Book Review: The River Between Us
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What Parents Should Know
The depiction of Cairo, and the army camp and hospital, is
not for the faint-hearted, but be prepared for some powerful
discussions with your children about what war is really like
that may be eye-opening for the video game generation.
Common Sense Media Review
Rarely has war in general, and the Civil War in particular,
been portrayed so clearly and realistically for young readers,
perhaps only in Gary Paulsen's "Soldier's Heart," which spanned
the war and many battles. Peck offers not a sweeping view, but
rather a sliver -- the hospital and camp in Cairo just before
the Battle of Belmont. It's an ugly sight, and not one that
will leave any reader in doubt about the glory of war. When
they arrive, Noah is sick with dysentery, but getting him well
may be a mistake -- health is a ticket into hell.
All of this is done with Peck's trademark razor-edged
prose. Few modern authors, for adults or children, wield a pen
with the surgical precision Peck brings to every sentence.
There's a cadence to his paragraphs that speaks of long
experience and attention to detail, and that carries his
passions in succinct and poignant rhythms. On a father's past:
"Apparently, my dad had been young once, but I couldn't picture
it. Even at the age of fifteen I knew but little about who he
was and where he'd come from. And so I knew but little about
myself." On boys playing soldier: "Did they even know it could
end with them killing one another in some godforsaken loblolly
far from home." On Noah's departure: "But he was gone from us,
and the time the showboat come was a bright dream I must have
had before the world went dark."
From the book:
They lay where they'd been sick. They sprawled in their
messes because they were too weak to get to the privies, if
there were privies. In the afternoon light slanting through
canvas, they looked like old men. One sat at the end of his cot
with a bucket and a dipper at his feet. He was badly wasted,
and his cheeks were sunk to where he looked like a
death's-head. "Tilly?" he said.
Noah. It was Noah. We couldn't faint nor flee now.
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