Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 22, 1995 TAG: 9510230170
SECTION: BOOK PAGE: F5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: REVIEWED BY PETER CROW
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
\ Thomas Keneally's "A River Town" has much to recommend it.
The turn-of-the-century setting in New South Wales gives rise to typical frontier situations, but with a distinctly Australian twist. The plot revolves around several subplots carefully interwoven as only a seasoned storyteller can manage. And the main character departs refreshingly from the amoral, devil-may-care protagonists much in vogue these days.
Tim Shea owns a store on the Macleay River and tries to avoid politics, other people's business, and the bubonic plague which threatens to break out in his town. The story progressively involves him in all three, as well as a deepening mystery about the identity of a young woman whose head the local constable carries about in a large jar.
The theme of the reluctant moralist brings to mind Keneally's most famous hero, Oskar Schindler. Shea, however, is neither the capitalist, the womanizer, nor ultimately the saint that Schindler becomes.
Modeled partially on Keneally's own grandfather, the storekeeper negotiates a narrower ethical arena, one which is at once more personal and more typical of common experience.
In a recent interview on public radio, Keneally expressed the hope someday to equal "Schindler's List" in public reception.
He's not there yet.
As interesting as "A River Town" is, the novel does not sustain the suspense or elicit the memorable moments of its famous predecessor.
Peter Crow teaches at Ferrum College.
by CNB