Fittingly I just read something the other day about Bildungsroman genre novels!! Is this a new to you word or genre too? Actually you as a reader probably have read many novels of this genre before and just didn’t know they were called that or could fit in that genre! Now you can pull that fancy big vocabulary word out at your next book club discussion or trivia nite! Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines BILDUNGSROMAN as:
“literature : a novel about the moral and psychological growth of the main character.
Bildungsroman is the combination of two German words: Bildung, meaning "education," and Roman, meaning "novel." Fittingly, a bildungsroman is a novel that deals with the formative years of the main character, and in particular, with the character's psychological development and moral education.” Serendipitously after I had read about this genre, GO AS A RIVER was next on my TBR stack in preparation for the Indianapolis Book and Author Luncheon!

Shelley Read writes about a young girl in Colorado struggling to live as the lone female on her family peach orchard with her younger brother, father, and disabled veteran uncle after her mother, aunt, and cousin have all passed away in an automobile accident. However, the day she crosses paths with a handsome young Indian drifter passing through her small town, her world and that of countless others change as a result. The reader will then follow Victoria through the next 20+ years of her life, through ups and downs, valleys and peaks, and life’s crossroads. The author Read fills the pages with beautiful prose capturing the joys and hardships of nature and the Land as well as the twists and turns of Life. She tackles prejudice, ostracism, and the sweet grittiness that Life can hold. Shelley brings a thoughtful and introspective depth with GO AS A RIVER, along with varied interesting characters to capture the reader.

I look forward to hearing soon more behind the scenes details and diving even deeper into this newly published release from Shelley Read at the Indpls Book & Author Luncheon!

AMAZING!! I couldn't have loved this book more! This will be a top contender for my favorite book of 2023 for sure! Easily a 5 star read for me! If you loved where the crawdads sing, you will love this one too!!

Wow, wow, WOW! Every so often, you’ll come across a major stunner of a book. A book that totally takes you by surprise, sweeps you off your feet, and breaks your heart in two. Go as a River by Shelley Read is just that book for me. I took my sweet time with this novel. The writing is so thoughtful, delicate, lyrical, and meant to be savored. I did not want it to end, and was truly bummed out when it did. Victoria Nash is a character that I’ll never ever forget. She’s vulnerable, yet tough as nails, brave as heck, hardworking, wise beyond her years, and extremely admirable. Her mother died when she was a young girl, so she was forced to grow up quickly, and take over as the woman of the house. All of the domestic duties in a home full of men were now her responsibility. A tragic incident occurs, and Victoria makes the difficult decision to leave. What follows is a journey full of self-reflection, resilience, strength, and growth. Victoria will win you over in no time at all.

READ THIS IF YOU ENJOY:
- Coming-of-age stories
- Slow-burning historical fiction
- Character studies
- Books about nature
- Books set in Colorado
- Complex family dynamics
- Father/daughter relationships
- Authors like Kristin Hannah & Glendy Vanderah
- Themes of motherhood, family, friendship, loss, grief, and healing

There’s no doubt about it, Go as a River will definitely have a spot on my top ten list of 2023. I won’t be surprised if I eventually name it my favorite of the year. It deserves every single star in the sky. 5/5 stars!

Thank you to the publisher, Speigel And Grau, and NetGalley for an electronic copy to read in advance. GO AS A RIVER published February 28th, and is now available!

Torrie has lived in the same house in a small town her entire life located on a peach farm. When Wilson Moon walks into her life, she will never be the same. Forced to flee into the rugged wilderness causes Torrie to really evaluate her life, family, and sense of belonging.

After reading so many positive reviews from so many trusted people, I had high hopes for this one. And it was indeed good. I really loved the last 20% of the book. However, I really struggled with all the backstory required in the first 80% of the book. If everyone else hadn't already said it was worth the read, I probably would have DNF'd it. What captured me was the writing and imagery - it was absolutely beautiful. I could picture the scenes playing out so vividly on a sweeping Colorado landscape. It put the travel bug in me to go visit this magnificent corner of the world. So I’m not sure what to tell you about reading it. Maybe? I did tell my mom to read it, and she absolutely loved it. So it’s probably just me.

CW: pregnancy, labor, delivery, survivalist, bigotry, adoption, drugs, alcohol

CW: racial slurs and very problematic writing of a Native character.

I took major issue with the way that this book was using slurs to describe the Indigenous character of this book, even though the book is situated in a historic setting (post-WWII Colorado). Several characters even "mis-race" the character, which opens up even more slurs used against him. While it's clear that the characters using the slurs aren't great people, I still though this was very problematic.

In addition, the characters felt underdeveloped and the Indigenous character felt like a token character, and this just felt really uncomfortable to me.

his is a book I’ve had my eye on for quite awhile and was eagerly awaiting its release. It lived up to all of my expectations and then some.

This story follows the life of Victoria Nash, a teenager living and working on her family’s peach farm in the 1940’s. We watch as Victoria grows up, and follow her life as she makes choices that will ultimately shape her future.

This is a story about sacrifice, and about love. Victoria is one of the strongest female protagonists I’ve read about and I really admired her resilience throughout the years.

The writing is so beautiful and descriptive I truly felt myself being transported to the mountains of Colorado while reading. And I loved how vivid the setting was in my mind.

This is one of my favourite books I’ve read so far this year. It was really touching and I definitely teared up a little bit near the end of the story. I can only hope that this book takes off and gains more popularity, because it truly deserves more hype.

I highly recommend this one for anyone who is a fan of historical fiction, stories about strong women, and beautiful descriptive writing.

Go As a River by Shelley Read

“Just as a single rainstorm can erode the banks and change the course of a river, so can a single circumstance of a girl’s life erase who she was before.”

Inspired by true events surrounding the destruction of Iola, Colorado, in the 1960s, this lyrical and poignant novel immediately captured me.

Seventeen-year-old Victoria is the only surviving female in a family of troublemaking, frightening men. She runs the household on a peach farm in Iola, Colorado.

A chance encounter with drifter Wilson Moon leads to heartache, decisions, and new-found strength. When the government plans to flood Iola, situated along the Gunnison River, Victoria leaves her past behind and creates a new life for herself. And another chance encounter changes her path yet again.

A beautiful, moving story.

I really enjoyed this book, I loved the story and Tori and the other characters and I could not stop reading.

What a beautiful debut from a phenomenal writer. I am from the area that the book is set and know Shelley personally. Her vivid descriptions of the environment does this mountain setting justice and transports all of her readers to a different time and place. She so fully encompasses the coming of age experience, and the rural resiliency it takes to survive and thrive on Colorado's Western Slope. All of the praise she has received for her masterpiece is well deserved and I look forward to sharing this book with our community.

📙”Go As A River” by Shelley Read

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A debut historical fiction novel filled with beautifully picturesque writing. Set in the 1940’s, Victoria Nash, 16, is the only female in her house after the death of her mother and aunt. It’s a household of men (her Dad, brother, and a disabled WWII veteran uncle) all living on a rural peach farm in Iola, Colorado. One day Torie goes into town with some late season peaches, and finds Wilson Moon, a Native American drifter. Though their meeting is short, it ignites a spark within them both that will lead to both passion and danger. Wil changes Torie’s life forever, and the novel follows her story for over 4 decades. The mountains and wilderness surrounding the Gunnison River form a beautiful backdrop for the passion, betrayal, heartache, loneliness of the story but ultimately a mother’s resilient love.

The story is so well crafted I was instantly
invested and absorbed, and very sad when I turned the last page.

This book was beautifully written. I loved the beginning of this book. Her relationship with Wil made me want to keep reading. Once we got to the part about her coming off the mountain, I got a little angry with MC’s decision. I know it was on a whim, but how come she didn’t try to go back to her dad’s house or Ruby-Alice Akers’ house? Still a great book though!

Heartbreaking yet uplifting. The responsibilities placed on 12 year old Victoria when her mother passes are tremendous, yet she meets them with a strength of character seldom seen. I look forward to future books from this author.

Historical fiction at its finest, this literary telling of one woman's life story entwined with the displacements of her whole town when a new dam was built delivers a perfect book club worthy discussion experience.

Beginning in Iola, Colorado in the late 40s and continuing into the Vietnam War era, Victoria's story of surviving tragedy after tragedy and growing into herself is told with heart and will lead the reader down a research rabbit hole.

I feel like this seems to be the book of the spring.

A young girl at the age of 12 loses her mother and aunt and becomes the woman of a household of men, with the responsibility of cleaning and cooking for all of them, with no benefits of having a say. She goes through periods of life wilderness and comes into her own (which was lovely to see).

I loved the writing in this book; I highlighted so many passages. I had tears in my eyes a couple times toward/at the end and felt like the ending itself was perfect.

Go As A river is a terrific debut novel! The story takes place in Colorado, an area in the southwest part of the state, from 1948 to 1971. When the book opens, we meet Victoria, age 17, who has been the only female in her household since her mother died several years before. She does all the housework and also works on the family’s peach farm, which is famed for the quality of its peaches. In a way, it’s a coming of age story, but it spans over 20 years. Victoria has a chance meeting with Wilson Moon, a young man of Native American heritage, who is passing through town, and this encounter changes the trajectory of both of their lives. His backstory is only sketched in, but seems to include one of those boarding schools which took Native American children away from their families and culture. Wil encountered enormous racial prejudice from the townsfolk in Victoria’s town but felt that it would be the same anywhere he went.

I can’t write much more about the story without including spoilers, so I will just say that the story follows Victoria through the years, and you witness her doing what she needs to do to survive. Her small town will disappear underwater when a dam is built in the 1960s. This part of the story is based on something that really happened and the dam is real: Blue Mesa Dam, which dammed up the Gunnison River, a river that plays a part in this story.

The author’s descriptions were vivid. I could easily visualize the wild Colorado landscape. In particular, I was affected by the descriptions of Victoria’s time in a remote mountain cabin.

Thank you to NetGalley and Spiegel & Grau for the opportunity to read an advance readers copy of this book, although I am a bit late to it. I bounced between the ARC and the published audiobook, courtesy of my public library. The narrator, Cynthia Farrell, did a good job with the various voices. All opinions are my own.

This was beautiful. It is heartbreaking, but also filled with hope and so much love. There is so much going on, but it worked perfectly - loss, coming-of-age, forbidden love, an exploration of motherhood, female friendships, found family, love of nature. It was just incredible, I cannot wait to see what Shelley Read does next, she has set the bar so high with this debut. I highly recommend this to anyone!

Thank you to NetGalley and Spiegal & Grau for the ARC of this book.

This has been compared to Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. While it does give those vibes, I liked Go As A River better. It is a story of survival and redemption. if you are one of the millions that read and liked Crawdads, you will love this one as well. This will be one of my favorites of the year.

What a great debut novel by Shelley Read.

Solid writing with such detailed description.
Beautiful story.
Strong characters.
And so much heartache, but in a good way, if that's possible.

I truly loved this story of Victoria and her tenacious spirit. When I first started it, I wondered if it would be too sad (which Crawdads was for me, at times), but I easily embraced the plotline and adored the writing of this beautiful story. It's hard to believe this is a debut novel but we're seeing so many incredible debuts coming out in the past couple of years (congrats and thank you, publishers!).

Go As a River is a true character-driven novel, which often works so well for me, especially when it's executed this well. It definitely has some tough moments and I'll include content warnings in the comment section but there's ultimately hope, a message of determination paying off, bonds of friendship and family, and ties to nature that are difficult to resist. By the end, I couldn't flip the pages fast enough to discover the beautiful ending.

Go As A River by Shelley Read is one of those stories that stays with you. Torie goes to fetch her drunk brother from town when she meets a stranger who changes her life and how she thinks of herself forever. At times heartbreaking, inspiring, and full of hope, Victoria’s story is not one you’ll soon forget.

Thank you for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.