Follow the River in Never too Late to Read Classics

Apr 29, 2017 Chrissie rated it really liked it

Shelves: hf, audible-us, usa, 2017-read, native-am, bio

This is very good historical fiction. We are given a true story that captures our interest from page one. What happens is exciting and the story is hard to put down. Dialogs enliven events and capture temperaments of the people involved. These dialogs may be fictional, but they conform to what source material tells us about the respective characters' personalities. The book is both adventure story and character study.

What made this book so special for me is that I felt what Mary felt. When she This is very good historical fiction. We are given a true story that captures our interest from page one. What happens is exciting and the story is hard to put down. Dialogs enliven events and capture temperaments of the people involved. These dialogs may be fictional, but they conform to what source material tells us about the respective characters' personalities. The book is both adventure story and character study.

What made this book so special for me is that I felt what Mary felt. When she froze, I had to pull a blanket over myself. When she was starving, all I could think about was food. You think I am exaggerating, but I am not! Not only were Mary Draper Ingles’ physical deprivations felt by me but also her emotions. I felt her anger, her need to fight for her dignity, her sense of total aloneness, her despair and how crushing was the realization that her travel companion could (view spoiler).

In this novel we look at friendship and betrayal. This was for me the most important component of the whole book. We look at the bond between mother and child and between mother and spouse. A choice must be made. Ultimately the book is about inner strength.

The journeys, first when Mary was captured and taken to the Shawnee camp and then her journey of escape, beg to be discovered. What exactly happened on these journeys? What happened when she lived with the Shawnee? What did she see and feel and experience? What did she learn of their customs and beliefs? Mary was captured in July 1755. She was 23, a mother of two and heavily pregnant with a third child. In December of the same year she had returned home - emaciated, bruised, broken, naked and white haired. This is her story.

The book concludes with an afterword that cites source material and discusses how opposing material has been handled. The research is impressive and I agree with the choices made in evaluating versions that do not coincide. We are told what happened to family members later in their lives. The author has himself traveled Mary’s journey of 1755 in order to better grasp the immensity of her accomplishment and the nature of the land traversed. He had a sleeping bag and he had food! She had no food and she could not swim. She had nothing but a blanket, a spear and a tomahawk.......and a companion that was irascible, unpredictable and treacherous, more often foe than friend. Their relationship can be summed up with this line taken from the novel:
There are no two souls closer than predator and prey.
Their relationship is of central importance to my appreciation of the book.

The audiobook is narrated by David Drummond. It is easy to follow. I liked the Irish brogue spoken by some of the elderly characters. I didn't like his intonations used when women spoke, too shrill and too squeaky. I gave the narration three stars. ...more

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Jul 31, 2025 Janet rated it liked it

This true story of a woman's capture was put into book form by a man. The first 20% of the book was descriptive and well paced. The remainder of the book was a very slow grind to the end. A good edit would have helped. ...more

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