Lost Loves and Shattered Dreams: Not Even the Sound of a River by Hélène Dorion
A Review by Laura Patterson
To read Not Even the Sound of a River is to walk into icy water and feel its weight close in around you. The blues and greys of fog churn into unrecognizable shapes in front of you while your senses numb. You journey into an abyss of painful remnants of days gone by and traumas handed down from mother to child. This novel is an exploration of shattered dreams, lost loves, and generational suffering. It raises the question of whether we ever truly know our parents.
Hanna is with her mother, Simone, when she receives the diagnosis. She is shocked when Simone refuses treatment and can’t understand why she wouldn’t want to prolong her life even one more day. Simone is ready for life to be over, for the suffering to end. Thinking that her mother would enjoy a chance to look back on her life, Hanna offers to take Simone on a road trip back to her hometown. Simone refuses, not interested in reliving any part of her past.
Simone passes eight weeks later, and Hanna is left in charge of collecting her mother’s belongings. What she finds are clues to her mother’s past that begin to explain why her mother was such a distant woman her whole life. With Simone’s notebooks in hand, Hanna begins to drive down along the St. Lawrence River in search of that connection with her mother that she always longed for. On her journey, Hanna reads Simone’s journals and discovers that her mother and her grandmother, Eva, both lost young loves to the cold waters of the St. Lawrence. Neither had ever recovered from their loss. Knowing the truth, Hanna finally understands that her mother was lost in heartache for all those years but is understanding enough to make peace with her mother and their distant relationship?
“This story shows how important mental health is for the individual and those around them.”
A numbing sadness settled in about halfway through this book and I haven’t been able to shake it. Not Even the Sound of a River is a truly heartbreaking story that shows how a great loss can impact the rest of your life and the lives of those around you, especially your children. Shattered dreams and the great disappointment that follows are hard to move past and sadly, often result in giving up on life and love. This story shows how important mental health is for the individual and those around them.
The most unfortunate aspect of this story is the era in which Simone and her mother Eva were living. 1916 and 1949 were vastly different times for women compared to today. Choices and opportunities were limited and once they were married, there was no escaping a bad situation. The women in this story lived a cycle of sadness and abuse. Even though I didn’t feel a deep connection to any of the characters, the feelings that resonated from them were piercing and lasting.
Hélène Dorion did an excellent job of incorporating history into this story and I am happy to say that I learned something new. I had zero knowledge of the sinking of the Empress of Ireland which occurred in 1914, killing more than a thousand people. Only one hundred and eighty-eight bodies were recovered. This event was life-changing for one of the characters in the story who had immense survivor’s guilt. I found it interesting how the St. Lawrence River almost served as a character throughout this novel, always giving and taking and linking characters together.
Not Even the Sound of a River has earned a spot on my top shelf. It may be a short novel with characters that are not very memorable and a fairly predictable outcome, but the feelings evoked throughout this story were incredibly strong and I absolutely loved the way the story ended. I highly recommend this novel as it holds many great lessons, and I encourage you to look to the author’s note at the back of the novel for the title of the Spotify playlist the author has created to go along with the story. Reading the words while listening to the playlist was very moving.
About the Author
HÉLÈNE DORION is the author of more than thirty books, including works of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. She has won many awards, including a Governor General’s Literary Award. She is a recipient of the prestigious le prix Athanase-David, awarded by the Quebec government for her body of work and contribution to Quebec literature. A multidisciplinary artist, Dorion regularly exhibits her photographs and presents literary concerts with renowned orchestras. Her poetry collection, Mes forêts, is the first work by a living woman and a Quebecer to be added to the curriculum for France’s baccalauréat. Born in Quebec City, Dorion divides her time between Orford and Montreal.
About the Translator
JONATHAN KAPLANSKY won a French Voices Award to translate Nobel Prize winning author Annie Ernaux’s La vie extérieure (Things Seen). His translation of Frank Borzage: The Life and Films of a Hollywood Romantic by Hervé Dumont was a finalist for the Wall Award from the Theatre Library Association. Recent translations include Jonathan Bécotte’s Like a Hurricane, Hélène Rioux’s The End of the World is Elsewhere, and the libretto of an opera by Hélène Dorion and Marie-Claire Blais entitled Yourcenar: An Island of Passions. He has also translated Dorion’s Days of Sand. Born in Saint John, New Brunswick, Kaplansky now lives in Montreal.
Book Details
Publisher : Book*hug Press (Nov. 12 2024)
Language : English
Paperback : 172 pages
ISBN-10 : 1771669136
ISBN-13 : 978-1771669139