Mink River

How appropriate it is to listen to this story about stories shared aloud. Some are heard as characters record them for an oral history; others as characters ask each other for stories. These stories and the characters that inhabit them are like tributaries, sometimes crisscrossing each other as they depict life along the (fictional) Oregon river Mink. Narrator David Drummond not only has a full cast to contend with--about 20 characters with distinct personalities and stories--but also a narrative that at various points cuts a sentence at a time between two, and even three, separate scenes. It's a tribute to both Doyle and Drummond that listeners can follow each stream as they flow into a single river of a story. K.W. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

August 30, 2010
Community is the beating heart of this fresh, memorable debut with an omniscient narrator and dozens of characters living in Neawanaka, a small coastal Oregon town. Daniel Cooney, a 12-year-old who wears his hair in three different-colored braids, has a terrible bike accident in the woods and is rescued by a bear. Daniel's grandfather, Worried Man, is able to sense others' pain even from a distance and goes on a dangerous mountain mission to track down the source of time with his dear friend, Cedar. Other key stories involve a young police officer whose life is threatened, a doctor who smokes one cigarette for each apostle per day, a lusty teenage couple who work at a shingle factory, and a crow who can speak English. The fantastical blends with the natural elements in this original, postmodern, shimmering tapestry of smalltown life that profits from the oral traditions of the town's population of Native Americans and Irish immigrants. Those intrigued by the cultural heritage of the Pacific Northwest will treasure every lyrical sentence.