From the Bookshelf of Retro Chapter Chicks …

The River We Remember

William Kent Krueger

Start date: January 1, 2024

Finish date: January 31, 2024

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September-October 2025: The River Knows Your Name
By Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Jenn Ƹ̴… , Founding Retro Chick · 1 post · 8 views

last updated Aug 23, 2025 07:26PM

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What Members Thought

Dec 28, 2023 Maureen rated it it was amazing

Another wonderful novel. This one is set in Jewel Minnesota 1958. It begins on Memorial Day as the people in the small town honor the war heroes who sacrificed their lives.
A body is found floating in the Alabaster River. It is Jimmy Quinn. He has a gunshot wound to his chest.
Was it murder or was it suicide? Sheriff Brody Dern is in charge of the investigation.
Noah Bluestone is under suspicion. He is a Native American who brought home a Japanese bride from the war. It is said that he had an argu ...more

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Sep 05, 2023 Lory Sakay rated it liked it

The concept was good and I liked the storyline overall, the small community secrets and relationships, combined with a murder mystery. I felt a bit uneasy, however, with the repeated misogynistic accounts - it's almost as EVERY female in the story was touched by this; it was a bit too much. I also appreciated the history lesson of the area, the Dakota heritage and legends, and bits of the War, but some times this was abruptly interjected into the fictional story/characters and didn't seem part o ...more

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Jan 12, 2024 Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Jenn Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Schu rated it it was amazing

William Kent Krueger is one of my favorite authors, with Ordinary Grace and This Tender Land being among my favorite books. The River We Remember is a beautiful, tragic story in mid-twentieth-century Minnesota. The town of Jewel experiences a tragic event during a Memorial Day celebration; the town bigshot, Jimmy Quinn, is shot dead, and the local sheriff, Brody Dern, has the difficult job of finding the killer while trying to subdue the town racists who point fingers at anybody that isn't White ...more

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Jan 24, 2024 Sarah Brown rated it really liked it

Shelves: retro-chapter-chicks, 2024-reading-challenge, abc-2024

The last part of this book had me on the edge of my seat, needing to find out the ending. Beautifully written and loved the character description.

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Aug 10, 2025 Celia rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction-read, ttm-schedule, 2025-read, ten-year-challenge, 52-2025, kindle-list, 2025-su-rcc, 2023-pub, 2025-kindle-counted

The River We Remember – Review & Personal Reflections

In The River We Remember, William Kent Krueger explores how trauma, prejudice, and moral ambiguity ripple through a small Minnesota town in 1958. The novel examines the lingering scars of war, the corrosive effects of racism, and the tensions between truth, justice, and mercy. At its heart, it’s a meditation on memory—how the places we cherish, like the Alabaster River, carry both beauty and pain—and on the flawed, resilient humanity that bind The River We Remember – Review & Personal Reflections

In The River We Remember, William Kent Krueger explores how trauma, prejudice, and moral ambiguity ripple through a small Minnesota town in 1958. The novel examines the lingering scars of war, the corrosive effects of racism, and the tensions between truth, justice, and mercy. At its heart, it’s a meditation on memory—how the places we cherish, like the Alabaster River, carry both beauty and pain—and on the flawed, resilient humanity that binds communities together even in the face of deep division.

I gave this book four stars. One reason it did not earn five for me was the sheer abundance of flawed characters. Brody Dern, Garnet Dern, and Evangeline Madison each carry moral stains that I found difficult to accept, even knowing Krueger’s intent to portray the messy complexity of human nature. While these imperfections certainly deepen the novel’s realism, I sometimes wished for more moral clarity in the people I was asked to invest in.

That said, the character who touched me most deeply was Scott Madison. His journey from a troubled youth with a literal hole in his heart to a man who survives violence, repairs his heart, builds a family, and creates a new life left a lasting impression. Scott’s story arc, with its pain, mistakes, and eventual redemption, offered a poignant counterbalance to the darker elements of the plot.

Krueger’s prose, as always, is lyrical yet grounded. The Alabaster River emerges as a living metaphor—shaping lives, carrying secrets, and reminding us that truth is often as shifting and subjective as the water’s current. While I struggled with some of the moral choices made by key characters, the novel ultimately succeeds as both a mystery and a meditation on how we live with the past.

Personal Reflections on Themes and Symbols

For me, the strongest theme in The River We Remember was community—not just the warmth and loyalty small towns can offer, but also the flaws, blind spots, and collective prejudices that can quietly shape justice. In Jewel, the community itself is almost another character, capable of protecting its own but also quick to judge outsiders. I think part of my unsettled reaction to this book is that I have never seen this level of drama in any small community I’ve personally encountered. That distance may be why the darker, more destructive aspects of Jewel’s relationships hit me so hard.

When it comes to flawed characters, I find myself more sympathetic when I can see the roots of their pain. Tyler Creasy was perhaps the hardest for me to forgive; his personality after the war was abrasive, sometimes cruel, and yet I can imagine reacting as Velma did if I were his mother—protective, even when he was wrong. I also came to feel more compassion for Brody and Angie once I understood their full histories. It didn’t excuse their choices, but it humanized them in a way that softened my judgment.

As for the symbolism of the Alabaster River, I’m struck by how it holds both beauty and damage—much like Jewel itself. Although I don’t have a single place in my own life layered with that same mix of memories, I understand the emotional weight Krueger gives it. The idea that “the river each of us remembers is different” rings true; memory is so deeply personal that even shared events can feel entirely different depending on the lens we bring to them.

4 stars
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