It has taken me forever to get this review posted, but here it is … finally.
Down at the End of the River is a book of short stories by Angus Woodward. This book of quirky little stories gives you brief glimpses into the lives of a variety of characters living in southern Louisiana. Some are funny and some touch the soul, but all are written in a way that makes the ordinary interesting.
The characters are quite realistic. They could be standing in line behind you at the grocery store or in the car ahead of you at the traffic light. They are ordinary people in so many ways, but also extraordinary because of the stories they have to tell.
Woodward does a wonderful job of capturing moments. His descriptions drop you right into the story so that you feel like you know these people well.
My favorite story in the book is The Story of Jane and George. It the story of a Vietnam veteran and his Vietnamese wife. It really is a lovely story. Here is an excerpt from it.
George and Jane had crossed the big river bridge into Baton Rouge one night six weeks before, making the move from Galveston. The little car had strained to pull the rented trailer up the slope of the long steel span, but at the top every weight had seemed to lift from the car and from George’s chest. The river twinkled blackly, his wife slept lightly beside him, and they descended into a new city at high speed.
Things had gotten rough on both of them in Galveston before they were married. George had felt the beginnings of a subtle persecution when he started to appear with Jane in public. In the mall, in the grocery store, even just driving down the street he had felt stared at, talked about, laughed at meanly. He could tell that similar things were happening to Jane. “Don’t you knew her?” he’d asked her when they saw a plump Vietnamese woman in the meat department of the Piggly Wiggly near the waterfront. “I don’t know her,” Jane had said, not looking. When she and the woman spoke briefly in the cereal aisle, he thought their words sounded harsh and unfriendly. “What did she say?” he asked as they moved on toward the paper products. “She say , ‘Hello, how are you?'” Jane had answered. ~ Angus Woodward
I enjoyed this book tremendously and would definitely recommend it. Buy your own copy of Down at the End of the River