The River Beyond the World

by Janet Peery, Songhee Kim (Designed by)

Luisa Cantu is a girl from a Sierra Madre mountain village. After being impregnated in a fertility ritual of ancient ofigin, she leaves Mexico to work in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas as a housemaid for Mrs. Eddie Hatch, a woman with a strong will and a narrow worldview. Their complex relationship-by turns mystical and pragmnatic, serious and comic-reveals the many ways human beings can wound one another, the nautre of love and sacrifice, and the possibility of forgiveness.

The River Beyond the World is a 1996 National Book Award Finalist for Fiction.

Genres: Fiction, Literature, Novels, Contemporary

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was good. I hated the writing. Reading the book was a rather unplesant experience, even though the story is really sticking with me. The writing was pretentious and full of itself. I hate writing that is full of sentence fragments. I hate writing about foreign places that attempts to explain nothing of the foreign terminology it uses, even in context. That demonstrates a lack of writing talent and a snobbish presumption.

[Kori · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the most complex and simultaneously stirring books I have read in awhile. Starts off slow, but once I was able to get the lineages of the characters and their relationships straight, I found it difficult to look away. I wondered at times if it needed to be as long as it is or have as many characters present - but in a way, the historical and familial nature of the plot warrants it. These are dynamic, beautifully drawn characters who produce a rollercoaster of reactions, and though the ending is not quite what I would like to have seen done, it was a satisfying read. Looking forward to checking out Peery's other book, What the Thunder Said.

[Leia]

I wanted to like it but the writing style didn't interest me.

To Be Donated Pile

[Elizabeth Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Janet Peery’s riveting, achingly beautiful novel, The River Beyond the World, unravels the deceit the landed impose upon those in their employ, and the folly of their conceit. A stunning book, Peery brings her poetic mastery to this unflinching gaze into the petty revenges of the human heart. A revolutionary novel.

[Joan Horkey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written.

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing was very poetic, and the book took some turns I wasn't expecting. It's really a very compelling story and I would recommend this book. However, I felt that it resorted to stereotypes. That of the oppressed peoples being somehow closer to the truth of the world, more primitive, more mystical, less "sophisticated". Ugh. That turned me off.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd like to give it 3.5 stars. Her writing is beautiful but it took me a long time to get into this story. It's really more of a character study than anything else but the problem for me was that we were supposed to see this underlying relationship between the two women from the two different worlds... but it just wasn't there for me. An okay read, didn't love it, didn't hate it.

[Donna Andrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful beautiful book. Characters utterly real with fully defined personalities. The story weaves cultural and class prejudices in truly elegant ways. I read this book probably 10 years ago now and I still remember some scenes vividly because of how well written it is. Have recommended to many.

[Tommy]

How can a National Book Award finalist have only 5 reviews?

[Jpmartin5552 Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book starts off slow and strange, but quickly turns into one of those "across the years" novels that are so much fun to read.

[R B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written book about life, death, culture clash, forgiveness and its all intertwined with threads of mysticism.

[Richard Kravitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good story. Honest and real, a book about women by a woman!

[Jill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sympathetic.

[Lee Roversi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exquisite.