We've all heard the saying \life is like a river"" or some variation of it. Our lives pass as a river flows along its banks: swift, wild and ever changing. We are helpless to control it and must only ""go with the flow."" In this vein, Bruce Murkoff's first novel, ""Waterborne,"" follows four lives looking for something new around the next bend of their own personal rivers.
Filius Poe grew up a wealthy boy with loving parents. He followed his father's footsteps and graduated from the UW-Madison with an engineering degree. There, he met the love of his life, Addie McCabe. They married, had a son and traveled with Filius' work. Everything was perfect until tragedy shatters his serenity.
Lena McCardell grew up in Hugo, Okla. She had never been far from home until Frank Mullens, a door-to-door Bible salesman, came to town. They fell in love and wed. They had a son, Burr, and lived a happy life. Until early one morning when Burr was eight, Lena took him and fled west without explanation.
Another story describes Lew Beck, who never really grew up, physically or otherwise. He stopped growing at the towering height of just five feet. The combination of his Jewish heritage and height made Lew the victim of endless ridicule and abuse from his peers as a child. He lashed out when he was 15 and became a drifter with a serious Napoleon Complex. Lew did odd jobs for some people and picked fights with the rest of them. With his reduced stature, negative attitude and demeanor, he drifted eastward from his hometown of Los Angeles.
""Waterborne"" follows the journeys of the broken, the betrayed and the malevolent to the Boulder Dam in Nevada on the heels of the Great Depression. They all encounter their own problems along the way but reach their final destination to begin new lives for themselves. All of their paths cross eventually resulting in an emotional climax.
This book flows as smoothly as a proverbial river. A slow river. Too much time is spent on character creation.""Waterborne"" is not a typical novel. It basically has no plot. In a nutshell, four people travel to a new place. That's it. Half the book is fluff. The second half tries to tell a story, but it is too late.
The strong character development was both the shining gem and the gruesome demise of this book. Readers will feel a strong connection with each character, but it will take away too much of the story.
Murkoff's imagery is outstanding. What is lost in the story is picked up in the setting. One can see the dust on the roads and smell bacon frying in the kitchens of the brothels.
""Waterborne"" is Murkoff's first novel, and will probably not be his last. Murkoff has made his debut in a profession of storytellers without a compelling story. Hopefully this is as bad as it gets.
""Waterborne"" is published by Alfred A. Knopf.
