What This River Keeps: A Novel

Break Away Books

by Greg Schwipps

In the rolling hills of southern Indiana, an elderly couple copes with the fear that their river bottom farm―the only home they've ever known―will be taken from them through an act of eminent domain. The river flowing through their land, where the old man has fished nearly every day of his life, may be dammed to form a reservoir. Their son, meanwhile, sinks deeper into troubles of his own, struggling to determine his place in a new romantic relationship and the duty he owes to his family's legacy. What This River Keeps is a beautiful and heartfelt novel that reflects upon what it means to love a place and a family, and the sometimes staggering cost of that love.

Genres: Novels, Book Club

350 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2009

About the author

Greg Schwipps was raised on a working farm in Milan, Indiana. He received an MFA in creative writing from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. His essays and short fiction can be found in the collections Not Like the Rest of Us: An Anthology of Contemporary Indiana Writers, and Winesburg, Indiana: A Fork River Anthology. His first novel, What This River Keeps (Indiana University Press) won the Eugene & Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award in the Emerging Writer category. What This River Keeps was one of thirteen titles named to the Next Indiana Bookshelf, an honor celebrating the state’s bicentennial. Other books include Fishing For Dummies, 3rd Edition, and Fishing For Dummies, 2nd Edition (coauthor). Currently a Professor of English at DePauw University, Greg and his wife live with their two sons in Greencastle, Indiana.

Reviews

[Brenda Morris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like I just finished a marathon! This book started out incredibly slow, and it got a little better toward the end.

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic story about a family and their land. These characters are going to stick with me and happy to have their (sometimes curmudgeonly) company.

[Debbie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not like this book.

[Susan Cerbone · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Midwest treasure

A farm community in Indiana will be forever changed when the government steps in to build a dam in order to control flooding, which the locals dispute as being a problem. Frank, his wife of 45 years and their wayward son are caught in the crosshairs as their vast family farm is threatened. Determined to fight for not only the farm but their history and way of life, they brace for what's to come with the wisdom of their age and the knowledge that a victory is unlikely.

But this is not a book about courtroom battles and government bullies. It is about the soul of a family whose identity is about to be pulled out from under them. I was immediately taken wit the authenticity of the language and dialogue in the book. Having grown up in Nebraska I recognized the clipped grammatical mutilations that punctuate conversations, the brash disregard for arrogant outsiders, and the family dynamic that is both close and distant. It is not an easy thing to capture but Schwipps does it masterfully. I was transported to Indiana and characters from my own childhood and reminded of why a person with aspirations to live a bigger life would choose to leave.

You will enjoy this book of you want to better understand the Midwestern psyche, learn a "foreign" dialect and get to know a family who define a way of life at a particular point in time. Fishing, fighting, unlikely romance, and a dog also factor in.

[Mike Little · Rating 5 out of 5]

What drew me to this book was that it's set in southern Indiana east of where I was born and reared. I lived in and around a small town in limestone country for 25 years or so and loved where I lived. What This River Keeps:A Novel has characters that reminded me of family, acquaintances, and low-rent situations that felt very familiar.

A core theme of the book is the planning, building, and aftermath of a reservoir along the river. When I was in my late teens I worked on a US Forest Service surveying crew that laid out the roads, waterlines, and campgrounds for Monroe Reservoir in southern Indiana. Ironically, the small town of Elkinsville was evacuated under eminent domain because it was to be flooded by the reservoir but there was a mistake in surveying and the town wasn't drowned, but it was seriously isolated and shrank from small to tiny. I met two residents of the town back then before the lake was filled, and both were grim but mostly resigned. (By the way, our crew didn't survey the area around Elkinsville.)

I'm drawn to these small-town and rural books, especially in Appalachia, and parts of the hills southern Indiana have their Appalachian aspects to them. This is a good tale, both poignant and hopeful. It's not a thrill ride but a story of real people living real lives.

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Initially I wasn’t sure about this book , in particular the character Ollie who appeared to be a complete slob with inappropriate interest in very young girls! Also I was unsure why his relationship with his father was bad. However his behaviour began to make more sense and I ended up really rooting for him and his relationship with Summer and improved relationship with his dad.
Sad that they were unable to fight back against authority but this did give the book a sense of realism. Well written characters and a real sense of place. A good really good read.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author Greg Schwipps paints in a very unvarnished way the day to day struggles that many endured in rural, small town middle America. The story alternates chapter by chapter between an elderly farm couple and their estranged wayward son, each failing in their own way to gain any sense of fulfilment. Another very stark but realistic portrayal of American culture.

[Beverly Hollandbeck · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a Hoosier myself, I probably should love this book, but I just not could get into the character Ollie. Thirty-year-old little boys are hard to empathize with. I do did see my grandparents in his parents, as both couples lived that patriarchic family structure that puts the woman in her place, and both men loved their wives although they would never utter such nonsense.

[Lynn Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I met the author and bought the book a year ago; just got around to reading it

[Carol K · Rating 1 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book.

[AuthorsOnTourLive! · Rating 5 out of 5]

We met Greg Schwipps when he visited the Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver. You can listen to him talk about "Manatee/Humanity" here: http://www.authorsontourlive.com/?p=452

About this podcast:
Greg Schwipps reads from and discusses his debut novel What This River Keeps. "What This River Keeps bears comparison to the best work of Steinbeck--in this case we're given the vivid portrayal of the common working men and women of rural Indiana juxtaposed against great forces, without pity or hope, but without true defeat, though they may well lose all in the end. Schwipps also gives us, in full measure, the ancient father and son story, reinvented and made new; the complications of family; the friendship between men; the long tested love between married people; the discovery of the responsibilities of love; the love and care of the land; the love of a river; the keen life of the outdoors; the close attention to the earth in its seasons and myriad variousness. This is a very fine first novel. I read it compelled and fascinated to the last word." --Kent Haruf, author of Plainsong

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

We had the pleasure of meeting Greg Scwhipps when he visited out book club to talk about his book. I already felt that he really got the "Hoosier" just right and after I met him, I knew why. He is a Hoosier boy who really does love fishing and knows how rural, southern Indiana folks talk and think. I've recommended this book to several people -- some of whom love fishing, some of whom love farming, and some of whom just love good writing.

[Maggie Sweeney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was entertained by the wacky antics of Ollie and touched by how he grew, finally into the good person he was meant to be. After many missteps, his love for his home town, Summer, Spring and even his parents fills my heart.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book about love of family, love of the land, and beautiful prose. If you like Kent Haruf Greg Schwipps will fit right in with your reading sensibilities.

[Shirley]

I enjoyed this book about Indiana farming families.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interested in the book because it was written by a "local" author. Purchased in Milan.

[Debra · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this book boring, full of pathetic characters with little intelligence. I quit reading about halfway through because there was absolutely no plot line.

[Marc Hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful character development and immersive descriptions of Southern Indiana