Follow the River by JAMES ALEXANDER Thom Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $4.28 You Save: $3.71 (46%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Follow the River
Book Review: Welcome to the reality of that time period...
Summary: 5 Stars
My very gentle (79 yr old) mother gave me this book to read, indicating I was to be sure and return it as it is a wonderful story she wanted to read again. So with delight I began reading ... the first few chapters were (as noted in other reveiws) very gory, and hard to imagine, but that's the reality in the story. I am sensitive, and have a squeamish nature, and don't gravitate towards this type of novel, however, I could understand my mother finding it an inspiring story about a woman of great strength and courage.Book Review: Well Done
Summary: 4 Stars
The reviews below pretty much reflect my evaluation. A fine book. I was struck at the end to read (but not surprised to learn) that the author's meticulous description of the Kanawha/New River trek upstream from the Ohio River was based on his own traversing of this route. Not many Americans know about the wild Alleghenies (unless they lived therein), since much more has been written about the Berkshires, the Adirondacks, the Blue Ridge, the prairies, the southwest, the Rockies and the West. But you can get completely away from civilization very quickly in these rugged eastern mountains with their swift streams, bears, mountain lions, turkey, and all sorts of other wildlife. Thom brings all this to life vividly and convincingly.
One small reservation. He has the heroine completely buck naked for the last days of her trip in late October. It gets mighty cold in those mountains much earlier than that, and the mountains shield the sun for much of the daylight hours. I assume this is the author's story-telling. In reality, I think she would have died of exposure without any clothing.
Otherwise a very good read, and one that did not cause a great upwelling up of sympathy in this reader for the fate of the American Indians, given the unsentimental descriptions of their brutality and, yes, callousness toward human life in this book. It was not a culture that was equipped to do much more than scratch out an existence between bouts of raping, pillaging, torture, and murder. The portrait of the Native Americans we get today is based far more on wishful thinking by ignorant whites than it is on reality. Thom, according to the biographical blurb, was married to a Shawnee woman when he wrote this novel, so I am taking it to be as authentic as it is possible to get 200+ years after the events.
Our nation was built on a clash of civilizations, and the good guys won.
Book Review: Why have I never heard of this book?
Summary: 5 Stars
I find it amazing that I had not heard about this book until a few weeks ago. I finished it a few days ago and am still thinking about it. Then to get to the end and discover it was based on a true story, simply pulled me even further into feeling this book is a rare 5* find. Mr. Thom lets the reader feel each emotion of the characters, one feels each step of each character's movements, both emotionally and physically. I also learned more about American history from what felt like a very real perspective. Thank you so much Mr. Thom.Book Review: You Go Girl!
Summary: 5 Stars
James Alexander Thom started research for this book by following the trail of Mary Ingalls. He wrote this book to tell the true story of a young woman whom Indians kidnapped. She eventually escaped and had to travel over the Appalachian Mountains to find her people again. This story comes together through the strength of this one woman and brings out a plot that makes you cry, laugh, and cheer for the impossible.One of the most impressive things about the novel Follow the River is how it was written. Thom was very careful about the information of Mary Ingalls he collected. Thom mainly interviewed relatives such as her great-great-great granddaughter. Thom also walked along the trail itself and lived outside for several months. He interviewed people that lived along the Ohio River; the river that Mary Ingalls followed to get home. According to Thom, even though he slept where they slept he could not even come near the struggle that this woman went through to try and reach safety again.
What exactly is this story about? It is about a 23-year-old woman who is nine months pregnant. She is kidnapped, along with her sister-in-law and two sons, and is forced to walk over the Appalachian Mountains to the Indian camp. Her children and sister-in-law are sold and separated from her. Along the trail, she gave birth to a baby girl in a way that would put one into awe. However, in order to escape she must give up her baby. It is not possible to escape with a baby in arm. If the child should cry, they would be killed. Then there is the weather and living on barely any food. The baby would die. When she escapes, she gets a German woman to come with her. Ghetel and Mary become friends and lean on each other to get back to the other side of the mountains.
Many dangers await these two women, particularly Mary. Ghetel eventually becomes a danger, herself. Traveling under these conditions can make a person insane and so it does in Ghetel's case. She turns to Mary as a source of food.
It is a beautifully written story that proves itself repeatedly. Can a woman who has never been out in the wilderness make it through unchartered territory? Will she escape the Indians and Ghetel? Will she ever see her family again, the ones at home and the ones she left behind? Naked and starved, Mary Ingalls undertakes a journey that no white person had ever done before. You find yourself rooting for this unbelievable woman and stepping into her path. Not her shoes because she looses them along the way. You beg for mercy for her and cry for her. You laugh for her and cheer for her. This story is truly moving beyond words.
The author of this book also wrote a novel called Long Knife. Follow the River was published by Ballantine Books in New York in 1981. There are 406 pages. I recommend this book for anyone that is looking for a real life adventure.
Book Review: You are prisoner of this book from page 1 to the end!
Summary: 5 Stars
A glimpse into what it was like on the wild and unknown frontier. Mary is a courageous woman with more guts than anyone I've ever met. A truly inspiring story about the will to not only live, but to be reunited with her husband and her 'life' as she remembered it. The detail of each scene makes you feel the same anxiety, pain, anger, hunger, fatigue, and mostly hope that Mary felt. In the end, you wanted to know more about this woman and what happened after the book ended. Based on a true story!