Customer Reviews

Push Not the River

5 star:		(72)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This historical novel by James Conroyd Martin is based on the true story of Countess Anna Maria Berezowska, a young woman who lived through the tumultuous events in Poland during the years 1791-1794. The author discovered the diary that had been kept in sealed wax for almost two centuries by the Countess' family, and has been researching the historical period it covers for the past 25 years.

I was immediately drawn into the story of the young Anna Maria and the dramatic events that shaped her life. Orphaned at 17, she's sent to live with her aunt, uncle and cousin Zofia who is her own age. These two young women are very different and there is conflict between them throughout the book. However, the author's skill in developing Zofia's character kept the story from falling into the trap of stereotyping and these two characters emerge as complex individuals.

The story is rich with romance, intrigue, passion and love. And it's all set against a backdrop of Polish history. There's a bridge in New York City named after the patriot Tadeusz Kosciuszko, but until now I had no idea who he was. Neither did I think about how the events of the French revolution directly affected the rest of Europe and Poland in particular. I learned about these things in this book as I followed Anna Maria's story, my eyes racing over the pages and holding my breath through her many ordeals. It's a fast and easy read, and, in spite of being 608 pages long I yearned for more when it ended. Hopefully the author will sit fit to write a sequel.

First off, on the front cover, an author compared this novel to "Gone with the Wind" and "Doctor Zhivago" ~~ while I've read "Gone with the Wind" ~~ this is not as same as that classic novel. This is an entirely different historical novel ~~ more focused on the events surrounding the main character than on the characters themselves.

It is perhaps one of the most beautifully written novels so far this year ~~ very engrossing and very much a page-turner. I was immersed with the story-line from the first sentence on.

This story focuses on a young girl, Anna Maria, who suddenly lost both of her parents in a matter of weeks. Sent to live with her aunt and uncle and cousin, Zofia, Anna finds love with the neighbor, who Zofia also has designs on. Swept up into betrayal, rape, pregnancy and other mayhem, Anna finds her voice in the growing turmoil of the civil unrest in Poland herself. Caught in the middle between Prussia, Austria and Russia, Poland was fighting for her new constitution that gave the peasants rights. On the international front, everyone was mesmerized by the events sweeping across France during her revolution.

Anna is portrayed as a sheltered young girl of the noble class and she grows up among the civil unrest. Zofia, her cousin, is not as well portrayed as Anna is and she walks among the nobles in opulent parties and masquerade balls and as the king's sometime mistress. The descriptions of the parties and lifestyles remind me of the rich and famous magazines that we see nowadays. It's opulent and sometimes just a little too much. Martin made Anna the character who thought so too.

It is a sweeping story ~~ very interesting and descriptive of the times. It is not an epic because if it was, we would read more of Anna and her family after the Praga massacre and how they survived in the new order where Poland only exists in name, not as a self-governing country.

I really enjoyed the novel and cannot wait to read more of his books. I never thought I'd enjoy reading a historical fiction on Poland ~~ but it surpassed any ideas that I had before. It is a colorful country with a rich past and it is definitely something I would like to read more of. This one is a definite addition to my favorites of historical fiction. And I hope he writes more soon!

1-17-06

I could not put this book down! While at times it read a little like a soap opera, the fact that it was based on a real Countess' diary kept it real and lent the story credibility. Anna's passion for love, life and her country was inspirational and touching. I also liked the fact that while I was being entertained by an intriguing story, I was being given a wonderful history lesson as well (being from a Polish background, I am embarrassed to say all of this was new information for me). It is a novel filled with intrigue, suspense, mystery, revenge, passion, love, faith, glitter, jealousy, greed, war, death, solidarity....the list goes on and on.
Best of all, I hear that the author is in the process of writing a sequel as I speak. Can't wait!

Every country has a history, but few countries suffered the repeated tragedies of Poland. Immersed in a feudal system that oppressed Poland's poor, the nobility became fatally divided. Within this country's class struggle, James Conroyd Martin puts a personal face on the events of the time by introducing the reader to the Berezowski family. In particular, two cousins, Anna and Zophia, battle each other and the country's system of nobility to an end which is both bitter and hopeful. Mr. Martin gleaned his story from the reading and translating of a true-life diary that is almost 200 years old. Written by a woman who lived through many of the trials of Poland during its multiple partitions, PUSH NOT THE RIVER fictionalizes her family's experiences around the tru historical occupations and partitions of the land. Along with the fictional characters, the reader is introduced to some of Poland's greatest heroes and most breath-taking landscapes. The River Vistula seems to work as a beautiful metaphor in illustrating all that divided the sides during that period of time in Poland. Open the first page of this book, and begin to know the Berezowska cousins and their country. It is well worh the effort.

I went into this book a little blindly, not knowing quite what it was going to be about. What I found was a thoroughly impressive tail of romance, mystery, suspense and the incredible history of war-torn Poland during the 18th century. It is remarkable! When I finished, I found myself actually missing the characters, as I often do when I complete a book that has drawn me in so completely. All I can think of to say to the author is "thank you." I feel my life is just a little fuller, with the knowledge that Countess Anna existed, and what she and her people went through. I had no prior knowledge of Polish history, but now feel considerably better educated. Martin shows an impressive mastery of the written word, and an uncanny understanding of the female perspective. This book is a rare gem!

I've just finished reading "Push Not the River" by James Conroyd Martin. I couldn't put it down. Mr. Martin's characters were fully fleshed out members of their era, but they spoke with a universality that rings true today, 200 years later. Mr. Martin has a command of the English language that is rarely seen in contemporary novel writing. He has meticulously built his novel and researched his subject matter so well that he made me feel I was a Polish patriot fighting for my life and the very existence of my country against the ruthless invading armies of Poland's neighboring empires. "Push Not the River" is an engaging and exciting book. I was a child of the 60's, a decade when ubiquitous Polish jokes were taken for granted as humorous, harmless and accurate depictions of Poles, their abilities and their place in history. Mr. Martin educates us by obliterating those stereotypes and misconceptions. After reading "Push Not the River" and learning of the nobility of these progressive, proud and oppressed people I'm ashamed for every Polish joke I ever told or laughed at.

More than a great book this was a noble book. But that is saying much already these days. To me it was a joy to read, and I found it entertaining and hard to put down once the main plot was on its way. It is a book based on the unpublished diary of Countess Anna Maria Berezowska, an orphan of noble parents and a real person in Eighteenth Century Poland and her quest to understand and love both the Poland of her time and the man she loves. Like all good romances, there is a villain in the likes of her cousin Zofia, who also happens to "want" (not love) the same man. Like great human drama, there are redeemable qualities even in the "villains".

The story is well written and flows well enough. If you enjoy historical novels you will enjoy this book. Like all love stories it has tragedy and tragic failings, heroism and human strength and an ending that ultimately redeems human nature, in spite of its failings. The story preserves the order of good values. It does not try to impose an impossibly revisionist modern view on a past age, like many authors do. On the contrary, the author respects the Poland of the time and its mores. For that, I commend the author and I rate the book as a good, noble book worth having in one's bookshelf. I hope Professor Martin continues to write.

One caveat: The book is not for everyone. It is not, for example, for pre-college teens. Unlike a Sienkiewicz novel, or a Sigrid Undset saga, all equally charged with passion, Martin makes much of the role of femenine sexual manipulations as a conduit to tell the tragedy in a story. Almost as if he was vying for a film script to be made out of the book, and that, I thought detracted somewhat from the novel. In fact therein lies my sole complaint: this was meant to be a historical novel, not a film. This book would, in fact, make a great film but it would do so because cinematography would supply the visual details not described in full in the book. While the characters are nobly developed, they failed to become "my friends", for I did not know them well enough. I wished to know Stelnicki more, for example. And Poland, about to be swallowed entirely by Russia after many partitions fails to really come to life outside the world of the main characters.

In the end one senses the author had to choose between the telling of a compelling story about the noble fight of a woman for her love of a man and country at a crucial time in history and the writing of a saga of more epic proportions. Perhaps because love of country is so central to the story and is what ultimately redeems and endears the characters (and makes the story great), I felt that Professor Martin could have achieved much more if he had dared to go for the longer option. He did, nonetheless, write a very good book worth reading.

Final note: The author may not remember, but he e-mailed me two years back when he read my review of Sienkiewicz' The Teutonic Knights or his trilogy suggesting I try his book. For that I am thankful and I hope to read more of his books.

I accidentally came into possession of this book when a friend gave me her library. I originally intended to get it give it away without reading it as I suspected that the cover blurbs comparing it to Gone With The Wind and Dr. Zhivago mere hyperbole. I looked into it anyway, and found it a compelling and fascinating first novel rooted in the history of Poland in the 1790's and based on a countess' diary. It started out a bit stilted, but really picks up and just rockets along until Warsaw falls to the Russian army.

The characters seem alternately simplistic and contradictory, but the original source is from a single viewpoint, and not necessarily an astute one, so the author had to flesh out without negating the original. Once I accepted that these were, generally, real people, the contradictions made more sense. Humans can often be contrary to each other and our associated expectations, why should a character in a novel do any less?

During my reading, I found myself researching Polish history, seeking images of the Black Madonna, and avidly studying maps of Europe to compliment my journey through this fascinating historic period and I curse my educational laziness in not knowing more when I started. Specifically, had the description of the Black Madonna not been so vivid and real, I would have believed the first photo I googled which showed her in the garish silver and gold covering over all but the face. The author's description led me to look further, and when I found an actual photo of the unembellished icon I knew immediately. I have developed a desire to visit Poland that I never would have had without your remarkable novel. I also have dreams of reading the original diary to discover which events occurred and which ones created. I eagerly await the sequel.

PUSH NOT THE RIVER is a dream of a book for lovers of historical fiction, panoramic sagas and/or romance novels. Based upon the actual diary of an eighteenth century Polish Countess, Anna Maria Berezowska, this tale sweeps the reader into an adventure in Polish history as they experience the Third of May Constitution which granted freedom to noblemen and peasants alike. The resulting violence and intrigue generated by the Constitution produced an outcome that devastated Poland. It was repeatedly partitioned by bordering countries, an act which literally erased it from the maps of Europe for over 100 years .

The book itself covers three exciting but turbulent years in Anna Maria's life. Readers will find a story that resonates with meticulous historical detail and adventure coupled with a fabulous love story that continues to echo long after the final page is turned.

If there ever was a story that lent credibility to the adage that "truth is stranger (and in this case more hauntingly beautiful) than fiction..........this is that story!

I just finished "Push Not the River", which was recommended to me by a fellow book lover. It has replaced "Wuthering Heights" as my all-time favorite book (an amazing feat as W.H had been my favorite since high school).

This novel has all the passion, love, drama and betrayal of the best fiction books, yet it was based on an actual diary. I couldn't put the book down, yet I didn't want it to end. I found myself going back in time 200 years to the home of my ancestors, feeling the joy, heartache and terror they lived through. This book surpassed my expectations, and I anxiously await the sequel "Against a Crimson Sky"!