RIVER BEND CHRONICLE by Ben Miller

Source: http://amzn.to/1qVgTFM

I found this book, the full title of which is River Bend Chronicle: The Junkification of a Boyhood Idyll Amid the Curious Glory of Urban Iowa, while browsing the local section in my Davenport, Iowa, Barnes and Noble. I love to learn the stories of places by visiting historical museums and reading books. When I started reading the Prologue and recognized the names of some of the people mentioned, I had to buy it.*

River Bend Chronicle is a memoir starting in approximately the late 1960s or early 1970s after the author came to Davenport. I call it a literary memoir because of the detailed, vivid, colorful and fresh, almost poetic, descriptions and writing style. The text is filled with subtle humor. If we're talking English composition, the long, somewhat drawn out style is inappropriate. But for a literary piece, it fits perfectly. Some of the expressions reminded me of A Christmas Story: ornate, musical, and subtly humorous.

Parenthesis were numerous in the book, especially more toward the beginning. Sometimes they added to the story, so the parenthesis marks weren't necessary. At other times, they were distracting or didn't add to the story and could've been eliminated. The book also included photographs that I recognized as subjects around Davenport but I would've liked to have seen captions. These are minor issues, however, and never tempted me to stop reading.

The book is not just a memoir or a life story; it's a study of the author's life to find meaning and the cause and effect of how and why it turned out as it did. And really, it is the story of a writer and how this particular writer came to be from despair. It seems that, like a lot of writers, the writer was always within Ben Miller waiting to get out, and thankfully it did. I can relate; in all my young experiences, especially despair, I turned to words to cope.

In addition to the content, the words themselves evoke sad overtones of something lost and missed. It's an insightful, thought-provoking journey of a life from point A to point B.

There seems to be several, weaved-together layers in this memoir. The story is also about a boy's tumultuous, complicated relationship with his family that reflects in depth on being the eldest sibling amid a dysfunction that seemed to be rampant in families during the 1970s.

The story was engaging, but heavy, taking me a couple of weeks to read so on a can't-put-it-down-scale of one for I couldn't even finish it to ten for I was up until the wee morning hours, I would give it a six and a half.

If you're looking for a light, beach read, this book is not for you. If you like to study people and delve into their minds to find out how they tick, you would enjoy this book. It shows that we Iowans are more than farmers living ideal, rural lives but that many of us live in real cities with real hurts.


Source: Miller, Ben. 2013. River Bend Chronicle. Lookout Books: Wilmington.

*These people were associated with The Midwest Writing Center, a non-profit organization in its pre-infancy (and maybe infancy) during the time period the book covers. I volunteer for MWC and serve on its Board of Directors.
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HER KIND by Robin Throne

Her Kind is the debut novel written by my author-friend and colleague, Robin Throne. I first read Her Kind as an early sample, but enjoyed it so much I obtained my own copy after its release.

Her Kind tells the story of Rose Emma Parmlee via her diaries, compiled over her ninety-years of life, addressing her family's migration from England to final settlement on the banks of the Mississippi River in LeClaire, Iowa. It is a historical novel based on real historical events and documents.While reading Her Kind, I felt like I was perched on Rose Parmlee's shoulder as she leafed through her diaries. I especially like the touch of the historical record reprints peppered throughout the book. These added credibility to the story and to the illusion I was viewing someone's personal thoughts and musings.

This is an intelligent story written beautifully; it is not an easy beach-read but the reward obtained matches the need to pay attention. The story is not told chronologically so you get the feel of flipping back and forth through something I would think would've been written chronologically. But perhaps Rose was like a lot of we writers who scribble on paper scraps or whatever else is available. So, as the reader, we are witness to Rose compiling these snippets into a cohesive unit, sorting and reflecting.

Her Kind gives a true sense of what it must've been like to live in a Mississippi River town in Iowa through several generations. In all, the story is beautiful and elegantly written, almost poetic. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in history, Mississippi River lore, family, or relationships.

Source:
Throne, Robin. (2013). Her Kind: a novel. 918studioL LeClaire, Iowa.