3 out of 4 stars
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American River Currents, by Mallory M. O’Connor, told an interesting story, was entertaining to read, held my attention to the end, and left me wanting to read more by this author. To my mind this is about the highest praise one can give a book.
The backdrop of O’Connor’s historical novel is the turbulent 1960’s. Along with great progress like the space program and lunar landing, there was also massive disruption and discord throughout the nation. Among the causes were the civil rights movement, the escalating Vietnam war, and the farm labor movement. The role of women in the family and workplace changed. There were tragic assassinations - John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy. Widespread protests, potent political drama, and cultural warfare across ethnicities and generations occurred. This was all exacerbated by the coming of age of the baby boom generation and the growth of television and other advances in communication. By the end of the decade it is estimated that some 20 – 30 bombings per week were occurring in the nation.
O’Connor tells her story through the lives of three not entirely unrelated families – the McPhalans, the Morales, and the Ashidas. Each of these families is from a prominent immigrant wave, coming to America at different times. Their stories touch on their assimilation into American culture as well as their feelings regarding alienation from their origin cultures. For some their assimilation has reached the point where they express anxiety about the influence of later arriving immigrant ethnicities. Native Americans will appreciate the irony.
Owen McPhalan is a California state legislator and landowner. His ex-wife Marian is an artist living primarily in the Northeast (NYC and Mass) and Mexico. One daughter, Alexandria, is an aspiring piano prodigy. The other daughter, Kate, and her husband Carl (a well-known maestro) live primarily in Cleveland where Carl works with the Cleveland Symphony. Alex, Kate, and Carl’s lives revolve around Stefan Molnar – a world famous pianist - also in Cleveland. Stefan is a wonderfully gothic character who catalyzes much of the interaction among Kate, Carl, and Alex. Much of the book is devoted to Kate’s and Carl’s life together, and their conflicted relationship with each other as well as with Stefan.
Tommy Ashida is a third-generation Japanese American living and working as an architect in San Francisco. He goes to Japan to try to come to terms with his alienation from his native Japanese culture. While there, he meets and marries Emiko, and brings her to live in the US.
The Morales family is Mexican American. Jorge, a Mexican immigrant, runs a successful business. Two of the teenage children – Silvio and Allison – play key roles in the story. The family is involved peripherally with Caesar Chavez’s farm labor movement in California. Through this involvement as well as in their response to the Vietnam war, they explore the nature of protest and dissent.
The scope of the novel is 1963 – 1970 and relates to specific movements and events prominent in that period. However, the underlying cultural conflicts and issues are resonant today, making this book a relevant read for anyone trying to understand our own time. Along with the major historical events and themes of the 1960’s, O’Connor also touches on topics such as violence toward women, social Darwinism, and toxic relationships. Although it is not a major point of the story, it is interesting also to reflect on a time, less than 60 years ago, where there was no email, international calling was an adventure, and doctors made house calls.
Undertaking a subject of this scope is a significant challenge. In terms of literary technique and style the book showed real strengths as well as some weaknesses. As an historical novel, the author tells the story of the 1960’s through the lives of her characters. This is an effective technique since it mirrors the emotional way we all experience the events of our times. Thus, relatively few of us were in Dallas when John F. Kennedy was shot, but we all remember where we were when we heard the news and how we felt about it. For this technique to work in a literary sense, the characters must have sufficient emotional attachment to events to communicate effectively to the reader. In this sense, O’Connor does generally a good job, albeit somewhat uneven. Kate’s story is particularly poignant in her changing role as a woman. Likewise, Carl and Kate’s interactions with Stefan and the artistic community in general are well communicated. On the other hand, Jorge, Allison, and Silvio’s exploration of dissent is too arm’s length and does not adequately communicate the intense emotions of the times.
In my opinion, this book could have used better editing. The author goes to great lengths in her descriptions of people, places, and things. Unfortunately, it appears she has never met a modifier she didn’t like. Thus, instead of saying “Alex gazed adoringly at Stefan,” she writes, “Alex laughed, perfect white teeth between pink lips, cornflower blue eyes gazing at Stefan adoringly.” The problem is that overuse of modifiers distracts from the emotional flow of the story.
In addition to overusing modifiers, O’Connor has a tendency to describe things both literally as well as metaphorically. Thus, there are phrases like, “…camellia bushes that were just beginning to bloom – delicate white and pink and blossoms opening like shy young girls before they burst into voluptuous full flower.” And my favorite, “The barren trees woke and shook their branches in the gentle wind, unfurling small green leaves like tiny banners hung out to celebrate the end of winter.” While sometimes used to great effect, the overuse of metaphors can be numbing and lessens the impact of when such metaphors are used effectively.
Interestingly, the prose gets much better when the action intensifies, such as in a climatic Christmas dinner scene toward the end of the story, at which Kate, Carl, Alex, and Marian confront critical secrets of their lives. This scene is both hilarious and horrifying, with tight dialogue and high emotion.
I really enjoyed American River Currents, by Mallory M. O’Connor. What I liked most was the way she brought her characters to life. At its best, I could identify emotionally with their experience. I was a teenager during the period in which this book takes place. Many of the scenes in the book are highly evocative and aroused vivid memories for me. I least liked certain stylistic elements. The overuse of modifiers and metaphors distracted from the emotional flow, becoming somewhat deadening over time.
I rated American River Currents 3 out of 4 stars. I was kept from giving it a 4 star rating largely because of the uneven editing and stylistic issues described above. Nonetheless, this is a great read, and I highly recommend it for anyone interested in a good story about a fascinating time in our history. This will be of interest to those of us who lived through the period described, as well as those seeking perspective on the events of today.
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American River: Currents
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