"The River" by Michael Neale

"We Clarkes -- we're made for The River." Gabriel heard that often as a young boy, living with his father in Colorado. This is Gabriel's story, and you are likely to find part of your own story within these pages. Life is full of heartaches and pain, and joys and triumphs, too. But real life is lived near The River, with other people who love The River, and our life's greatest adventure should be continually learning about The River each and every day.

Gabriel's father died in a tragic accident, and he went to live with his mother in Kansas. Scarred by witnessing his father's death and his own feelings of abandonment, Gabriel often felt like an outsider growing up. The summer of his 20th year he was invited to go on a camping trip back to The River, and he never realized how that encounter would change the course of his life.

Certainly The River is a metaphor for our loving God and His unpredictable but yet faithful nature. Gabriel comes face to face with The River and is drawn in ways he can't understand at first. As he begins to let go of fear and get into The River, he finds that it's a journey he never wants to end. There are other ways we can see allegories in the people and events of the story, and it is fun to figure them out as you read.

Some of my favorite parts of the book were Gabriel's relationships with Miss Collingsworth and Tabitha, when Gabriel runs The River at night, and the end of the epilogue. That part made me tear up and hear a longing in my own heart. That's the mark of a good writer and a great story.

The publishers did a great job on the physical aspects of the book. The cover and pages are textured like an old journal and it adds much to the appeal and enjoyment of the novel. It promises something deeper and out of the ordinary, and Michael Neale and Thomas Nelson definitely deliver!

I received this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.