What do you think?
Rate this book
Rough - A Novel
It is 2013 and Calgary's Bow River is beginning to rise. Two homeless men stand by the bank and contemplate the death of another friend - an accident?
Taking cover downtown that night, Shermeto intervenes in the attack of a bar patron and finds himself laid up in the hospital. Outside, as the city reels from an unthinkable disaster, Shermeto finds himself away from the swelling river and face-to-face with a part of his past he is trying to hide from: his daughter, Kendra.
Taking cover downtown that night, Shermeto intervenes in the attack of a bar patron and finds himself laid up in the hospital. Outside, as the city reels from an unthinkable disaster, Shermeto finds himself away from the swelling river and face-to-face with a part of his past he is trying to hide from: his daughter, Kendra.
288 pages, Paperback
Published November 1, 2020
3 people are currently reading
55 people want to read
About the author
Robin van Eck
10 books22 followersRobin is a Calgary-based writer whose short fiction and creative nonfiction has appeared in Lamplight Magazine, FreeFall Magazine, Crack the Spine, Maudlin House, Woven Tales Press, Prairie Journal, the Waiting Anthology and more. She was an AMPA Showcase Award finalist in 2013 for her short story, Everywhere and Nowhere.
Her work often tackles important social issues that she is passionate about such as mental illness, homelessness, death/dying and family dynamics,
Always ready to learn and keep and open-mind, Robin is fascinated by the many facets of the human condition.
Whenever possible Robin loves to explore the mountains and valleys around Alberta and BC with her family and dog.
Her work often tackles important social issues that she is passionate about such as mental illness, homelessness, death/dying and family dynamics,
Always ready to learn and keep and open-mind, Robin is fascinated by the many facets of the human condition.
Whenever possible Robin loves to explore the mountains and valleys around Alberta and BC with her family and dog.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
December 21, 2020
Rough is a book that completely captivated me! It is a fictional story told around a devastating flood of the Bow River that occurred in 2013. I live in the city where the flood took place so I well remember how it devastated so many communities and the city as a whole. Homeless people or people sleeping rough make their nightly homes along the riverbank that winds through the cosmopolitan downtown. Many of these people generally avoid shelters so they are an unknown number when disasters like this strike. This is the story of Kendra and her estranged father, Shermeto. Shermeto has been living on the streets for years and when the flood comes Kendra makes a desperate attempt to find him. She has recently found out her father is suffering from cancer so she is determined to find him and help him with his living situation and medical issues. This book is beautifully written. The style of writing flows so well. I am amazed that this is a debut novel. Between the descriptions of life on the streets to the ramifications of the flood and the issues between Kendra and her father I was fully invested in this book. Kendra and Shermento have known a lot of heartache in their lives. I have always had so much empathy for homeless people and the author has done an amazing job detailing the problems and issues surrounding their daily lives. This book will definitely stay with me!
March 26, 2021
Rough took me places I needed to go. It got me thinking about homelessness and the thin margins of our life that we think of as 'protection'.
Thanks Robin!
Thanks Robin!
April 6, 2021
This is a great first book by an up and coming author. She brings her compassion to the page in her characterizations of the homeless, as well as the reality in father/daughter relationships. Her poetic description of the river as a character is beautiful. I look forward to reading more from this author.
March 16, 2021
A couple of other reviews.
https://albertaviews.ca/rough/
https://calgaryherald.com/entertainme...
https://albertaviews.ca/rough/
https://calgaryherald.com/entertainme...
March 27, 2021
Leaves me ready for more novels by this Author. Next, please ☺
August 3, 2021
Welcome to a Calgary you have never seen before--gritty, pained, sub-surface. There is a lot going on in this book, so if you like fast-paced, filagreed plots, and characters that live in your head after the last chapter is finished, this book is for you. Has Van Eck just invented a new genre: Calgary-noire?
July 13, 2020
Gut wrenching and exciting. I loved the characters. Expertly written from the points of view of a homeless man and his daughter. Life on the street is hard enough, but now the river is flooding.
November 29, 2020
If you live in Calgary, AB— do you remember what you were doing during the 2013 floods? I do. I had dinner with a friend in Kensington, I remember keeping my eyes on the news reels playing in the restaurant. I remember wondering if I’d need to find an alternate route home in case Memorial flooded. I made it home safe and luckily I don’t live near the river. On my way home though I remember seeing a lot of people standing on the river banks watching it rise. There was an electricity in the air that something bad was looming. I’ll never forget that feeling. This book captures that feeling.
Rough follows Shermeto, a man whose home is the streets by the river, and his daughter Kendra, who Shermeto is estranged from. It’s about humanity, family, forgiveness, and kindness. It’s gritty and there are a lot of twists and turns all intertwined with the rising river. Until it floods...
This story is absolutely enthralling. There are the moments that twist your guts while you’re reading them.
The descriptions and details in this book are like no other. Maybe it’s the nostalgia of knowing the city behind the words that make them feel so intimate. Or the authors incredible writing ability to paint a picture. But I felt it... I was there.
When I got into bed last night I was about halfway through the book — and at about 1:00am in the morning I finished the book. I needed to know how it unfolded, I couldn’t stop. And when I was done, I lied awake thinking about it and how it all unfolded.
If you’re looking for your next TBR and you want something gripping and deserving of a lot of attention... look no further.
Rough follows Shermeto, a man whose home is the streets by the river, and his daughter Kendra, who Shermeto is estranged from. It’s about humanity, family, forgiveness, and kindness. It’s gritty and there are a lot of twists and turns all intertwined with the rising river. Until it floods...
This story is absolutely enthralling. There are the moments that twist your guts while you’re reading them.
The descriptions and details in this book are like no other. Maybe it’s the nostalgia of knowing the city behind the words that make them feel so intimate. Or the authors incredible writing ability to paint a picture. But I felt it... I was there.
When I got into bed last night I was about halfway through the book — and at about 1:00am in the morning I finished the book. I needed to know how it unfolded, I couldn’t stop. And when I was done, I lied awake thinking about it and how it all unfolded.
If you’re looking for your next TBR and you want something gripping and deserving of a lot of attention... look no further.
February 18, 2021
A frantic father, Shermeto, laments the death of his son killed in a hit and run, and the suicide of Grace, his wife, the boy’s mother who ends her life in frantic grief. We find him terminally ill and homeless, seeking rest by the Bow River as he grapples with the shocking and suspicious death of a destitute friend, a man he treasured. It’s the onset of Calgary’s 2013 flood.
Rough is a remarkable tale of the universality of human fragility that often leaves people even more vulnerable than ever to, for example, thieves and sociopathic predators. As I read on, I thought about other kinds of pillagers of the poor and downtrodden who wear fancy suits and call themselves CEOs.
This remarkable story invited me, on almost every page, to evaluate. How does Canada treat those whose lives change in one blurred instant? Every day in Canada, there are 7 suicide deaths, the effects of which forever alter the lives of 10 others. Every year, 235,000 Canadians experience homelessness and often discover upon waking from their first night in what is optimistically called a shelter, that their boots, eyeglasses, cell phones, and money have disappeared. Are such robberies of concern to the CEO’s of Canada’s six largest charities who entitle themselves to salaries of over 350K a year?
What turns out to be a murder mystery thriller deftly tracks a conscienceless serial killer who circulates freely among the unprotected homeless. Aware of this new danger, and despite his illness and lack of proper clothing, Soweto rises to protect an endangered woman and child fleeing a brutal husband and father.
Again, I reflect on how tragic it is that escape from one abuse can lead the innocent to a lair just as threatening.
Shermeto’s eldest daughter, Kendra, is a shining star. Despite her distress about her husband’s rejection, she, in turn, rejects his inability to offer more than disdain for his father-in-law. Kendra’s self-absorbed husband soon tosses Kendra in favor of a woman who, for the moment at least, fills the bill. I wondered to myself what would happen should his new recruit fail to keep her fancy job or worse, suddenly develop a chronic illness? Good luck with that. Rough makes clear that when we stand up for love, there are always rewards.
Rough also celebrates the hundreds of kind-hearted Calgarian volunteers who leaped higher than the 2013 floodwaters to collect the homeless in buses along the Bow riverbanks and care for them in well-staffed emergency shelters. The author emphatically distinguishes between the chronically homeless and the temporarily houseless. While both are glad for a clean bed, social activities for their children and tables laden with food, the temporarily unhoused are living an adventure they know has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Soon enough they’ll be falling asleep to the flickering lights of their TV sets. The homeless won’t.
As I read, I witnessed that life in the rough is dangerous, not only in Calgary during a wild flood, but in every neighborhood and city. Rough puts a face to the perils of those hit with unpredictable life events. Over and over again, I thought about the benefits of Universal Basic Income for those impacted by a tragedy who need recovery or adjustment time. How wonderful it would have been for the mother and son in this story to have been quickly supported to rent a secure lodging during their escape from abuse, instead of being cast out into more endangerment. It astonishes me over and over that the most frequent response to the idea of Universal Basic Income is the worry that an alcoholic might misuse his small cheque. Yet no question at all arises about the crooks milking charity agencies for huge salaries most Canadians could never imagine earning!
Rough is a love story. Not only river waters flood but love does too, the kind of love and intention that confronts base evil.
Although a semi-fiction, this riveting story can easily be enjoyed by those interested in romance, criminology, and the slippery slope in which socially unsupported family life can suddenly falter.
Eleanor Cowan, author of A History of a Pedophile's Wife: Memoir of a Canadian Teacher and Writer
Rough is a remarkable tale of the universality of human fragility that often leaves people even more vulnerable than ever to, for example, thieves and sociopathic predators. As I read on, I thought about other kinds of pillagers of the poor and downtrodden who wear fancy suits and call themselves CEOs.
This remarkable story invited me, on almost every page, to evaluate. How does Canada treat those whose lives change in one blurred instant? Every day in Canada, there are 7 suicide deaths, the effects of which forever alter the lives of 10 others. Every year, 235,000 Canadians experience homelessness and often discover upon waking from their first night in what is optimistically called a shelter, that their boots, eyeglasses, cell phones, and money have disappeared. Are such robberies of concern to the CEO’s of Canada’s six largest charities who entitle themselves to salaries of over 350K a year?
What turns out to be a murder mystery thriller deftly tracks a conscienceless serial killer who circulates freely among the unprotected homeless. Aware of this new danger, and despite his illness and lack of proper clothing, Soweto rises to protect an endangered woman and child fleeing a brutal husband and father.
Again, I reflect on how tragic it is that escape from one abuse can lead the innocent to a lair just as threatening.
Shermeto’s eldest daughter, Kendra, is a shining star. Despite her distress about her husband’s rejection, she, in turn, rejects his inability to offer more than disdain for his father-in-law. Kendra’s self-absorbed husband soon tosses Kendra in favor of a woman who, for the moment at least, fills the bill. I wondered to myself what would happen should his new recruit fail to keep her fancy job or worse, suddenly develop a chronic illness? Good luck with that. Rough makes clear that when we stand up for love, there are always rewards.
Rough also celebrates the hundreds of kind-hearted Calgarian volunteers who leaped higher than the 2013 floodwaters to collect the homeless in buses along the Bow riverbanks and care for them in well-staffed emergency shelters. The author emphatically distinguishes between the chronically homeless and the temporarily houseless. While both are glad for a clean bed, social activities for their children and tables laden with food, the temporarily unhoused are living an adventure they know has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Soon enough they’ll be falling asleep to the flickering lights of their TV sets. The homeless won’t.
As I read, I witnessed that life in the rough is dangerous, not only in Calgary during a wild flood, but in every neighborhood and city. Rough puts a face to the perils of those hit with unpredictable life events. Over and over again, I thought about the benefits of Universal Basic Income for those impacted by a tragedy who need recovery or adjustment time. How wonderful it would have been for the mother and son in this story to have been quickly supported to rent a secure lodging during their escape from abuse, instead of being cast out into more endangerment. It astonishes me over and over that the most frequent response to the idea of Universal Basic Income is the worry that an alcoholic might misuse his small cheque. Yet no question at all arises about the crooks milking charity agencies for huge salaries most Canadians could never imagine earning!
Rough is a love story. Not only river waters flood but love does too, the kind of love and intention that confronts base evil.
Although a semi-fiction, this riveting story can easily be enjoyed by those interested in romance, criminology, and the slippery slope in which socially unsupported family life can suddenly falter.
Eleanor Cowan, author of A History of a Pedophile's Wife: Memoir of a Canadian Teacher and Writer
October 8, 2021
Set against the backdrop of Calgary's devastating 2013 flood, this book is about the homeless, and the people who love them. As the river starts to rise, the city's homeless, most of whom live their lives in close proximity to the river, are forced to relocate. Shermeto, homeless by choice in the aftermath of family tragedy, finds himself in hospital after a beating, and is reunited with his equally traumatized, but slightly more functional, eldest daughter Kendra. Once back on the streets, Shermeto finds himself caught up in a murder mystery along with the natural disaster unfolding around him, while Kendra tries to reach out to her father and bring him off the streets while dealing with the unraveling of her marriage and the tentative beginnings of a new relationship. This book puts a very human face to the homeless, who are so often stereotyped and overlooked. As an Albertan, I loved the Calgary setting, and the sense of urgency provided by the flood that we all remember. The characters were great, and the author demonstrates a good understanding of the complexities of homelessness. The river itself was also a character, with chapters of its own. I wasn't always a fan of the writing style, however, and there were things that I found rather unbelievable. This is a first novel, and it is a very solid debut from an author I hope to read more of.
April 3, 2022
Rough by Robin Van Eck takes the reader through a story set during the very real 2013 Calgary flood. For readers who lived in the city during this state of emergency, we can recall our own experiences during the crisis. At the time, I worked for a company involved in drying out the city, so I learned much more about the extent of damage during the aftermath and recovery.
Van Eek let’s us see those days through the lens of the vulnerable unseen victims who live closest to the river. Her story is centered on characters connected through a community of homelessness.
Rough follows Shermeto and his estranged daughter, Kendra. While flood waters rise, and upon learning her father resides on the streets, Kendra must find Shermeto before it’s too late. Shermeto is not only reluctant to be rescued, but the threat of a murderer targeting its homeless residents looms.
This suspenseful read touches on family trauma, death, alcoholism, illness, and the subsequent impact on surviving family members and their relationships. Humanity is at the heart of this book. Van Eck weaves grit and the realties of living rough among what is a lyrical and descriptive voice. The river has its own narrative voice, giving us nature’s unique perspective.
Rough is Robin Van Eck’s debut novel and I look forward to more from this author.
Van Eek let’s us see those days through the lens of the vulnerable unseen victims who live closest to the river. Her story is centered on characters connected through a community of homelessness.
Rough follows Shermeto and his estranged daughter, Kendra. While flood waters rise, and upon learning her father resides on the streets, Kendra must find Shermeto before it’s too late. Shermeto is not only reluctant to be rescued, but the threat of a murderer targeting its homeless residents looms.
This suspenseful read touches on family trauma, death, alcoholism, illness, and the subsequent impact on surviving family members and their relationships. Humanity is at the heart of this book. Van Eck weaves grit and the realties of living rough among what is a lyrical and descriptive voice. The river has its own narrative voice, giving us nature’s unique perspective.
Rough is Robin Van Eck’s debut novel and I look forward to more from this author.
November 29, 2024
Owad’s Micro-Review #150
While Calgary’s Bow River rises with a coming flood, local homeless man Shermeto takes a bad beating and ends up in the hospital. This brings his estranged daughter, Kendra, back into his world. What follows is part murder mystery and part literary meditation on life on the streets in the Stampede City.
Although the story is nominally about homelessness, it’s not overly gritty or socially prescriptive. There’s a gentle, leisurely pace and a main character—the river—that infuses everything with a somber, wistful mood. The mystery is secondary. The father-daughter story, Shermeto’s waning health, Kendra’s attempts to navigate the terrain of broken relationships—a lot goes wrong for the people in this book, but there’s a spark of hope and humanity running through it all. This is a well-told story that’s worth settling into.
While Calgary’s Bow River rises with a coming flood, local homeless man Shermeto takes a bad beating and ends up in the hospital. This brings his estranged daughter, Kendra, back into his world. What follows is part murder mystery and part literary meditation on life on the streets in the Stampede City.
Although the story is nominally about homelessness, it’s not overly gritty or socially prescriptive. There’s a gentle, leisurely pace and a main character—the river—that infuses everything with a somber, wistful mood. The mystery is secondary. The father-daughter story, Shermeto’s waning health, Kendra’s attempts to navigate the terrain of broken relationships—a lot goes wrong for the people in this book, but there’s a spark of hope and humanity running through it all. This is a well-told story that’s worth settling into.
May 16, 2021
This book really pulled me in. It was set in Calgary, in 2013, during the flooding. It's the story of Shermeto, a homeless man, and his struggle to survive. The reader is also introduced to his daughter, Kendra, and the book delves into their history.
The book has a quick pace, and once I started reading, I could not stop. I needed to know what was going to happen to the characters during this awful flooding.
The book has a quick pace, and once I started reading, I could not stop. I needed to know what was going to happen to the characters during this awful flooding.
May 16, 2021
A homeless man, his daughter and the River
Fascinating insight into a mostly unknown world as the rest of it spins crazily out of control on the surge of a river’s whim. A story of damaged people - damaged by others, themselves, tragic circumstances- riding a tumultuous wave of terror, guilt, redemption, forgiveness and love.
Certain lines will stop you cold.
Fascinating insight into a mostly unknown world as the rest of it spins crazily out of control on the surge of a river’s whim. A story of damaged people - damaged by others, themselves, tragic circumstances- riding a tumultuous wave of terror, guilt, redemption, forgiveness and love.
Certain lines will stop you cold.
October 8, 2021
Rough is a multi-layered story of family, loss, and grief told over the seven days that shook Alberta in June 2013, when the Bow River flooded. Shermeto is used to the rough life on the streets but he can't look away when a bar fight gets out of control. His past comes calling as his estranged daughter Kendra reenters his life at the hospital, but he'd rather go back to the streets than face her and their family tragedy. It's easier to help a young boy and his mother but it's a race against time as the river rises, bringing the past and present to the surface in a tense, fast-paced climax. An excellent read from Calgay's own Robin van Eck.
September 16, 2025
An intimate look into the lives of many homeless people, along with one man, Del, and those he loved and those he met on the streets of Calgary, before, during and after the floods of 2013. It was a page-turner. (As a lifetime resident of Calgary, it was a fun challenge for me to figure out the locations in the story. I visualized many, but other places remained a mystery.)
July 21, 2021
I pass homeless people on my commute to work and after reading this, it makes me want to stop more and say hello and get to know their stories instead of just giving them money. The imagery is great, it took me back to the flood.
March 16, 2021
So great. Had to read it in 36 hours as I could t put it down.
March 24, 2021
Loved this book! The tight prose and the heartfelt characters, set against the drama of the 2013 Calgary floods. It'll make you think deeply about homelessness.
February 5, 2023
A great read! River as character and really enjoyed all the Calgary landmarks. A very true depiction of living rough, homeless. Raw emotion of grief and confusion of mental illness.
April 6, 2021
The Calgary flood of 2013 was a horror to many area residents and for the homeless in the area a time of major crisis. Robin van Eck’s novel rough weaves a captivating and touching story of family life with the perils of homeless residents in a crisis, with a dose of intrigue and action. Part chronicle of homelessness, both voluntary and involuntary, and part psychological thriller, this is a compelling read. The author injects some poetic, almost philosophical passages into the story, and adds the occasional dose of ironic humour here and there.
September 27, 2020
Rough is the story of a river flooding its banks and what happens to the people caught in its path. Those most vulnerable, the people sleeping rough near the river's banks, are most at risk. Not only will they have to avoid being swallowed by the rising water, they must also contend with a killer amongst them.
Shermeto lives on the streets of Calgary, estranged from family, from communication devices and from information that would help him navigate impending danger. His daughter, struggling with past and current losses, is on a journey to find Shermeto before it's too late.
I found this book captivating. As a social worker I was involved in emergency shelter work during the 2013 flood in Calgary. While the disaster impacted people from all walks of life, the effects were most profound and long lasting for those living closer to the margins of our economy. I meet people even today who tell me how their life was forever altered due to the flood.
Reading this debut novel from Robin van Eck was a surreal experience, and I encourage readers who enjoy suspenseful stories with beautiful writing to pick it up. Rough is to be released in November 2020 and is currently available for pre-order.
Shermeto lives on the streets of Calgary, estranged from family, from communication devices and from information that would help him navigate impending danger. His daughter, struggling with past and current losses, is on a journey to find Shermeto before it's too late.
I found this book captivating. As a social worker I was involved in emergency shelter work during the 2013 flood in Calgary. While the disaster impacted people from all walks of life, the effects were most profound and long lasting for those living closer to the margins of our economy. I meet people even today who tell me how their life was forever altered due to the flood.
Reading this debut novel from Robin van Eck was a surreal experience, and I encourage readers who enjoy suspenseful stories with beautiful writing to pick it up. Rough is to be released in November 2020 and is currently available for pre-order.
February 23, 2023
It’s 2013, and the Bow River that winds through Calgary, Alberta is about to spill its banks in a 100 year flood. Unfortunately for Shermeto, a middle aged un housed man, this flood is unlike any the city has seen in living history, and the city is unprepared. In order to protect the people he cares about, Shermeto must come face to face with the circumstances that brought him to living rough and find a way to make peace with the future and the past in order to survive.
This hurt to read. In a good way, mostly. This book is set in the city I’ve lived my 27 years in, and I can see each scene unfolding. The author has done a wonderful job at humanizing people living at the margins of society, and I’m so grateful for it. A huge percentage of people on this city and across the country are 1-3 missed away from housing insecurity. Living rough is something that could happen to any of us at any time, and this novel tries to find sense in that. I’ll be thinking about this one for a really long time.
This hurt to read. In a good way, mostly. This book is set in the city I’ve lived my 27 years in, and I can see each scene unfolding. The author has done a wonderful job at humanizing people living at the margins of society, and I’m so grateful for it. A huge percentage of people on this city and across the country are 1-3 missed away from housing insecurity. Living rough is something that could happen to any of us at any time, and this novel tries to find sense in that. I’ll be thinking about this one for a really long time.
February 6, 2023
Rough is a beautifully written book set in Calgary during the 2013 flood. Through the characters of Shermeto, a homeless man, and his daughter Kenda, the reader is offered a rare window into the relationship between the river and the homeless population, as well as the specific challenges that a natural disaster such as a flood poses to the homeless. The river becomes a character in the book, which is a fascinating aspect of the narrative. I was drawn into the story quickly, and appreciated the dimensionality of the characters, particularly of Shermeto, whose background of trauma has played a significant role leading up to his homelessness. The reversed roles of daughter and father are well-illustrated as Kendra tries to care for her ailing father. "Rough" was an absorbing story and the quality of the writing makes it a pleasure to read.
February 5, 2023
Every once in a while, a book grabs me hard because it brings me into a world that I'm longing to understand. Rough does this. I am brought into such a world, in an exquisite and compassionate way, by Robin van Eck, and I am shown how I am similar to those who choose to live differently than me. The destruction created by the 2013 Calgary flood parallels how lives can be destructed suddenly and with grave consequences. I hope that this novel can bring us to a greater level of compassion toward the who we believe are not like us.
February 24, 2023
This book was chosen for my book club.
The author is Calgarian and she places the setting in Calgary, during the major flood from almost 10 years ago.
It's an OK book. I found the changing time frame to be unnecessarily confusing - one chapter is the present time, the next is the far past, the next might be the medium past. I found this quite jarring.
The author does a good job of describing the life of the homeless and their plight. She is most sympathetic to that segment of society that she is portraying.
The author is Calgarian and she places the setting in Calgary, during the major flood from almost 10 years ago.
It's an OK book. I found the changing time frame to be unnecessarily confusing - one chapter is the present time, the next is the far past, the next might be the medium past. I found this quite jarring.
The author does a good job of describing the life of the homeless and their plight. She is most sympathetic to that segment of society that she is portraying.
September 12, 2023
I finished Robin van Eck’s 2020 novel Rough weeks ago and the story still hasn’t left me. Set around the 2013 floods in Calgary, this story is not about the flood, but about displacement, loss, and grief. The Shermeto family went through unthinkable trauma, resulting in the patriarch (our protagonist) choosing to be homeless rather than face his own family and in turn, his own grief. Interesting then, that in the end, a natural disaster put the wheels of his healing in motion, and ultimately it was family who cauterized the wound.
van Eck has a real knack for page-turning prose—this was one of those books I had a hard time putting down. The stakes are high and there is a thriller-esque aspect I won’t spoil, but had me on the edge of my seat—especially in the last half. Another thing I loved about this book is the choices the author made regarding setting. The setting (Calgary) and the circumstance affecting the setting (the 2013 flood) are treated as characters themselves, a decision you know was carefully made and beautifully executed. Personifying the river was a bold but highly effective choice; I wish more authors would take creative risks like this.
van Eck’s treats Shermeto (who in this dual POV novel, in my opinion, is the star of the show) with such compassion and balance it really makes you think about the way society treats the less fortunate.
The ending was satisfying and believable—not happy, but inevitable. I read somewhere recently that a novel’s ending should match the rest of the book in its tone, and that, van Eck pulled off perfectly.
The only thing I can say that might have improved the reading experience for me is that the editing got a little sloppy toward the end—I caught a few minor typos in the last few chapters (this is no fault of the author’s though.) All in all—I loved this book and can’t wait to read more from this up-and-coming Canadian author.
van Eck has a real knack for page-turning prose—this was one of those books I had a hard time putting down. The stakes are high and there is a thriller-esque aspect I won’t spoil, but had me on the edge of my seat—especially in the last half. Another thing I loved about this book is the choices the author made regarding setting. The setting (Calgary) and the circumstance affecting the setting (the 2013 flood) are treated as characters themselves, a decision you know was carefully made and beautifully executed. Personifying the river was a bold but highly effective choice; I wish more authors would take creative risks like this.
van Eck’s treats Shermeto (who in this dual POV novel, in my opinion, is the star of the show) with such compassion and balance it really makes you think about the way society treats the less fortunate.
The ending was satisfying and believable—not happy, but inevitable. I read somewhere recently that a novel’s ending should match the rest of the book in its tone, and that, van Eck pulled off perfectly.
The only thing I can say that might have improved the reading experience for me is that the editing got a little sloppy toward the end—I caught a few minor typos in the last few chapters (this is no fault of the author’s though.) All in all—I loved this book and can’t wait to read more from this up-and-coming Canadian author.
February 23, 2022
This story of life on the streets and the families impacted by it includes guilt and forgiveness, rejection and acceptance. it is set in Calgary, Alberta during the flood of 2013. Van Eck tells a tale that lasts six days and focuses on a variety of people. It is well written, descriptive, sincere and thoughtful. I would recommend.
June 23, 2025
Half-thriller, half-literary, this book touches on a number of human experiences and themes. The title is perfectly layered to evoke the various meanings of "rough." I love how the river is a character here, giving the whole story a mild sense of the fantastical or supernatural, while remaining firmly grounded in realism. I will definitely be reading more from Robin van Eck.
September 27, 2023
A hands-down wonderful book to read. Well written characters, tension that builds as the river rises, great pacing, and a deep dive into living "rough". Superlative writing that kept me up way past my bed time. Stand-out debut novel.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews