The River at Night
The River at Night is a heart-pumping coming of middle-age tale that is enthralling and un-put-downable.
4/5
Our story begins with Wini, an almost-forty year old divorcee living a comfortable, but unexciting life. She is the middle of planning the annual trip her and 3 friends take every year, and is being persuaded to steer away from their typical bake-on-the-beach vacation. Coerced into a less-than-relaxing vacation, Wini heads off with Pia, Sandra and Rachel for the white-water rafting trip of a lifetime.
The girls stop by a sketchy convenience store and are immediately harassed by the scruffy hillbillies hangin’ around. As a girl who has been to many a sketchy gas station, I was immediately terrified for their safety, but the story went continued on into the woods.
As the girls meet their guide and get acquainted, the reader is waiting patiently for the thrill to arrive. But, be careful what you wish for! Once it started, I was in for a whirlwind of fear, while holding my breath the whole time.
This is a true story of unprepared survival; the twists and turns were thing I never expected to happen, but they jumped out at you with such realism, you want to check under the bed and in the closet. Not only must these city girls survive the untamed and seemingly uninhabited wilderness, they must outsmart whatever- or whoever- is stalking their party.
The characters didn’t develop a whole lot and they spent much of the book being unlovable, but I always enjoy stories where you watch how people change from their everyday selves into “survival mode”. As you watch each character change, you begin to see yourself in each of them as they are shoved into a horrifying corner they must fight their way out of. I particularly saw myself in Wini as she experienced the true wilderness for the first time.
"The view stunned me, and I gasped. I don't know why I was surprised to find such beauty" p74
I really appreciated the way Ferencik hones in on the magic of untouched nature- the most beautiful sight to behold that will kill you without notice or sympathy. I recently made my first trip into the true wilderness, and her details of the natural surroundings and ability to set the scene, took me right back to the mountains again.
“The world we know is dwarfed by the worlds we don't. Why not explore them all? Being out there in the wilderness, you have no idea what'll happen, really. It could be just you and this gorgeous night sky, or maybe you are surfing and some big ass wave comes at you, and if you don't ride that sucker, it'll put you under and have you for lunch, or you might turn a corner on a hike and there's some beautiful deer and her little fawn-- now that has meaning, all of those things, and I need more of that and less of trying to make money so I can pay bills to live in a way I just don't care about anymore.”
If you love a heart-racing, hold your breath thriller- this is a great one for you.
