Black River by S.M. Hulse

Black River
by S.M. Hulse [Hulse] 

This is not a comfortable book to read, with its messages about grief, bullying, prison violence, and the lifetime effects of having been tortured. The descriptions of the Montana landscape and the importance of music are beautiful.

Wes Carver returned to his former home in Montana to scatter his wives ashes. The visit puts him back into his stepson’s life, after they parted ways during his stepson’s teen years. They are both angry, but both want to ease the pain of a newcomer to the town, and in doing so they reflect on the music they once shared, and they dance in a figurative way between the many emotions they have toward each other.

I liked Wes’s honest questions about his faith and the glimmers of hope shown between the characters as they planned how to proceed with their pain and frustration.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Plainsong, by Kent Haruf, or the books in the Walt Longmire series, by Craig Johnson.]

[ official Black River and S.M. Hulse web site ]

 

Recommended by Jodi R.
Gere Branch Library

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