Swift River

Essie Chambers’s writing is so vivid, so lush, so immersive that you are taken fully into the world of Diamond - I felt the cool it the river, the smell of Jergens, the heat of the summer- I was surprised and delighted by the humor which only further establishes Essie as a prominent new voice - bringing a fresh new perspective to a history that we all think that we know. I have been waiting for a read like this for a while.

Visceral, heartbreaking and oftentimes funny, Essie Chambers excels on multiple fronts as she weaves a tale that simultaneously covers a young girl’s rites of passage, the 80s, complicated family dynamics, the history of sundown towns, and reconciling our past and the identities we can’t escape. You will leave wanting not only to be Diamond Newberry’s next friend, but you’ll also wonder where she lands in the future. I LOVED IT.

Reading this book, I knew I was reading the first novel of one of America’s greatest writers. Her voice is unique, compelling and in this book – moving seamlessly between time periods that connect and intersect – Chambers creates characters whose lives illuminate universal emotions experienced within some of the most powerful forces shaping our nation’s history. But Chambers never broadcasts ideas or outcomes, rather she slowly interweaves memory, desire and longing. Her imagery makes the ordinary become unexpectedly revelatory, often gut ripping. There are some books that once you begin them, all else falls aside. Swift River is one of those. It took my breath away.

What a powerful tale of sorrow, growth and triumph. Finding your roots and growing as you come to see your roots. Journey of a young biracial teen as she struggles to deal with the loss of her father and to forge her own racial identity as she connects with her mother, friends, her extended family and others in her life. You won’t want to put this book down. I read it two times.

This is not your typical mother daughter story. There is definitely some sadness to it. It is just Diamond and her mother after her dad walks out on them. They are living in poverty in a town with a deep history of racism. Sometimes they can't afford to keep the electricity on and hitch hike wherever they need to go. Diamond stands out at her high school being the only Black and gets bullied about being overweight. Diamond comes out of her shell when she makes her first real friend at driving school. I was a little creeped out at her friend's inappropriate relationship with an older man. I felt hope when she started communicating with a member of her dads' African American side of the family. The story really showed that family history and connection can play a big role in shaping a person's identity and understanding of themselves. The writing flowed well, and I wanted to keep turning the pages of Diamonds story.

Maybe it's because I got the Audible version, but it didn't hold my interest. I'm not a big Audible fan, but wanted something I could listen to while on my exercise machine. It got a great review in the Washington Post and I think the author really writes well, but my experience was only so so. The main character is a young woman who lives with her kind of loony mother. They are very poor, and the heroine has ambitions beyond high school. She is determined to learn to drive, which is a rather important plot line. Maybe it's because I got the Audible version, but it didn't hold my interest. I'm not a big Audible fan, but wanted something I could listen to while on my exercise machine. It got a great review in the Washington Post and I think the author really writes well, but my experience was only so so. Please don't let my mediocre experience deter you from reading this book.

First off, one thing I was not expecting but pleasantly surprised by was that the main character Diamond was a fat teenager. This immediately piqued my interest. The way the author wrote how Diamond viewed herself as well as other adults around her -"She's like a wise person from the future, come to tell me things I'll need to know, give me things I'll need to fight my way out of here. 'Here' being this town and my body." We really get to see Diamond through a lot in this book including her first time with a boy and navigating friendships and more importantly her relationship with her mother. Diamond is biracial (white mother, black father) and just doesn't know where she belongs.

I was really into the whole mystery of her dad disappearance 7 years prior and honestly thought we would get more of that? But it seemed like we did not get a resolution on where his whereabouts truly were. Could I have missed it? That is very likely. I was very confused through most of this book. I did not think the letters from the relatives that Diamond didn't know about were relevant as I was more interested in the coming of age aspect of Diamond and the mystery of her dad.

These two quotes stuck out to me while listening & made me say wow : "I didn't know there could be such a lonely laugh. I got to wondering, who is this person without their people? How am I Clumsy Clara, silly and stubborn Clara, Clara with her head in the clouds - how am I that girl without anyone who loves me saying it, seeing me. I think, maybe I am a ghost. Maybe I died with the others."

"Being here in Woodville makes me uneasy, like I'm in between places, waiting to start my life again. Your hometown makes you and breaks you and makes you again. Daddy said that to me. I wonder if that's how you'll feel about Swift River if you ever leave it?"

Even though there was a lot that confused me while reading, I did enjoy the book and will check out this author's future work.

Check this book out if you like multi-generational stories, set in the Northeast in the late 80s, coming of age!

✨What it is about: A sweeping family saga about the complicated bond between mothers and daughters, the disappearance of a father, and the long-hidden history of a declining New England mill town.✨

💭My thoughts: This was a traumatic coming of age story of a young girl named Diamond, the only black(biracial) girl in her small town. From the beginning, this was super interesting to me, as there was a lot she had to deal with: her father’s disappearance, her struggles with identity, her physical appearance, her relationship with her mother, and the discovery of secrets and family history through letters. However, it felt like the different plot points did not come together in a way that were completely cohesive and meaningful in Diamond’s story. There seemed to be a lot of questions left unanswered, and some holes in the timelines. I feel there was a lot of potential with this story, and though a quick read, I struggled to stay invested throughout. It was not a bad story, it just unfortunately didn’t deliver the way I hoped it would. I did like that the ending gave a beacon of hope for the characters, and though this didn’t turn out to be what I hoped, I’d definitely be open to read what the author writes next.

Read if you like: 💦 Complex mother-daughter relationships 💦 Dual timelines 💦 Coming of age stories 💦 Stories of identity, race 💦 The 80s

⚠️ CW: Racism, racial slurs, death of a parent, complex family relationships, dodgy shaming, bullying.