River Rising [Paperback]

Athol Dickson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2006

A well-crafted tale of secrets and evil lurking under the surface in the Mississippi river town of Pilotville, Louisiana, during the great flood of 1927.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When, at the beginning of this novel, Rev. Hale Poser arrives in Pilotsville, La., the story appears to unfold in an all-too-familiar way: a stranger of humble means comes to a Southern town, scandalizes it and, in true Christ-figure fashion, changes the lives of everyone there forever. However, a series of twists and surprises quickly pull the narrative into unexpected territory that is at once entrancing and painful to behold. Set during the great Mississippi flood of 1927, Dickson's novel does not simply explore racism, faith and poverty, but somehow inhabits them, mostly by way of Hale's journey. Told from the perspective of several characters, Hale's first days in Pilotsville—where readers quickly learn he has come to find the parents he never knew—reveal something close to utopia: black and white residents working and living together congenially, and almost equally, while the beneficent white man who essentially owns the town keeps all the ugliness of Southern racism at bay. Sadly, nothing is quite as it seems, and the miracles, revelations and moments of despair that make up the bulk of this book lead its characters and readers to some disturbing conclusions. Atmospheric, well-paced and powerfully imagined, this novel is reminiscent of Octavia Butler's Kindred and deserves similar readership and respect. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"A KNOCK-OUT novel…If you haven't seen this one, get [it]. It will restore your souls." -- Phyllis Tickle, author and Publishers Weekly founding religion editor

"A richly imagined and at times lyrically written novel... Dickson's characters are artfully constructed and glow with life." -- Bookwire Reviews

"A riveting mystery of redemption and regret, salvation and loss, set in the bayou... A vivid setting... well-drawn characters." -- Kirkus Discoveries

"A story of suspense and religious allegory...that, because of Dickson's smooth writing skills, is both earnest and energetic." -- The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"Dickson pens a powerful parable of dark and light, ...set against the flood that demolished the shores of the... Mississippi." -- Luan Gaines, Curled Up With a Good Book

"Full of twists and turns that keep the reader guessing.... an intriguing page-turner... an author not to be missed." -- Christian Library Journal

"Powerful and suspenseful, this fiction thriller is an unexpected page-turner... Athol Dickson has created a timeless tale..." -- Phillip Tomasso III, In the Library Review

"This book is Louisiana's To Kill A Mockingbird. You won't want to put it down...will be read and reread." -- Bob Pike CSP, CPAE-Speakers Hall of Fame, Armchair Interviews.com

"[River Rising] may be the best [novel] of the year already. This one will be hard to top.... Highly Recommended." -- Christian Fiction Review

"lyrical...profound...with prose so rich you can feel the steam rising... fascinating... rife with evocative biblical imagery... stunning." -- Jana Riess, ExploreFaith.org --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Bethany House (November 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076420338X
• ISBN-13: 978-0764203381
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #989,609 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Athol Dickson's novels transcend description with a literary style that blends magical realism, suspense, and a strong sense of spirituality. Critics have favorably compared his work to such diverse authors as Octavia Butler (Publisher's Weekly) and Flannery O'Connor (The New York Times). His RIVER RISING is an Audie Award winner and three of his novels have won the Christy Award, including his most recent, LOST MISSION. Athol's next novel, THE OPPOSITE OF ART, is about pride, passion, and death as a spiritual pursuit. Look for it in September, 2011. Athol lives with his wife in southern California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "... An upside down vision of the world, where good was evil, safety was danger and benevolence was hate.", December 27, 2005

By 

Luan Gaines "luansos" (Dana Point, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: River Rising (Hardcover)

Using the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 for inspiration, the author sets his story in Pilotville, where river pilots have built quiet lives, white and black going their separate ways but without the usual Jim Crow rancor. Under the guiding hand of Papa DeGroot, who founded the Pilotville Negro Infirmary in 1894, the black population has felt secure in their daily struggles and thankful to Papa for being so good to them over the years. Then along comes the Reverend Hale Poser, a blue-eyed black man in search of his past, with gentle ways and a deep love of God in his heart. Poser takes a job at the Negro Infirmary, eschewing the title of reverend, happy to be of service to those less fortunate. When a woman in the infirmary, Rosa Lamont, experiences complications in childbirth, Hale lays hands upon her and, miraculously, baby Hannah is born with out the need of surgery by a drunken white doctor who tends to the patients in emergencies.

The town is amazed by Rosa's easy delivery, rejoicing at the Hannah's birth and looks upon Hale Poser with new interest. Then the unimaginable happens and Pilotville is thrown into chaos, white and black uniting for a time in common effort. Hoping to be of service to the distraught parents, Hale undertakes a journey into the swamps that will uncover the implacable darkness of man's inhumanity to man, throwing him into the deepest moral crisis he has ever experienced in his orphaned life, challenging his faith in himself, the world at large and his God. But this is a man of such deep and abiding faith that he will turn adversity into revelation, opening himself to the great lessons that await in the dangers that inhabit each moment of daily life for some time to come. Hale Poser bridges two worlds with one heart, an instrument of change more far-reaching than even he can understand.

Using the terrible flood of 1927 as a vehicle for his narrative, Dickson writes a parable of darkness and light, ignorance and redemption, reaching beyond the obvious to the deeper chambers of human understanding, elevating the conscious world and questioning the moral compass of the residents of Pilotville. Indeed, the reader may find reason for reflection as well in this simple, yet profound statement on the nature of good, evil and the territory in between. Luan Gaines/ 2005.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book I read in 2005! Spectacular!, January 3, 2006

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: River Rising (Hardcover)

This book is Louisiana's To Kill A Mockingbird. Hale Poser is chaplain of a New Orleans orphanage where he had lived as an orphan. In 1927 he discovers his file in the orphanage attic, and it propels him to Pilotville, Louisiana and his roots.

Poser is desperately searching for some sense of who he is, where he came from, and who his parents were. Pilotville lays in the bayous and swamps of Louisiana, far from almost any place and accessible only by boat.

Poser gets a job as a janitor in the African-American Infirmary and is content to fit in and listen--until he saves Rosa and James Lamont's new baby daughter, Hannah, from dying at birth because the doctor was too drunk to perform a needed caesarean section. Did the janitor/reverend perform a miracle?

That's the debate until baby Hannah is kidnapped from the hospital. But who would take her? And is there a connection to the other mysterious disappearances of children over the years? Rosa is devastated and the father won't stop searching the bayous for their daughter. And Hale won't stop praying and thinking and seeking answers, not only to his own questions, but to questions people in town sometimes think about--but never voice out loud.

Can you be a slave and not know it? Can someone appear to be kind and benevolent and yet be truly evil? Can people with absolute power over another's life be brought down? Can separate but equal become equal together? Can the truth really set you free when you tell people and they don't believe you anyway? Is God listening and are prayers answered?

This book will grow on you. It will make you ask questions that need to be asked. And the reader will look for answers that are there to be found. You will see the worst side of man--and man at his best, seeking the God of the universe. Once you pick up this book you won't want to put it down until you've turned the last page.

Armchair Interviews says: River Rising made could easily make your top ten best books of 2006. It is a spectacular read; one that we believe will be read and reread, with something new found each time.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Christy winner--sweet, powerful, shocking, July 19, 2006

By 

Margo Carmichael (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: River Rising (Hardcover)

So many reviews here have covered the plot.

Bottom line: It will haunt me forever. I love to visit New Orleans and the bayou country, so the atmospheric setting, a main character itself, grabbed me and held me from the start.

And having grown up in a quiet mainline denomination, I now enjoy what Poser desired--mixed congregations that do read beyond "Be still and know" and apply the last of the Psalms. : )

With its well-drawn main characters, subtle use of dialect, often lyrical prose and powerful, sometimes shocking plot, there's no surprise it won the Christy for Mystery and Suspense.