauty and power of the rivers on which he paddles.”
Sue Zumberge, Garrison Keillor’s
Common Good Books, St. Paul, MN
“Lowen
Clausen has written an exquisitely heart-breaking novel,
with a soul as big as the eponymous River. After the death
of his son, a father takes the river voyage he has always
dreamed of. Starting out from his family farm on the
headwaters in the Sandhills of Nebraska, his inner voyage
takes him to new acceptance of the son he never said goodbye
to in life, while he faces the solitude and challenges of
the river itself. The land plays as large a part of the
story as do the people on the river.”
Tammy Domike, Seattle Mystery
Bookshop, Seattle, WA
“River
is a restrained but heartfelt tale of repentance and
redemption, following in the wake of Huckleberry Finn’s
raft—swift, honest, sometimes scary—as a man leaves behind
the successes and tragedies of his life to live out a last
promise to himself.”
Nick DiMartino, University Book Store,
Seattle, WA
“While
most of his readers will never undertake the kind of journey
that Clausen describes in
River,
in one way or another, readers will find parts of themselves
and their own life journeys in this story and enjoy
traveling with the narrator on the river.”
Carolyn Statler, Three Sisters Books &
Gifts, Shelbyville, IN
River
is a magical Thoresque, picaresque journey beginning in
Nebraska and ending nearly 2,000 miles away and, in many
ways, years away in experiences. Clausen obviously has drawn
from many personal experiences and writes with an easy lilt,
with almost poetic descriptions. From Wamaduze Creek, the
Loup, Platte, Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, the story
wends its way through beautiful scenes and carries the
author and reader through the riverside and a personal
journey of discovery at the same time.
Jim
McKee, Lee Booksellers Lincoln, NE
