The River Road

by Frances Parkinson Keyes

The mighty chronicle of a fabulous family--the hot-headed, hot-blooded d'Alverys, and of the skeleton-ridden house where they were born.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Southern, Family

Paperback

First published January 1, 1945

About the author

Frances Parkinson Keyes was an American author who wrote about her life as the wife of a U.S. Senator and novels set in New England, Louisiana, and Europe. A convert to Roman Catholicism, her later works frequently featured Catholic themes and beliefs. Her last name rhymes with "skies," not "keys."

Reviews

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

FRANCIS PARKINSON KEYES… Over the years I've bought and read most of her books, and I've never been disappointed. I can see how some readers might think her writing is slow. That's because she takes time to give rich details of the time period, her settings, and the backgrounds for her plots. Her impeccable research is second to none. But that's not why I love her work so much. What she does best is tell a great story. In the end, that's the difference between her work and that of lesser writers. Some of them have forgotten that first and foremost they are supposed to be story tellers. Ms. Keyes' books stand the test of time, because great writing and story telling will never go out of style. If you have a chance to read any of her novels, don't pass it up.
She lives for a year in the setting of her novel, gathering background and stories from people in the area, she meets with the owners of the plantations and includes some of their family stories and details of plantation life in her book, she has people who live in the area help her research, she notes the weather, the plants, the animals, the feel of the place and includes it all in her books. Written in the forties, her books see history, but through the lens of the forties, which gives them an added dimension of interest, as attitudes toward many things are so different 50 years later. She is a strong believer in love at first sight, of understanding and devoted wives, which may reflect the forties, but her characters change, have flaws and pay the consequences, grow wiser as they age and have strong values. There are characters that have no values who are foils and contrast to the main character. She follows a family through three generations, and notes the changes in technology, the current events, and the styles for each generation, as well as the consequence of certain choices made by older generations on their posterity. An historical saga that takes you to a different place and another time.

[Teryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

The stories of the lives of the lives of the people of Louisiana were endlessly fascinating to me as a teenager. The way people who did not speak French were patronised, Italians were not socially acceptable for example, but the way the women rose above their disadvantages and second class status was inspiring. I am going to try and find her books and reread them.

[Carrie Dalby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Keyes's books are so dense with layers of descriptions, plot, and characters--and page count--they take several chapters to sink into. But once you're there--you're THERE.
Tragically (and beautifully) rendered Southern Gothic family saga spanning WWI-WWII along the River Road outside of Baton Rouge. Some of the language/dialog/dialect can be jarring (and insensitive to modern readers), but those do not represent the majority of the book.
If you enjoy Southern Gothic and lots of drama, FPK's Louisiana-set books are the way to go.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent novel about the lives of some plantation owners living on the River Road near Baton Rouge, Louisiana just after the Second World War. Keyes does a great job of showing us the traditional role females had to play in the characters of Merry and Regina, compared with strong, contemporary women such as Cresside trying to make her way in the World. We are also given an insight into the workings of a sugar plantation and even introduced to some of the political figures of the time- Governor Parker and Huey Long who in this book is not yet a major politician. This is the UK version, with a sequel in the form of "Vail D'Alvery".
Of course Mrs. Keyes leaves us unsuspecting until the last of the huge secret that one of the characters hides!

[Nathalie Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since I am a native of south Louisiana I enjoyed reading about the places and the culture that I know about. I read it so long ago I don't remember much about the story. I bought it because I had enjoyed Crescent Carnival by the same author but I remember being somewhat disappointed that River Road was not as good.

[Paddy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not comfortable rating this book since I fell in love with when I was in fifth or sixth grade, but Keyes was among my go-to shelves in the library during my intense adolescent historical fiction phase. God knows what I'd think of it today, but I don't want to revisit this territory so I'll let sleeping dogs lie and award it two stars.

[Bamboozlepig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was looooooooooooooong. I started reading it around this past New Year's and just now finished it. It was one of those books that I read between other books I was reading. My copy was an old library hardback copy and the print was pretty fine, so some days I only read a couple of pages and others I finished full chapters.

Anyway, onto the book itself. Keyes is noted for her huge family and historical sagas that usually take place in the South. Most plots involve life on plantations. This one was no different.

The novel starts the year WWI ends and follows the fortunes of the d'Alverys, an old Creole family living on a sugar plantation in Louisiana. Keyes sets the historical aspects well and does an excellent job at describing life on said plantation. The characters are well-written and fully developed. I particularly liked Merry and Cresside for their strength in the face of adversity.

But at times this plodded along and it felt a little like Keyes spent more time on the early lives of the d'Alverys and kind of rushed through the later years, including the years of WWII.

Still, it was a good solid read and I'm glad I gave it a shot. Sometimes the old books are better reads than the newer books. It seems like writers nowadays want to write more mysteries/thrillers/spy novels/chick-lit/cliched historical fic instead of huge family sagas. And while Keyes and her plots tend to meander around, I'd rather read that than some of the crap that gets published now.

[Eugenia · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I could I'd give this one 3.5 * The plot was very engaging. I love family sagas like this. I read it because it had been a favorite of my mothers in the 40s or early 50s. Keyes was a person who belonged to a completely different generation and some of her writing was hard to read because of it. The paternalistic attitudes of the time, towards women and the black people who work on the estate were hard for me to ignore--even though I know it was accurate for the time. Also, I am very much put off when an author tries to write in a poorly-educated black dialect. It feels condescending to the character, but again, I understand that it was acceptable to add that sort of 'authenticity" at that time. The book also needed a good editor to cut down on extraneous information and make it a bit shorter.

[Kelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doesn't quite measure up to Crescent Carnival but still a great read!

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mom had this on her bookshelves, where it's lived for a good many years. One hot summer when, when I was in high school I decided to read it. Unfortunately, or maybe tellingly, I remember more about the weather that week than I do about the book. I won't be reading this again.

[leslie beaird · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this Author and I LOVED this book!!! Just my kind of book, wish I could find more books to read like this!!!

[Karen Lucier · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best novels of the South and southern living.....

[Sharlet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this one many years ago - very good.