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Pushing the River
BRONZE MEDAL WINNER, LITERARY FICTION, 2019 READERS’ FAVORITE AWARDS
In Pushing the River, Barbara Monier's third novel, a family crisis erupts when a fifteen-year-old becomes pregnant and decides to keep the baby.
Madeline describes her house as an empty shell inhabited by ghosts. She has been living alone for years, keeping to a few rooms, surrounded by the possessions of her ex-husband and grown children. Over the course of four months, people accumulate in the household one by one--including Madeline's new love interest, who unexpectedly shows up carrying grocery bags full of his clothes.
Pushing the River is told largely through Madeline's eyes. As we discover how she came to "push the river," the unfolding action is interspersed with Madeline's memories of her own mother, driving a message of sometimes-anarchic confusion, occasional angst, and powerfully abiding love across the generations of a familiar American family.
In Pushing the River, Barbara Monier's third novel, a family crisis erupts when a fifteen-year-old becomes pregnant and decides to keep the baby.
Madeline describes her house as an empty shell inhabited by ghosts. She has been living alone for years, keeping to a few rooms, surrounded by the possessions of her ex-husband and grown children. Over the course of four months, people accumulate in the household one by one--including Madeline's new love interest, who unexpectedly shows up carrying grocery bags full of his clothes.
Pushing the River is told largely through Madeline's eyes. As we discover how she came to "push the river," the unfolding action is interspersed with Madeline's memories of her own mother, driving a message of sometimes-anarchic confusion, occasional angst, and powerfully abiding love across the generations of a familiar American family.
- GenresFiction
249 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 9, 2018
19 people are currently reading
354 people want to read
About the author
Barbara Monier
6 books62 followersBarbara Monier's sixth novel--Perfectly Hugo-- releases November 18, 2025.
Barbara Monier has been writing since her earliest days when she composed in crayon on paper with extremely wide lines. She studied writing at Yale University and the University of Michigan. While at Michigan, she worked independently with poet Robert Hayden. Also at Michigan, she received the Avery and Jule Hopwood Prize. It was the highest prize awarded that year and the first in Michigan's history for a piece written directly for the screen. The Reading (2022) was her previous (fifth) published novel. The Rocky Orchard (2020) was awarded the Silver Medal for Literary Fiction, Readers' Favorite Awards. Pushing the River (2019) won the Bronze Award for Literary Fiction, Readers' Favorite Awards.
Barbara Monier has been writing since her earliest days when she composed in crayon on paper with extremely wide lines. She studied writing at Yale University and the University of Michigan. While at Michigan, she worked independently with poet Robert Hayden. Also at Michigan, she received the Avery and Jule Hopwood Prize. It was the highest prize awarded that year and the first in Michigan's history for a piece written directly for the screen. The Reading (2022) was her previous (fifth) published novel. The Rocky Orchard (2020) was awarded the Silver Medal for Literary Fiction, Readers' Favorite Awards. Pushing the River (2019) won the Bronze Award for Literary Fiction, Readers' Favorite Awards.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
November 7, 2022
This book delves into the unusual family dynamic that Madeline and her family have. Madeline goes from being a complete empty nester with no relationship to a house full and what most may consider a narcissistic new boyfriend. This was a hard read for me because Madeline seemed to have little to no boundaries for those in her life.
January 7, 2019
Pushing the River is Barbara Monier’s well-received third novel. It reflects Monier’s continuing interest in the ways that families, particularly mothers, react to change over time.
Pushing the River focuses on Madeline, a woman living alone in a large house empty since a traumatic divorce years earlier and her son and daughter leaving home. For various reasons six family and non-family members, including Dan, a new lover, move into her house for shorter or longer stays. Living again in a full house delights Madeline — but also alarms her. As she says in the opening sentence, “I have lived in the company of ghosts.” Madeline’s ghosts had been well-behaved; even the ghost of her traitorous husband existed in a cozy, head-of-the-household space in her hazy, timeless, dream family.
Ghosts are supposed to stay in the past, not burst forth into the present! Her son, John and his dog; her daughter-in-law, Clare; Clare’s fifteen year old pregnant sister, Savannah; Clare and Savannah’s mentally ill mother, Billie; and her medical school daughter, Kate, crowd into Madeline’s nine room house along with Dan, the new lover. All bring their own histories, emotions, and problems, of course, and Madeline tries to understand each person and care for all. As one Amazon reader put it, the book “illuminates that tricky place so many of us live in, the interactions where our desire to remain rooted in the past collides with the need to move forward into the unforeseeable future.”
The book is well written in a plain style, and the characters are complex and interesting both as individuals and as they interact. Kate hates Dan on sight; Dan can’t stand Madeline paying attention to anyone but him; Billie and her two daughters buzz erratically around each other; and so on. Dan leaves in petty fury, but at the end the other characters are more closely connected in love than they were at the beginning.
There is one scene in the book that affected me, a non-mother, powerfully. Savannah has no idea how to nurse her newborn son, Dylan, so Madeline shows her. I had been mildly curious about this myself although I assumed it somehow just came naturally. There is quite a bit to it, I learned, and enjoyed the bond Madeline created with Savannah and the baby as well as helped Savannah create with her own son.
As I read the book I puzzled over the meaning of the title. I didn’t see how Madeline or any other character pushed the river. I saw the people as struggling to keep afloat, not to rebel or strike back at fate. At the end, however, I understood: the point of the title is that you can’t push the river! Madeline, sitting contentedly alone with Dylan on Christmas Day while the others have escaped to a movie, murmurs to the baby. “It turns out I can’t really push the river; I can’t make it go in a different direction than it’s going to go. I have no idea what crazy twists and turns your life may take. All I know is that you’re here and that matters. All I have to offer, all I’ve ever had to offer , is love. My messy, flawed, crazy-ass love. I will do the best I can. I will.”
Pushing the River is Barbara Monier’s well-received third novel. It reflects Monier’s continuing interest in the ways that families, particularly mothers, react to change over time.
Pushing the River focuses on Madeline, a woman living alone in a large house empty since a traumatic divorce years earlier and her son and daughter leaving home. For various reasons six family and non-family members, including Dan, a new lover, move into her house for shorter or longer stays. Living again in a full house delights Madeline — but also alarms her. As she says in the opening sentence, “I have lived in the company of ghosts.” Madeline’s ghosts had been well-behaved; even the ghost of her traitorous husband existed in a cozy, head-of-the-household space in her hazy, timeless, dream family.
Ghosts are supposed to stay in the past, not burst forth into the present! Her son, John and his dog; her daughter-in-law, Clare; Clare’s fifteen year old pregnant sister, Savannah; Clare and Savannah’s mentally ill mother, Billie; and her medical school daughter, Kate, crowd into Madeline’s nine room house along with Dan, the new lover. All bring their own histories, emotions, and problems, of course, and Madeline tries to understand each person and care for all. As one Amazon reader put it, the book “illuminates that tricky place so many of us live in, the interactions where our desire to remain rooted in the past collides with the need to move forward into the unforeseeable future.”
The book is well written in a plain style, and the characters are complex and interesting both as individuals and as they interact. Kate hates Dan on sight; Dan can’t stand Madeline paying attention to anyone but him; Billie and her two daughters buzz erratically around each other; and so on. Dan leaves in petty fury, but at the end the other characters are more closely connected in love than they were at the beginning.
There is one scene in the book that affected me, a non-mother, powerfully. Savannah has no idea how to nurse her newborn son, Dylan, so Madeline shows her. I had been mildly curious about this myself although I assumed it somehow just came naturally. There is quite a bit to it, I learned, and enjoyed the bond Madeline created with Savannah and the baby as well as helped Savannah create with her own son.
As I read the book I puzzled over the meaning of the title. I didn’t see how Madeline or any other character pushed the river. I saw the people as struggling to keep afloat, not to rebel or strike back at fate. At the end, however, I understood: the point of the title is that you can’t push the river! Madeline, sitting contentedly alone with Dylan on Christmas Day while the others have escaped to a movie, murmurs to the baby. “It turns out I can’t really push the river; I can’t make it go in a different direction than it’s going to go. I have no idea what crazy twists and turns your life may take. All I know is that you’re here and that matters. All I have to offer, all I’ve ever had to offer , is love. My messy, flawed, crazy-ass love. I will do the best I can. I will.”
November 5, 2019
At a time in her life when most women will want to lay back, enjoy life, and reward themselves with time to pursue the activities they have put off for way too long, Madeline finds herself enmeshed in the lives of others. Divorced years ago, with grown children and a large home to rattle around in, instead the home is filling up with needy relatives, friends, and a new baby, all of whom look to her for both emotional and financial support. All this is happening while she is evaluating a new romantic relationship, not without its problems either. The story is so well told, and one cannot help but admire and identify with Madeline, a character readers love from the very beginning. Life may not go in the direction we want it to, but there is personal reward in knowing we have made good choices.
August 13, 2018
Once you slip into Monier’s world, you won’t want to leave it; but, luckily, you won’t have to, because it won’t leave you. In the days since the novel’s last line gave me goose bumps, I’ve been savoring its ironies, delightedly discovering more symbols within it, analyzing its complex characters and conflicts, and wanting more—wanting answers. Would any of these characters now respond differently to the request to push a river, or would they still feel compelled to try? Which character’s view of this family is correct? Is it noble to behave as these characters do? Like a playwright, Monier vividly and sensitively depicts a powerful drama, and then she drops the curtain, leaving her readers to make up their minds about it. If ever there was a book that could actually get book club members to finally talk about what they’ve read, it’s this one. Incidentally, it would also make a great Steppenwolf production.
February 14, 2019
I truly enjoyed Pushing The River. I read it almost straight through because I eagerly wanted to find out what happened to each person. There were times when I laughed with them, was anxious for them, wanted to strangle them and give them advice! They are a family, a true family; committed, flawed and wonderful.
September 2, 2018
“I have lived in the company of ghosts.” These words open Barbara Monier’s poetic third novel. The speaker is Madeline, a middle-aged woman still occupying the house she bought with her ex-husband, the house where she raised her two children and now lives with the detritus of her own and other people’s past lives. At the urging of a friend, she resolves to “be here now” and to give online dating one last try. People soon arrive to change her life: a new lover, yes, but also a young and needy pregnant teenager, the younger sister of Madeline’s daughter-in-law. Pushing the River illuminates that tricky place so many of us live in, the intersection where our desire to remain rooted in the past collides with the need to move forward into an unforeseeable future.
October 4, 2018
Reviewed For Readers' Favorite by Grant Leishman
Pushing the River by Barbara Monier is a family drama that highlights many of the difficulties we all face in our busy lives as we try to hold our families together, especially as our children grow and leave the nest to spread their wings. Madeline is a typical suburban middle-aged mother. Now in her mid to late fifties, with her ex-husband departed several years ago and her children grown up and living away, she lives alone in the big, old house she grew up in. Despite its size, Madeline uses just a few rooms, with the remainder still containing the memories and collections of a family’s lifetime. Over a short period of time, Madeline’s solo and lonely existence begins to change. She meets a new man, who then suddenly decides he’s moving in with her and an empty house begins to fill, as first her daughter-in-law and then her daughter-in-law’s pregnant fifteen-year-old sister arrive, seeking help. Suddenly Madeline goes from being all alone to managing a new relationship as well as providing comfort for a teenager and her baby. Madeline faces the upheaval and the associated angst with a mixture of terror and determination as she seeks to “push the river” and meet all her family’s needs and demands, whilst still looking after her own self.
This could well be the story of any modern family, broken by dislocation and divorce. As a Mother, Madeline feels the need to hold her fractured family together and to keep and recreate the many traditions that defined them as a family. I particularly enjoyed author Barbara Monier’s description of Christmas together, as the new cast of characters sought to compete with and dispute the traditions of Madeline and her children, who had also returned home for the holidays. Looking at Pushing the River, as a social commentary on the family structure, I have no doubt many readers will identify with, particularly Madeline and the struggles she has to begin a whole new adventure at an age when she should be relaxing and enjoying the fruits of her labour. I particularly enjoyed the flashbacks to Madeline’s mother and Madeline’s life as a child, which shaped the woman she was today. This is a very readable book and one that reminds us that we are not alone in our own struggles with family and the desire to keep it together and alive. Madeline’s abiding love for others is what comes through most strongly in the narrative and I am sure we can all identify with that.
Pushing the River by Barbara Monier is a family drama that highlights many of the difficulties we all face in our busy lives as we try to hold our families together, especially as our children grow and leave the nest to spread their wings. Madeline is a typical suburban middle-aged mother. Now in her mid to late fifties, with her ex-husband departed several years ago and her children grown up and living away, she lives alone in the big, old house she grew up in. Despite its size, Madeline uses just a few rooms, with the remainder still containing the memories and collections of a family’s lifetime. Over a short period of time, Madeline’s solo and lonely existence begins to change. She meets a new man, who then suddenly decides he’s moving in with her and an empty house begins to fill, as first her daughter-in-law and then her daughter-in-law’s pregnant fifteen-year-old sister arrive, seeking help. Suddenly Madeline goes from being all alone to managing a new relationship as well as providing comfort for a teenager and her baby. Madeline faces the upheaval and the associated angst with a mixture of terror and determination as she seeks to “push the river” and meet all her family’s needs and demands, whilst still looking after her own self.
This could well be the story of any modern family, broken by dislocation and divorce. As a Mother, Madeline feels the need to hold her fractured family together and to keep and recreate the many traditions that defined them as a family. I particularly enjoyed author Barbara Monier’s description of Christmas together, as the new cast of characters sought to compete with and dispute the traditions of Madeline and her children, who had also returned home for the holidays. Looking at Pushing the River, as a social commentary on the family structure, I have no doubt many readers will identify with, particularly Madeline and the struggles she has to begin a whole new adventure at an age when she should be relaxing and enjoying the fruits of her labour. I particularly enjoyed the flashbacks to Madeline’s mother and Madeline’s life as a child, which shaped the woman she was today. This is a very readable book and one that reminds us that we are not alone in our own struggles with family and the desire to keep it together and alive. Madeline’s abiding love for others is what comes through most strongly in the narrative and I am sure we can all identify with that.
October 11, 2018
Poignant: Barbara Monier’s family saga poses important questions
A sprawling narrative about a house full of ghosts. A dysfunctional family on one side: a fifteen-year-old mother-to-be and her mother. On the side, our protagonist finds a new lover that, to the reader, seems too good to be true. He moves in, with his entire possessions in a paper bag, and leaves when things get overly complex. In the wings, sons and daughters with more, or less, successful lives. In the centre, a woman willing to be there, willing to be everything for everybody. That gives her much heartache — and much happiness. This sums up the plot, but what binds it all together? The central character? The proverbial mother-creature? Is this book turning the spotlight on motherhood? Is it questioning when it is time to let go? Or, is it questioning the way we treat our families? Taking everybody for granted is a recipe for disaster, but so is being unwilling to take responsibility. To me, Pushing the River raises several important questions. It is refreshing that Monier doesn’t force the answers down the readers’ throats.
A sprawling narrative about a house full of ghosts. A dysfunctional family on one side: a fifteen-year-old mother-to-be and her mother. On the side, our protagonist finds a new lover that, to the reader, seems too good to be true. He moves in, with his entire possessions in a paper bag, and leaves when things get overly complex. In the wings, sons and daughters with more, or less, successful lives. In the centre, a woman willing to be there, willing to be everything for everybody. That gives her much heartache — and much happiness. This sums up the plot, but what binds it all together? The central character? The proverbial mother-creature? Is this book turning the spotlight on motherhood? Is it questioning when it is time to let go? Or, is it questioning the way we treat our families? Taking everybody for granted is a recipe for disaster, but so is being unwilling to take responsibility. To me, Pushing the River raises several important questions. It is refreshing that Monier doesn’t force the answers down the readers’ throats.
October 8, 2018
Pushing the River is a stunning treatise on living an authentic life, with all of its intense joys and challenges. The heroine, Madeline, pulls you in so that it feels as if you are living with her and experiencing her world, past and present, palpably and memorably. Barbara Monier possesses the rare capacity to beautifully express what it is like to be human, with all of its richness, pain, love, and loss, and she does so through stories that are raw, evocative and relatable . At its core, Pushing the River is Madeline’s story, her processing of a life full of family moments of “profound grace”. She is surrounded in the present by multiple generations who all turn to her as their ‘center’, and we periodically go back in time with her to early days with a richly drawn-out mother whose influence on Madeline AND US is profound. She is a force, beautiful, bright, and sometimes exuding a steeliness that is rendered through actions that startle the reader and must have a profound impact on Madeline. Monier does not need to explicitly describe the effects of these moments on Madeline; they are felt and lived by us alongside her. Madeline is called upon throughout the book to reset as new and challenging situations occur, and she may teeter at times but she never falls or fails to come through for her loved ones, rolling with the many punches and calling upon her wisdom and life experience to guide her and them. (One scene has her demonstrating the delicate step-by-step process of nursing an infant; she is simultaneously acting and watching herself with recognition of the moment's awkwardness and elemental beauty. We feel it, too) Throughout this beautiful book, its characters, whether connected by blood or circumstance, are taken in, accepted with all their foibles and flaws and enveloped in a warm web of abiding loyalty and love. You see how Madeline thrives on and in the world she builds, persevering even when her desires are thwarted or challenged. She is a heroine to relate to and emulate, brave, open and relentlessly optimistic and forward moving It is a remarkable story, and one that will leave you aching for more from this talented author. Bravo Madeline, and bravo Barbara Monier!
January 30, 2019
I write a good deal about the relationship between fathers and sons. And it was so wonderful to read about women and mothers. The relationships come alive. I could feel all of it, as if I were there with each character, hearing them out. Honest and real. Oh, and I LOVE the title and artwork on the cover of this book. Read this one!
February 7, 2019
"A Surprisingly Interesting Story"
This is a story of a family erupting into crisis when the 15-year old daughter becomes pregnant and decides to keep the baby. This story is told mostly through Madeline's eyes as action is unfolded along with memories of her own mother and other relatives. For her, there is some confusion, anger, as well as love. A very provocative, very well written, and an interesting story about mothers and their challenges. Very highly recommended.
This is a story of a family erupting into crisis when the 15-year old daughter becomes pregnant and decides to keep the baby. This story is told mostly through Madeline's eyes as action is unfolded along with memories of her own mother and other relatives. For her, there is some confusion, anger, as well as love. A very provocative, very well written, and an interesting story about mothers and their challenges. Very highly recommended.
September 7, 2019
Couldn't put it down
This is more real than we like to think. I connected with Madeline and understood her every choice. The part where she felt like each of them had been given a characteristic to act out no matter what made me laugh out loud. I loved it.
This is more real than we like to think. I connected with Madeline and understood her every choice. The part where she felt like each of them had been given a characteristic to act out no matter what made me laugh out loud. I loved it.
August 10, 2018
In her third book, the always engaging writer Barbara Monier has given us a beautifully titled and themed novel that follows Madeline, a mother still mourning the breakup of her dream family, as she tries to hold on and recreate it against the tide of a rapidly changing cast of “family” members. The novel features an innovative episodic structure that goes back and forth in time while simultaneously layering the introduction of multiple immediate and extended family members and “participants,” each with affectionately rendered but significant quirks and issues. Madeline’s maternal nature attempts time after time to herd them all into her personal formula for family happiness until Dan appears, a ringer for Madeline, who upends her definition of family and motherhood.
February 9, 2019
Much enjoyed. I write stories about men. This is all about women. Loved it.
September 22, 2022
I'm not even to the end of this book yet and I can't put it down---fantastic read, great narrative and flow, hooks you right from the start. Monier's style of prose feels refreshing. I'm a new fan of hers, and you will be, too. (And for me to review a book before I'm even finished is something I rarely do, so that's saying something).
August 5, 2019
Beautiful prose, but I could not connect with any of the characters. Their bewildering life choices did not engage my interest (although I confess I finished the book to see where the protagonist ended up - I was a little concerned for her). This genre is not my favorite.
October 8, 2018
In her new book, Pushing the River, author Barbara Monier takes her readers into the complex world of families. The central character, Madeline, is grieving the loss of what she thought was her ideal family. She is skeptical about letting love back into her life. Love and family are the central themes of this novel. What will people do for family and those that feel like family are important storylines. Her struggle to find happiness for herself and help the people she cares about be happy rings true. We care about her characters and want them to succeed. The writing is strong and the characters are multi dimensional. You will be glad you spent time with them.
January 4, 2019
I received this book as an early reviewer giveaway on library thing. I do enjoy well written family dramas. The premise sounded interesting enough, and the authors credentials looked solid. Nevertheless, the book turned out to be a huge disappointment. On the plus side, it was an easy and fast read. The pros end there. I wasn't sure what this novel was trying to portray: situational comedy? drama of an underage mother? sex and the city? The plot was so convoluted I am not sure the author herself knew what she was trying to say. Family history tidbits were introduced at random and minor family characters were often mentioned without any discernible connection to the plot. I was often baffled by the authors literary choices. Why did the main character swear so much? To sound cool? It seemed at odds with her character. Honest sex talks with daughter in law? Discussing her own son's sex life with his wife????? Really? Too much time spent on insignificant details while major events (like giving birth) are completely skipped. Most characters are annoying static cardboard caricatures with an overemphasized feature not just in the final scene as the author herself points out but throughout the whole book. I could not relate to any of them. What I enjoy most in literature is "realness", whereas characters and situations feel true to life. This book was anything but real.
October 18, 2018
Barbara Monier’s new novel, Pushing the River, is a compelling depiction of family upheaval and bonding surrounding the pregnancy and early motherhood of a troubled 15 year-old, Savannah. The story is told primarily from the point-of-view of Madeline, the mother-in-law of Savannah’s sister, and is augmented with interspersed vignettes from Madeline’s life.
The novel addresses what it means to be family, touching on the drives to protect one another from harm, to hold traditions dear, to share a roof, to commit to partnership, and to sacrifice when necessary.
Monier writes with sensitivity and insight. The emotion of the story is balanced by Monier’s sense of humor, complete with laugh-out-loud moments. The characters are well-drawn and for the most part (when deserved), endearing.
Pushing the River is a must-read delight!
The novel addresses what it means to be family, touching on the drives to protect one another from harm, to hold traditions dear, to share a roof, to commit to partnership, and to sacrifice when necessary.
Monier writes with sensitivity and insight. The emotion of the story is balanced by Monier’s sense of humor, complete with laugh-out-loud moments. The characters are well-drawn and for the most part (when deserved), endearing.
Pushing the River is a must-read delight!
September 5, 2021
I was drawn to the book by the story description as the premise seemed interesting and it would provide me a bit of a change from my mysteries. I however sadly did not feel drawn into the lives of the characters and upon finishing was unclear as the type of story the writer intended to tell.
3 stars.
My thanks to goodreads and the book’s giveaway sponsors for the opportunity to obtain and read a copy of this book
3 stars.
My thanks to goodreads and the book’s giveaway sponsors for the opportunity to obtain and read a copy of this book
October 10, 2021
What a good book. Shows how life changes with time
and how pregnancy and new life bring us new life into our own. I received this book free from Goodreads
and how pregnancy and new life bring us new life into our own. I received this book free from Goodreads
May 29, 2025
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews