Once Upon a River: A Novel

Pearl Ruled: ONCE UPON A RIVER by BONNIE JO CAMPBELL (p82)

Oh heavy, heavy sigh. I cannot make myself read more of this beautifully crafted book. Campbell's trademark gorgeous sentences are not enough to propel me any further into the life of sixteen-year-old Margo Crane. I don't want to read about

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Margo's consensual sexual adventures with an adult man.

I just don't.

But let me tell you what's right with this book: The writing. Oh. Oh. Campbell is describing a harsh and unjust world in words that make me vibrate like a tuning fork that's just found its note. Campbell's descriptions of Michigan make me ache to see it for myself. Her deft, cruel characterizations are inarguably fine...nice, in the original sense of the word...I don't want to use the word "precise" because that conjures the spectre of Henry James, and that scares people off, but precise they are.

I hate like poison that the beauty of the book, its lovely wideness and its supremely inviting lushness, are closed to me by my own shuddering disgust for teenaged girls and heterosexual congress. But that, I fear, is where I am and what I feel.

DO NOT TAKE THIS AS A WARN-OFF!! I recommend to the straight people who like gorgeous writing and coming-of-age stories that this book rise to the top of the pile immediately! If it's your first try at a Bonnie Jo Campbell book, so much the better, and so much the more exciting for you. She is a talent to be savored and supported with book purchases.

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When I heard Bonnie Jo Campbell read from Once Upon a River] at the Iowa City Book Festival, it jumped to the top of my TBR pile. In this book, Campbell tells the story of Margo Crane, a sixteen-year-old girl who lives along the Stark River near Kalamazoo, Michigan. Margo's mother has left her, and

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when she runs into trouble with her extended family, she sets out in a boat to find her mother. Margo is resourceful. She is an excellent shooter, much like her hero Annie Oakley, and she is successful in living off the land and the river. But, time after time, her relationships with other people end badly. It is not until late in the book that Margo finds Smoke, an old man who really seems to understand her. These chapters were my favorite because of the way Smoke allowed Margo to just be.

In addition to being a good storyteller, Campbell also writes beautifully. She uses her own experiences growing up along the St. Joseph River to capture the small details of life on the river. Her descriptions took me back to my childhood days of wading in creeks and catching minnows. Here's just a sample from the very first page:

"The Stark River flowed around the oxbox at Murrayville the way blood flowed through Margo Crane's heart. She rowed upstream to see wood ducks, canvasbacks, and ospreys and to search for tiger salamanders in the ferns. She drifted downstream to find painted turtles sunning on fallen trees and to count the herons in the heronry beside the Murrayville cemetery. She tied up her boat and followed shallow feeder streams to collect crayfish, watercress, and tiny wild strawberries. Her feet were toughened against sharp stones and broken glass. When Margo swam, she swallowed minnows alive and felt the Stark River move inside her."

Margo is a memorable character, and Campbell's words make her leap off the page. This is definitely one of my favorite books of the year.

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Audiobook narrated by Susan Bennett

From the book jacket - After the violent death of her father, sixteen-year-old Margo Crane takes to the Stark River in her grandfather’s rowboat, with only a few supplies and a biography of her hero Annie Oakley, in search of her mother. But the river, Margo’s

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childhood paradise, is a dangerous place for a young woman traveling alone, and she must be strong to survive, using her knowledge of the natural world and her ability to look unsparingly into the hearts of those around her.

My reactions
I hardly know what to write about this novel. Very early on I was disturbed by Margo and the adults around her – or should I say the adult who was NOT around her, specifically her mother. I wanted to hug her and keep her safe and warm. And then I wanted to shake her till her teeth rattled. I was distressed by her circumstances, her poor choices, her acting out (specifically when it came to men), her apparent lack of any sort of moral compass. And yet … she is a compelling character and I couldn’t just turn away from her.

Still, this is no Huckleberry Finn. Twain’s central character had a certain innocence about him, and Margo seems to lack innocence. This is no mere adventure, her very survival depends on her ability to make a go of it. I had to keep reminding myself about how young she is; even Campbell keeps reminded the reader of Margo’s real age. The ending is both hopeful and heart-breaking.

Susan Bennett does a fine job narrating the audio version. She has a tendency to draw an audible breath just before each sentence, and that “breathy” delivery was a distraction until I got used to it. Her pacing was good, and she has enough skill as a voice artist to differentiate the characters.

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Beautifully written tale of Margo, a young girl who goes in search of her mother when her father is killed. I loved this book, couldn't put it down. Looking forward to reading more by this author.

The dedication reads, "To All the Children Raised by Wolves." What more do you need to know? Men should be asking themselves, "Am I a Brian or a Michael?"

Young girl Margo sleeps her way up and down the river with everyone. I found the whole premise rather disturbing and not at all entertaining.

Difficult but compelling. Margo is a 15 year old girl when through tragic circumstances she finds herself alone in the company river town where she was born. This book is her journey of several years where she survives by her wits and wiles. She is skillfull in physical survival but very young in

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other ways resulting in painful and bad choices in men, both for her and the men. Her love of the river and relationship with Smoke are beautiful. Great writing, page turning, emotional ride but some may find it disturbing. I think it's worth the discomfort.

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This is the tale of Margo Crane, a teenager who grew up in a clannish rural family that at first seems neither more nor less dysfunctional than other large families. Then we learn that Margo is seduced by, or perhaps seduces, her uncle. At this point the story takes a dark turn. Margo commits a

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heinous act against her uncle. Her cousin mistakes Margo’s father for the perpetrator and kills him. Margo runs away, ostensibly to find her mother who had long abandoned her.

On her years long odyssey Margo connects with several men who are attracted to her natural beauty, but these encounters always end badly due to her youthful vulnerability. The longer she roams, the more her lifestyle regresses. She survives by hunting and fishing, stealing from gardens, splitting her own firewood, sleeping in parks and farm fields, and passing the time target shooting. She fails at brief reunions with her extended family and with her mother.

Ultimately Margo settles down in a tiny houseboat belonging to a morose, dying old man whose best friend is less gloomy but equally intolerant. Although they act aloof and argumentative towards her, they actually admire and encourage her offbeat way of life. With them Margo finally seems to achieve a measure of contentment.

Margo is a complex character in the way that Scarlett O’Hara is a complex character. On the one hand she is immature, immoral and selfish. On the other hand we admire her grit, survival skills, and lack of self-pity. And, as in Gone with the Wind, the author leaves the reader to imagine the final outcome of Margo’s journey.

This is a quick read, well written, and a unique story.

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This is the story of Margo Crane, who we meet as a 14 year old. She is living with her father in a house on the Stark River. Her mother left the family a few years back, apparently running off with another man. She is part of the Murray family, who own the metal fabricating plant in the town that

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is named after them. At a family Thanksgiving dinner at the Murray's, which is right across the river from her place, she has sex with her Uncle Cal, who takes her off into the barn for that purpose. She does not really understand what is happening. Her father finds out and Margo is forbidden from having anything to do with the Starks. She misses playing with her cousins and becomes even quieter that the had been.
Margo is a fantastic shot with a gun, and she fancies herself a modern Annie Oakley. She can't pass up shooting any buck deer she sees, even if it is out of season or she is already past her limit. The next Thanksgiving she sneaks across the river to the Murray's dinner, even though her father has forbidden her, and she shoots at her Uncle Cal's penis as he is relieving himself outdoors, just as her father is arriving there to bring her home. Being a great shot, she hit her target. The end result is that her father is killed by her cousin who thought that he had shot at Cal. This leaves Margo alone, and she takes off to live on the river.
Margo then has a series of connections with men living on the river. She moves up and down the river, trying to survive while at the same time trying to find and reconnect with her mother. She lives off the land, hunting and fishing and sometimes stealing food from the farmers. She knows how to get by on her own. She is a wonderful character. She had to grow up very quickly after her rape and her father's death, and she did. She never had any doubt about her ability to make it, and I didn't either, although I always wanted better for her than she was getting in life. To someone like me anyway, who loves the outdoors and has done my share of backpacking, her desire to live outside of society felt real and understandable.

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Bonnie Jo Campbell’s Once Upon a River is a poignant coming-of-age story without the normal trappings of such stories. Margo Crane is very much a fish out of water, as the lone child in a very adult world. She struggles to make sense of the adults around her while finding peace and understanding

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of a world gone upside-down.

The one constant in Margo’s life is the Stark River, and her love for that constant flows much like the words over the page. Both meander, sometimes slowly, sometimes more rapidly, but always with a sense of purpose. It is an effective form of storytelling, as the plot never bogs down, as it so easily could. Rather, everything Margo faces in her search for her mother has its own sense of importance because it just one more stop along a journey.

Margo Crane is a conundrum. She is wise beyond her years in so many things, but the mistakes she makes, her longings and some of her hopes are very childlike. She is a girl who is forced to grow up too fast and is now struggling to adjust. The reader’s heart bleeds for some of the situations in which she finds herself. Ms. Campbell does not mince words or gloss over the rougher portions of Margo’s story, and the reader is an uncomfortably close witness to some horrific scenes. Still, Margo never gives up nor gives way to despair, as it would be so easy for her to do. She remains steadfast in her resoluteness and draws the reader’s admiration as a result.

There is a timelessness to Once Upon a River that adds to the overall story. Even in today’s world of constant connection, the isolation Margo feels is still plausible, and in fact, all too probable. Just because one is constantly connected to thousands of others through the Internet and social media does not mean that one is not alone. Margo exemplifies this in her journey.

Once Upon a River is a painful novel to read. Margo’s story is filled with painful and very difficult experiences for one so young. Yet, the reader walks away from the novel with a feeling of hope.Margo, in all of her naivety and desperation, is able to find a sense of happiness and belonging by remaining true to herself. The journey may be frightful, but she never makes the same mistake twice. Many an adult could stand to learn from Margo Crane.

Acknowledgements: Thank you to Erin Lovett from W.W. Norton & Company for my review copy!

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ONCE UPON A RIVER by Bonnie Jo Campbell begins with description of the natural surroundings in the rural Michigan area where the story takes place and Margo Crane’s interaction with them. Margo is a teenager. Maybe because I’m an adult and teenagers who aren’t my relatives bore me, this

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wasn’t a good beginning for me.

The book continues with Margo’s story.
• She’s gorgeous.
• She doesn’t talk much.
• She is exceptionally good with a gun.
• Her grandfather Murray had one of his children, her father, out of wedlock. His other son, Cal, and Cal’s family live right across the Snake River from her family.
• She has a beautiful mother who hated the life in rural Michigan so took off, promising to return for Margo, except she didn’t.
• Margo lives with her very short father who did work at a metal shop and now works at a grocery store for much less money.

That Margo is gorgeous turns out to be a problem. While most would count this as a lucky asset, in her case, it just means trouble. That’s because, in this book, too many grown men in rural Michigan can’t keep their hands off beautiful teenage girls.

And Margo says nothing. Her father (who Margo thinks of as Crane, their last name) wants to go to the police in one instance, but she will say nothing. And she continues to say nothing when she should be speaking up, maybe yelling, kicking, and screaming, throughout the book.

Many writers use this device, but it is not a good sign. That is, when a character is wronged but refuses to talk about it or defend herself, it seems that the author couldn’t think of a better reason for what happens next. Besides, this device is terribly frustrating and makes the story predictable.

Other readers of ONCE UPON A RIVER post mostly praise for the book on the Internet. So I think it must be a good book for some. But it’s not for everyone.

My trouble with this book is that it didn’t grab me. That’s because no character, Margo in particular, was given enough depth for me to care about her. If you think, as I do, that this style is more appropriate for a short story, then this book may not be for you.

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This is an advance reader copy that I won on Goodreads. Campbell presents an excellent character study. The writing is taut and effective. Margot Crane is a sixteen year old girl, living in tension with her extended family along the Stark River in Michigan. After being abandoned by her mother, and

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ultimately, after the violent death of her father, she finds herself in the position of fending for herself totally alone, with no one in the world to turn to for support. She navigates the treacherous waters of her beloved river, and faces all the dangers that a 16 year old girl must as she travels alone in the world upon it.

I think Campbell presents a very complex character in Margot - she's matter of fact, practical, an excellent marks woman, and hunter, who is willing to skin and gut her own kills, but who, at the same time, is shocking naive about the world happening around her, and seems ill prepared to cope with the challenges to is confronted with in terms of relating to people and making good decisions about the relationships most important to her. The river and wilderness are excellent thematic partners for the dark places Margot finds she must navigate in her own life, and she feels the consequence of each choice she makes quite keenly. Beautifully written and complex. A great find for me this summer.

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Not a book I particularly loved. Had a very difficult time with that "willing suspension of disbelief." It just wouldn't kick in. Too much a modern fairy tale, I guess. But I am certain that a lot of people, particularly women, will indeed love this book.

Sixteen-year old Margo lives in rural Michigan along the Stark River. The novel opens strongly with descriptions of her affinity to river life. She's happiest when drifting alone in the teak boat she inherited from her grandfather. Margo has a special knack for shooting and God help any animal that

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comes within her sights. There is a terrible act of violence early on and Margo takes to the river to escape.

I've read novels like this before. Part Odyssey, part Huckleberry Finn, part Swamplandia!, part Winter's Bone. The writing here is solid and I liked it best when Margo's survival instincts and newfound sexuality were explored. But the second half let me down. I didn't want her to settle where she did or with whom she did. What happened to the earlier tension and desperation? I wanted Margo's journey to continue.

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3 1/2 There were many things I liked about this novel, her descriptions of all the animals and plants along the river were wonderful, the 16 yr. old character's love for the river and the many characters she meets living along the river. Yet I felt a disconnect from her, it was like she was

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watching herself experience things but not really taking part or something like that. I did, however, love the ending. It was very fitting and one of the best endings of the books I have read lately.

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Margo Crane, hero on Once Upon a River, is a character not easily dismissed or forgotten. When she is suddenly cast out (her mother runs off and her father is killed) she begins a life of getting by. At times taken in, other times, taken advantage of, the only constant is The River. Accused of

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being "raised by wolves" Margo is not wild as much as new and unsure. We see her come to terms with the losses and temptations of life. This is a survival guide in every sense of the word (graphic descriptions of animal skinning, e.g.) as Margo tries "to figure out how to live." Beautiful writing, sure voice, and a very real sense of time and place make this book a winner.

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Coming of age story about a girl raised in nature. The main character is very self sufficient and wants to be the next Annie Oakley. She is an excellent shot and feeds herself by killing and skinning animals. Her Mother abandoned her and she is trying to make sense of her world without much

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guidance. Her fatal flaw is that she is beautiful and men pay attention to her. She learns some difficult lessons about love along the way and has to come to terms with how she decides to live her life and deal with the consequences of her choices.

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As someone who grew up in a rural area (near the "Winter's Bone" setting), I could easily relate to the nature in this book: weather, river, animals, birds. I felt Campbell did an excellent job of using the river and nature in general as a backdrop for this haunting yet irritating book. So five

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stars for that.

Now, the main character of Margo is a different story. I found her sometimes believable, heart wrenching at times, and sordid at other times. I'm assuming this is supposed to be a story of an extremely independent young woman who takes charge of her own life. However, I would have found it much more creditable if she hadn't been quite so good with the gun. Being a good shot and shooting rabbits is one thing; shooting a cigarette out of a man's mouth or shooting a muskrat in the eye so as not to ruin the pelt (shot doesn't even come out the other side)is just too much of a stretch. In my mind, it comes close to ruining her creditably. The emphasis on her beauty is also disconcerting. Why was that so important? Margo's life was rough. Days without a bath (or toothbrush) might hide that beauty but several men see beyond that. What if she hadn't been so pretty? Is beauty some kind of essential for creating this independent "wolf child?" So two starts for that.

For the most part I found the other characters to be interesting and believable. However, what's with the Indian? Who is this guy (and I don't just mean his name). There were others that were extremely well drawn and memorable. So four stars for that.

Finally, I think I enjoyed reading some of the reviews of this book almost as much as the book. It is definitely one that causes a wide range of reactions. I too thought of Ree Dolly in "Winter's Bone". (If I had to chose between memorable characters, I would choose Ree.) It was interesting to see how much some people read into this story and how repulsive others found it to be. I find it somewhere in the middle.

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I had been eagerly waiting for this one; I read Campbell’s short-story collection, [American Salvage], last year and loved it. Bleak, despondent, poignant realism set among the economically and socially marginalized in middle America.

"Once Upon a River" expands on one of the stories from the

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collection. In a (slightly spoilerish) nutshell: Margo is fifteen when she is sexually abused by her uncle. Her attempt to reconcile what happened goes terribly awry and leads to the violent death of her father. Margo then takes to the river to find her mother, who had run off a few years before. Margo is determined to shape a different life for herself, one of self-sufficiency on the river, although she repeatedly finds that she has to rely on help from others, often men, with mixed results.

"Once Upon a River" has been described as a modern Huckleberry Finn with a female protagonist. I don't find this comparison to be particularly apt. Rather, I see Campbell's work as more akin to the 19th-century French realists and Margo as more a modern-day Gervaise: a stubborn and practical survivalist.

I’m not sure how I feel about the book. The writing is effortlessly lyrical, beautifully rendering both the mundane and the grotesque. I’m a big fan of the brutal realism sans pity at which Campbell excels. And I appreciate that Campbell is attempting to create a strong, self-realized, “real” teenage girl who owns her strength and her sexuality.

But . . . Margo is a teenage runaway, who drops out of high school, has sexual relations with multiple men twice her age (and sometimes older), spends much of her time homeless, and generally lacks positive adult role models. Although she certainly has pluck (and I disagree with some LT reviewers who see her as dim), I'm not sure if her actions are evidence of a strong and self-realized woman or of a naïve and exploited girl. She’s much too young to appreciate the consequences of her choices---as apparent in her evolving reaction to two violent acts she herself commits.

Of course, this confusion just makes me like the novel more. I like books that challenge my preconceived notions, that force me to think about issues of sexuality and consent; social ideas of age and adulthood; life and death; concepts of justice; and so on.

So although I don’t completely agree with what I think was the author’s intent---to present Margo as a strong, self-realized heroine---I admire Campbell’s ability to evince a world where social ideals and clear-cut values become muddied by social and economic realities. And to show it with an unflinching respect for the people who inhabit that world.

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Set on a river in Michigan, this is the story of Margo, a teenager who has lived her whole life in the insular community of Murrayville with her extended family. Margo has always loved being on the river and hunting, and has few friends outside of her family. Her mother leaves to "find herself, "

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and Margo makes the best of living with just her father. But when she is raped by her uncle, an escalation of violence leading to her father's death prompts her to set out in her boat to find her mother. After a series of relationships, some very unhealthy, she comes to terms with living her life in her own way. A very satisfying read.

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I mostly liked "Once Upon a River". Campbell's book conjures up a carefully-drawn backwoods world populated by a community of hardscrabble individuals who (to greatly varying degrees) manage to survive and occasionally even thrive in spite of difficult circumstances. Because this world is so

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different from my own, however, I admit that I struggled quite a bit to accept it -- and, in the end, I was unable to give over completely to it. Even so, I was drawn to the story of Margo Crane, the book's teenage protagonist, as she stumbled, recovered, and ultimately grew up into adulthood over a period of three years. Within the story's context, Campbell convincingly infused Margo with a credible and consistent value system and attitude towards the world (both natural and human). In addition, I admired Campbell's skill in allowing the reader to get into Margo's very independent-minded (but also taciturn and hence, to some degree, enigmatic) head and (to a certain extent) follow along as she figured out and revised her understanding of who she was, what she wanted from life, and how she could live authentically. I was pleased that Margo wound up in a good place by book's end -- even if the outcome struck me as more favorable than seemed plausible given Margo's inscrutable personality and the numerous difficult circumstances of the world she occupied.

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I'd like to give this to my imaginary future daughter when she's about 14. Gritty and heartfelt and beautifully written.

I listened to this strange but compelling story while sewing. I did not want to stop the story so I got a lot of projects done! This is my first book by Bonnie Jo and I feel she did a wonderful job depicting a culture that many of us really do not cross paths with. I'm sure there are those who

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think this was a bit far fetched but it is reality for many families. I enjoyed listening to the narrator and found myself feeling deeply the emotions of each of the characters. If you are looking for a good story that includes fractured family relationships, hard living, nature along a river and what its like to live among the wildlife there, a girl forced to learn to make it all alone, not trusting yet needing to trust complete strangers for help, then you should give Once Upon a River a try. I recently listened to a story called Wolf Road by Beth Lewis and I kept thinking how similar these girls were. I have had Q Road on my to read list for a couple of years but kept putting it off but now that I have read (listened to)one of Bonnie Jo Campbell's other books I am looking forward to starting that book.

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Liked this but thought American Salvage was better. Could have done with less killing of animals...