Rivers

Driessen, Martin Michael

3.75

1,284 ratings by Goodreads

ISBN 10: 154368632X ISBN 13: 9781543686326

Publisher: Brilliance Audio, 2018

A critically acclaimed, award-winning collection drawing sparkling prose from the inspiration of three rivers passing through different times and places.

On the storm-swollen Aisne in northeastern France, an alcoholic actor combats both his demons and nature’s tempests. Along the Main and Rhine in Germany, a kindhearted logger has but one wish: to travel with the lumber from his small Franconian hometown to the end of the river in the Netherlands, where it feeds into the majestic North Sea. In a bucolic vale in the French region of Brittany, two families, divided by religion and an unnamed stream, sustain a centuries-old feud, their resolve no match for the constantly shifting flow of water.

These three stories span countries and eras, but they are all connected by, and reliant on, the unpredictable power and languid beauty of rivers that give life as quickly as they take it away.

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About the Author:

Martin Michael Driessen is a Dutch opera and theater director, translator, and writer. He made his debut in 1999 with the novel Gars, followed by Vader van God (Father of God, 2012) and Een ware held (A True Hero, 2013), both of which were broadly reviewed and nominated for literary prizes. In 2015 his novel Lizzie, written with the highly acclaimed and award-winning poet Liesbeth Lagemaat, was published under the pseudonym Eva Wanjek. Rivieren (Rivers, 2016) was awarded the prestigious ECI Literature Prize (formerly the AKO), the Readers Prize, and the Inktaap Prize, shortlisted for the Fintro Literature Prize, and nominated for the Halewijn Prize. His latest novel, De pelikaan (The Pelican, 2017), was shortlisted for the Libris Prize. His work has been translated into English, Italian, German, Spanish, Slovenian, and Hungarian.

Review:

“In Jonathan Reeder’s sturdy translation from the Dutch, the novellas in Rivers read like durable, old-fashioned confrontations between good and evil...The conflicts that Mr. Driessen dramatizes are often petty and cruel, but his settings—and these wise, accomplished tales—feel ageless.” —Wall Street Journal

“Driessen’s noteworthy collection displays humanity at its best and worst in relation to the waters his characters depend on for their lives, as we all are sustained by the earth’s rivers and streams.” —Booklist

“The stories’ power comes from the restraint the writer uses as he seems to hold each and every word hostage until that word can prove its worth. As a result, the slow build of pressure seems more like a rising tide than water bursting from a dam. These stories will make you struggle with ideas as well as plot points. Fascinating work.” —Historical Novel Society

“Those who acknowledge Georges Simenon’s greatness, and enjoy Pascal Garnier at his most bleakly playful, will take a grim delight in Rivers. Driessen is as hard, as uncompromising—and as entertaining—as they come.” —John Banville, Man Booker Prize–winning author of The Sea, Mrs. Osmond, and Time Pieces: A Dublin Memoir

“These extraordinary stories have little tinctures of Maupassant and Conrad but the main ingredient is the powerful talent of Driessen himself. These are classically realized works of art, of impressive force and beauty.” —Sebastian Barry, author of Days Without End

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