Customer Reviews

Where the Rivers Flow North

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I'm saddened to see far too many people pigeon-hole Howard Frank Mosher as a 'writer of regional interest' -- maybe only those who live along the Mississippi should read Mark Twain, then. True, Mosher's books all take place in Vermont -- but these are such well-written, absorbing stories, the characters so unforgettable, that any one who appreciates fine literature can thoroughly enjoy them.

This volume collects 6 of Mosher's short stories along with the title novella -- the latter being possibly his most well-known work, having been made into an exceptional film with the amazingly-talented Rip Torn in the role of a lifetime as Noel Lord, Mosher's cantankerous ex-lumberjack. Lord is mentioned in some of the other stories, as well as in some of Mosher's novels -- and other characters make appearances in more than one work as well.

Set in 1927 Vermont, 'Where the rivers flow north' takes the familiar theme of the rugged individualist going up against the evil, unfeeling corporation, and breathes new life into it. Mosher's flowing style, combined with his incredible ability to bring to the printed page all the nuances of his characters' personalities -- warts and all -- give this and all of his works the finishing touches that only a fine craftsman can give. Noel Lord's Native American housekeeper/wife, Bangor, is one of the most memorable characters you'll ever run across. She and Lord have a classic yin-yang relationship that, most likely, neither one would acknowledge. A reader from any part of the nation can get inside these people, can feel and experience everything that happens to them -- and any time we can do that, we can learn and we can grow.

The characters in all of the stories here are, as in all of Mosher's works, vividly drawn -- Alabama Jones, the innocent-but-worldly aspiring carnival performer -- Burl, an old woman lying in a nursing home waiting to die, looking back at her life with a combination of bitterness and longing -- Eban and Walter, brothers, neighbors, at odds in their life over things large and small, but brothers -- a man dying, clinging to life through a kept peacock -- a boy passes through a coming-of-age event, a flood, which changes forever the way he views both his brother and his father -- another man, Henry Coville, makes some painful recollections and decisions as he feels the end of his life approach. Mosher paints them all with the deft brush strokes of an artist who intimately knows his subjects and the landscape in which their lives are played out.

Howard Frank Mosher is an immensely talented, always entertaining writer -- he deserves to be widely read, and what a treat is awaiting those who read him for the first time...!

Outstanding. Suggested to me by a Vermont lover, it's my first Mosher book, and I cannot wait to delve into his others. This book begins with six short stories, and then the "novella" that is the title of the book. A joy to read - I hated to see it end. Colorful characters living in the Vermont of old. I wonderful addition to my collection of "Up North" books that are meant to be read while sitting by a wood stove in a northern cabin on a snowy day!

After I found out that former my in-laws knew Howard Mosher personally and my ex-husband had him as a teacher and coach in school and hung out with Howard's kids in high school I HAD to read a book written by him. This is the first book I read by Howard and I can't wait to read more. What a great illustration of Vermont in the early 1900's!

I read this every November, when the days start to get short and the first snow flies. This collection portrays a lost and disappearing Vermont, a way of life on the verge of extinction.

I made my way to Howard Frank Mosher via Edward Hoagland, another Vermonter and writer of considerable talent. Hoagland mentioned Howard in a few of his essays on Kingdom Country and apparently the two were friends and competitors. Since I find Hoagland so good, I figured any writer he considers a peer must be worth a gander. After having read Where the Rivers Flow North I see that the two are peers and competitors. This book consists of six short stories and one novella of just over a hundred pages.

Starting with the short stories. They are quiet salient, well-crafted works that succeed universally, as literary stories about men and women grappling with the weighty issues of life, and as quasi-historical vignettes that pull back the veil on an interesting region of our country. None of them exceeds fifteen pages, but within that short space Mosher packs a lot of action, intrigue, humor, and drama. Nearly all of the characters are of a low social economic class, men and women struggling to eek out a living in the north woods, either as farmers, bootleggers, gas station attendants, loggers, aspiring race?car drivers, prostitutes, deer hunters, wardens, or what have you. Mosher knows his world well - and it's a harrowing world at that. Nature - the woods, the mountains, the snow and cold -becomes almost another character in these stories; but it's not just beautiful. Any tourist could write about the beauty of a landscape. Mosher is so talented because he takes you, with his well-crafted characters, into the heart of the landscape, to learn what it feels like to wrestle with it from inside. The nature of Kingdom Country that Mosher conjures up is vengeful - there is no surface level sentimentality here - this is the real deal. Nowhere is this felt more than in the novella Where the Rivers Flow North. This story perfectly brings together Mosher's strengths - intimate knowledge of nature, memorable and nuanced characters, local history, and a compelling story line rife with metaphors.

If you are on the fence about this writer, I urge you to take a chance. If you like Stienbeck and his California, you'll like Mosher and his northern Vermont.

I am a hypercritcal reader and I love it when I pick up a book I cannot stop reading. I have subsequently ordered all of Mosher's books and cannot wait to read them. Mosher is not a good writer he is a great American writer. He builds character and place like the master he is. Thank you Mr. Mosher.

Where the Rivers Flow North is a wonderfully written book of tales from the northeast. Anyone who is a fan of New England or it's history and folklore would love these very vivid tales written by Mr Mosher, a master storyteller.