Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Deep River: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Deep River: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Deep River: A Novel
    Ebook890 pages15 hours

    Deep River: A Novel

    By Karl Marlantes

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Karl Marlantes’s debut novel Matterhorn, a New York Times Notable Book and winner of the Center for Fiction’s Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize, has been hailed as a modern classic of war literature. In his new novel, Deep River, Marlantes turns to another mode of storytelling—the family epic—to craft a stunningly expansive narrative that is no less rich and honest in its depiction of human suffering, courage, and reinvention.

    Born into a farm family in late nineteenth-century Finland, the three Koski siblings—Ilmari, Matti, and Aino—are brought up on the virtue of maintaining their sisu in the face of increasing hardship, especially after their nationalist father is arrested by imperial Russian authorities, never to be seen again. Lured by the prospects of the Homestead Act, Ilmari and Matti set sail for America, and the politicized young Aino, haunted by the specter of betrayal after her Marxist cell is disastrously exposed, follows soon after. Not far from the majestic Columbia River and in the shadow of Douglas firs a hundred meters high, the brothers have established themselves among a logging community in southern Washington, and it is here, in the New World, that each sibling comes into their own—Ilmari as the family’s spiritual rock; Matti as a fearless logger and the embodiment of the entrepreneurial spirit; and Aino as a fiercely independent woman and union activist who, time and again, sacrifices for the political beliefs that have sustained her through it all.

    Layered with fascinating historical detail, this is a novel that breathes deeply of the sun-dappled forest and bears witness to the stump-ridden fields the loggers, and the first waves of modernity, leave behind. At its heart, Deep River is an extraordinarily ambitious exploration of the place of the individual, and of the immigrant, in an America still in the process of defining its own identity.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAtlantic Monthly Press
    Release dateJul 2, 2019
    ISBN9780802146199
    Unavailable
    Deep River: A Novel
    Author

    Karl Marlantes

    A graduate of Yale and a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, Karl Marlantes served as a Marine in Vietnam, where he was awarded the Navy Cross, Bronze Star, two Navy Commendation Medals for valor, two Purple Hearts, and ten Air Medals. He lives in Washington state, USA.

    Read more from Karl Marlantes

    Related to Deep River

    Related ebooks

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    Reviews for Deep River

    4/5

    64 ratings11 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      I loved it, I was hooked the whole way. This is my first time reading a fiction book in years and I very quickly made it through. I loved the story and characters, they feel like family now!
    • 5/5
      Loved it! Especially since it is historically based. Also, a new immigrant history for me.
    • 5/5
      Loved this book! A daunting 700+ pages epic which rewards the reader completely. Being married to a Finn for 32 years and counting, and annually logging at our mökki, made this book a compulsive read for me. It’s a lesson in ‘sisu’ and the nature of the Finns in a compelling story, well told.
    • 2/5
      Disappointing and surprisingly boring and shallow considering the author's previous work.
    • 5/5
      I read Marlante's first novel, Matterhorn, in 2010, the year it was published. It ended up being the best book I read that year. Many book lovers felt the same way. A riveting look at the Vietnam war. Marlante has finally returned and he does not disappoint, delivering a big, sprawling epic, tracing a family over several decades. He based this on his own family's history.It begins with the Koski family, living in Finland, as farmers. The country was still occupied by Russia, in the late 19th century and the father of the clan, was a strong nationalist and is soon arrested and imprisoned, forcing the family to flee to America. They take up residence in the Pacific Northwest, lured by the Homestead Act. They quickly establish themselves in the booming, logging community.The author has done his research, adorning the narrative with rich historical detail, while keeping the dramatic elements of the story, moving along at a brisk clip and using the rugged wilds of Washington as a perfect backdrop. The reader will learn plenty about the early labor union battles, (yes, they were brutal) and everything you need to know about logging and salmon fishing.Annie Proulx's novel, Barkskins, also covered the early logging industry. I liked that book but I think Marlantes did it a bit better. Terrific read.
    • 4/5
      I've been a fan of Karl Marlantes since I first read What It is Like to Go to War, a fabulous book. I expected to like this one, and I did, but not quite as much. This is a fairly long book, and the audio edition is very good throughout. I appreciate learning more about logging camps, about the fight for unions and decent working conditions, and the divisiveness of the times. Where this didn't work quite as well for me is connecting with the characters. There were quite a few to keep track of, but it doesn't take too long to figure out the key players. But I just didn't take them to heart. I appreciated their struggles and I appreciated the different personalities, but they never quite became real to me, and I can't figure out why. Still, this is a very good good, and deserves reading for anyone at all interested in the subjects.A word of warning: If you are a coffee drinker, you're going to want to drink lots of coffee while you read or listen to this book. It's mentioned frequently and consumed by the gallons, not surprisingly.
    • 4/5
      I discussed this book as I read it with a few friends and could not decide if I liked it or not. That situation persisted right to the end. It is well written and frequently engaging. It is frustrating at times to watch the central character display self destructive single minded behavior. In the final analysis, I would recommend the book but warn the reader to be prepared to accept some discomfort with the journey.
    • 5/5
      Even at 700+ pp., I was surprised at how readable this one was. Not a boring page in the lot. The story of three Finnish siblings who emigrate to the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. in the early 20th century. The novel also covers family and friends. The details of the logging and fishing industries were fascinating, as well as IWW ["Wobbly"] history thrown in. One of the siblings, Aino, is a union activist for this particular union.Highly recommended.
    • 3/5
      Deep River by Karl Marlantes is one of those novels that is deeply personal to the author, something he shares with the reader in his author’s notes at the end of the story. Unfortunately, because of the personal nature of the story, the storytelling suffers. It is not because the author is not capable, but rather an overly-enthusiastic attempt to include every single detail of the subject while paying homage to family history.At its most basic level, Deep River is a fascinating story about Finnish immigrants who settle in Washington state and become players in the logging industry against the backdrop of the growing laborers’ rights movement. There is a lot to love for those who enjoy family sagas of this kind. Family is the heart of the story. The Koski siblings continuously prove that blood is indeed thicker than water, as they weather changing fortunes, political and religious differences, as well as a growing divide between urban versus rural dwellers.Plus, Mr. Marlantes brings turn-of-the-century logging back to life in all its brutality and insanity. Unfortunately, this is also where Deep River starts its descent because Mr. Marlantes spares no word or description when it comes to logging. Paragraph after paragraph, page after page, he details readers with every aspect of logging life. Granted, loggers were insane to do what they did and deserve their chance to shine. Sadly, the story suffers while they get their chance.The other area in which Mr. Marlantes proves to be a bit too effusive with his descriptions is with the laborers’ rights movement. While workers’ rights are at the very heart of the Koski family story, his explanations of each side drag on and on. As in the case of the descriptions of logging, while he goes into ideological detail, the story comes to a halt.In both of these instances, a good editing session could greatly improve the flow of the story while maintaining the detail Mr. Marlantes wants. These bits are interesting by themselves but detract from the overarching story so that it all becomes a bit of a slog to get through.One true flaw with Deep River is with Aino Koski. While Mr. Marlantes does not portray any female in the best light, preferring instead to stick to various caricatures of women such as the ice queen or the submissive wife, I find Aino to be particularly troublesome. For one, she is utterly incapable of separating ideology from reality when it comes to her belief in communism but has no problems facing reality in every other situation. She is idealistic to a fault and too unrealistic, which is so odd given that Mr. Marlantes takes pains to portray her as supremely pragmatic and realistic.I particularly struggled with accepting that she turned her back on her child and that any mother would choose an ideology versus caring for her baby. I mean, she literally leaves her infant daughter behind to go help striking workers with only a few sentences describing her guilt at doing so. It isn’t as if she doesn’t love her child. In fact, the birth of her daughter and the feelings that having a child creates in Aino is the one rare scene in which Aino shows that she is capable of emotion. So, to have someone as stoic as Aino willingly give up that love and devotion and put strangers ahead of family in importance flies in the face of what we know about her character. It is almost as if Mr. Marlantes does not understand the mothering instinct at all.With all that said, I finished Deep River with a greater appreciation for loggers and for those workers who risked everything to fight for shorter workdays, safer work environments, and better benefits. As workers continue to fight for the opportunity to unionize, there are lessons to learn from those early struggles. There is a part of me that continues to mourn the loss of the immense old-growth trees Mr. Marlantes loving describes, but you have to give props to the crazies who felled them with nothing more than wire cable, saws, and muscle. Insane.
    • 4/5
      As a resident of Oregon I enjoyed this take on the history of the PNW in relation to logging, fishing, and farming. Powerful characters that stay with you long after you close the book.
    • 3/5
      I loved parts of this novel which told the story of Finnish American immigrants in the logging industry of Washington state near the Oregon border. It describes working conditions and efforts to unionize. Readers also learn a great deal about salmon fishing. It describes immigrant acculturation. I expected to like the book more than I did, but it just seemed long and drawn out. The writing was good and the author's historical research exemplary. It just failed to draw me in.