Review of THE RIVER BETWEEN US by Richard Peck

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Peck, Richard. THE RIVER BETWEEN US. 2003. New York: Dial Group. ISBN 0803727356

2. PLOT SUMMARY

In 1916, a father and his three sons go to Illinois to visit the father’s family. The boys meet their Grandma Tilly, her husband, their great uncle Noah, and his dying wife, Delphine. The story then goes back to 1861, as Grandma Tilly tells the boys about the history of their family during the Civil War. Grandma Tilly and Noah were siblings. They had their Mama, but their father had been out of the picture for some time. They also had a sister, Cass, who sees visions of what has happened in the past and into the future. Their lives in a small village in Illinois is disrupted by the arrival of a beautiful New Orleans woman, named Delphine. She is accompanied by another woman, Calinda. Mama decides that the two, who are stranded, can take a room in their home. From the moment they arrive, the whole town is mesmerized by the beautiful and obviously rich, Delphine. Calinda is much like Cass, as in she can see visions. She is also a great cook and nurse. Noah goes off to join the army, and his mother is devastated. She makes Tilly go to find him and bring him home. Tilly and Delphine go together, with the help of Dr William Hutchings, to find Noah. He gets his arm cut off in battle, and then is sent home with the women. In the meantime, Mama sees a coffin coming toward the house, thinks it is Noah, and drowns herself in the river. While gone they also discover that Delphine is part African American and that Calinda is her sister. Noah falls in love with Delphine, they have a child, but let Tilly raise it because they don’t want the child to endure prejudice. Tilly marries Dr. Hutchings, and they raise the child as their own.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

I would highly recommend this book for grades 7-12 because it has references to mistresses and Delphine being the result of an affair. Delphine also talks about living in the same town as her white father’s legal wife and children.

The author takes us back to the 1800’s through his writing. This is an emotional book about the sacrifices a family makes because of the Civil War. The terrible trips to see Noah on the battlefields and our hope that he will make it home to see his mother, is a very horrific and emotional scene. The description of the setting takes you back to a simpler time. The arrival of Delphine and her beautiful clothes and possessions, totally takes over the life of the small village where Tilly lives. We can imagine how wonderful it would be to have light in the house at night, which Tilly’s family never had before Delphine moved in.

The author starts the book in 1916, with the second generation after the war going to visit Grandma Tilly. She then tell s the story of the family’s true ancestry. I feel this makes the story more effective. The language used by the characters throughout makes the story more accurate. This is a wonderful book about the Civil War from a woman’s perspective.
The story seems researched and accurate from the language to war situations. It is fast paced and just a beautiful book about this time.

4. REVIEW EXCERPTS

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL Review: “In this thoroughly researched novel, Peck masterfully describes the female Civil War experience, the subtle and not-too-subtle ways the country was changing, and the split in loyalty that separated towns and even families. Although the book deals with some weighty themes, it is not without humor. A scene involving strapping on a corset is worthy of Grandma Dowdel herself.”

BOOKLIST Review: “Peck's spare writing has never been more eloquent than in this powerful mystery in which personal secrets drive the plot and reveal the history. True to Tilly's first-person narrative, each sentence is a scrappy, melancholy, wry evocation of character, time, and place, and only the character of Delphine's companion, Calinda, comes close to stereotype. A final historical note and a framing device--a grandson writing 50 years after the story takes place--make the reading even better, the revelations more astonishing. It's a riveting story that shows racism everywhere and young people facing war, not sure what side to be on or why.”

5. CONNECTIONS

Students could read another novel from a different perspective. A male or a possibly another girl on a different side. Student’s could compare and contrast the experiences in each book. Make a display and present.

Delphine was thought by the town to be a spy. Students could do research about spies and spying during the Civil War. I have a message decoder that they used back then. Students can make it easily with cardboard and brads. Students could make messages to each other and decode them. Students could also present their research about what spies used and did to get information for the other side. Make a display. I know the whole school would be interested in this assignment.

Students could read nonfiction books about the Civil War and compare with the book for accurate details. Make a display board showing what they found.

Students could write a reader’s theater. Split into groups and have them write and present it. Then, let groups switch and do each other’s play. Props could be added also if you were going to spend several days on this activity.