The Remains of River Names

by Matt Briggs

The novel is told in twelve linked stories, each of which is a chapter told in turn by the members of a counter-culture family in the process of destroying itself. The novel takes place over twenty years, from the '70's to the 90's, from the beginnings of familial disintegration to its individual members coming to terms. This novel won the 1998 King County (Washington) Arts Commission Publication Award for Fiction.

208 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 1999

About the author

Matt Briggs grew up in the Snoqualmie Valley, raised by working-class, counter-culture parents who cultivated and sold cannabis. Briggs has written two books set in rural Washington chronicling this life, The Remains of River Names and Shoot the Buffalo. Critic Ann Powers wrote of Briggs first book in the New York Times Book Review, "Briggs has captured the America that neither progressives nor family-value advocates want to think about, where bohemianism has degenerated into dangerous dropping out." Briggs has published a number of collection of stories, including The Moss Gatherers and The End is the Beginning. Of his stories, Jim Feast wrote in the American Book Review, "All of Briggs’s zigzagging stories are told with great attention to the details of lowbrow culture and the contours of the American Northwest."

Reviews

[Printable Tire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Something has drawn me to a copy of this at the Pawtucket Public Library for many years and I finally just finished it. Seeming autobiographical exploration of a dysfunctional (or not traditionally functional), burnt-out counterculture family in the pacific northwest, told from different family members' points of view through picturesque, connecting short stories/slices of life. Everyone's a little more articulate than in real life and sometimes its hard to tell the voices apart but strongest are the self-absorbed, struggling hippie mom (played by Lauren Graham if there ever was a movie), especially in "The House Below Laughing Horse Reservoir" and the sullen, struggling-to-be-independent, psychopathic older brother, Milton, especially in "Nightcrawlers." Is nature or nurture to blame for how the kids turned out? Who can say. Evocative of a certain time and place.

[Vincent Czyz · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book ... I liked the premise--what happens to (more or less) hippies after the movement has pretty much died out. I also like the WINESBURG, OHIO concept of linked short stories. But aside from being a bore without much of a plot, the writing is just too pretentious to stay with--starting with the title. In other words, Briggs looks like a writer trying to write. Here's an example: "Lying in the hot, loose soil in the middle of the pine forest I wished that I could just be one of the plants, fox-glove or a knot of yellow daisies." Here's a Hallmark card I just picked out: "Lying in the calm, green meadow, you feel yourself putting down roots into the moist soil, and the breeze weaves through your hair as though it were grass." Honestly, I think Hallmark did it slightly better. He just pushes too hard with the images and metaphors or this might have been decent writing. I don't think that would have saved the weak narrative or the the lackluster characters.

[Julia Mccurdy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think Vincent's review of this book was a little harsh, and wonder if perhaps his one star rating might be in part a reaction to the fact that the author gave his own book a five star rating.

I didn't enjoy reading this book, but I think that's partially the point. I liked the structure. The writing didn't always seem thought out, or clear, or complete. I'm not sure how to put it. The characters weren't compelling or developed. Even so, I would consider reading other works by this author.

[Joe Bedell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lyrical and disturbing. Fascinating, intriguing, and compelling. I couldn't put it down.