River King (Hardcover)

Slightly reminiscent of The Secret History, The River King deals with undercurrents in and around a small New England prep school. As two of the central characters, Carlin and Gus, meet in their first year at the school, we are intrigued by the background of the school and the pressure that's placed on them both to fit into the student body. Hazing pranks and ordeals that turn deadly result in tragic death, which is investigated by a local cop who carries a lot of baggage of his own. His involvement with a teacher at the school further complicates the story and his life. Magical realism - a whiff of the supernatural - informs the book and the behavior of the characters that knew or want to know about the victim's death.

The Good
- Alice Hoffman's writing style and dialog works - a small example are some of the sentences that come out of Eric (Betsy's fiance)'s mouth. We know pretty early on that he's a soulless academic, totally wrong for her.
- The magical elements are wonderfully portrayed, even if they don't exactly go anywhere. What's the point of all the minnows? And the sightings of all of the dark shadows and figures in the photographs?
- The death of one of the minor characters is depicted wondefully and is extremely moving. This passage is a tour de force of evocative writing.
- The symmetry and contrast of the love stories: Carlin and Gus, Betsy and Abel, and others.
- Things like the cat and its peripheral role in illustrating Harry's character. (But can we get over the rose motif? Please?).

The Bad
- This plot doesn't resolve as so much end. The really bad guy is let off the hook, for one, but in general, the cruelty and insensitivity of some of the surrounding characters in charge (Bob Thomas, the head of the school, Eric, the house parent at Chalk House) is never brought home to them or to anyone else. As a result, one is left with a bad taste in one's mouth. It's not always necessary for justice to be done, but at least give us some dramatic irony when it's denied.
- Back to the plot and the exposition near the end: what possibilities there were for the investigation to meet up with either a fortuitous chain of evidence, or, better yet, a conspiracy member who turns! What drama was shortchanged by the decision to merely lay out the facts of the victim's final night alive in narrative style, rather than to have it be discovered, deduced, or confessed to. It's as if at some point, Ms. Hoffman had been planning to call P.D. James, Elizabeth George, or another expert murder mystery writer, on how to get the facts out in the open (like there was any mystery in the first place) and couldn't find anyone to consult with. As it is, what curiousity we have isn't so much satisfied as grudgingly allowed to be answered - it's not far from "Oh, by the way, here's how the victim died". (It's not quite on the same order as waking up and finding it had all been a dream but has a bit of the same downer effect).
- The chronology in the story was hard to reconcile with the pace. Things seem to happen all at once, then a few weeks go by, then another flurry of events, then another few weeks ...
- Finally, I've never read a book that actually had too much back story, but if anything, this is it. There are so many allusions to Abel (the cop)'s brother's death, the suicide of a faculty member's wife a long time ago, and Abel's background as a womanizer, that, upon smelling one of these digressions coming, one wants to duck and shout,"You're losing the plot here!"

In the end, I'm interested in reading more by this author. I really like her style, characterization, and use of imagery; this latter makes it almost immaterial whether there are supernatural elements at play. In contrast to another reviewer, I would love to see this as a movie, although the amount of reframing and just plain major surgery that would be necessary would make it almost unrecognizable. I'm pretty sure Alice Hoffman wouldn't be pleased with the result. But there are excellent possibilities for this in the right hands.

I do appreciate Alice Hoffman's talent, but I did not feel this book showcased it as well as others have. I much preferred A Probable Future.