More Than Any River
In Victoria Tatum’s timely ensemble novel More Than Any River, generations of farmers and workers along the Sacramento River cope with formidable threats to their region and way of life.
Covering more than a century, this novel-in-stories centers intersecting lives along the river: families with small farms, farmers flooding fields to grow rice, hired workers who live off of the land and work in the booming postwar food industry, and business leaders looking to expand their holdings. Its characters work to get by as the land around them changes. Some never cross paths; others become adversaries through competing goals.
The novel is replete with personal challenges. Marie loses her partner in a wildlife attack and faces a new life as a hired hand. Takashi returns to his family’s farm after internment and still faces discrimination. Children grow up and choose lives away from their family farms. Still, the biggest challenges and most engaging conflicts come from the those who are willing to destroy people’s lives in the name of profit, as with the powerful agribusinesses seeking control of more water and property.
Further, along the Sacramento Delta, drought is always a threat—a problem that worsens as the years go on. Across the generations, the valley and the people who live there are shaped by the environment and related conflicts, and their stories include beautiful descriptions of the region and detailed explanations of how the river ecosystem works—and of how farming techniques alter it. While some characters’ stories reach conclusions, others mirror the river’s: still under threat, but continuing to flow.
The novel More Than Any River shows how generations struggle to protect a shared heritage.
Reviewed by
Jeff Fleischer
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