House on the River : A Summer Journey

Rating:
Summary: Of Time, Distance, Presence and Ourselves
Review: I was attracted to this book after hearing Ms. Rapoport read aloud some of the work while it was being written. At the time, I was struck by the complex ideas, emotions and connections she is able to express in simple, understandable ways. Naturally, I wondered what the completed book would be like. I am delighted to report that House on the River exceeded my high expectations.

The book begins by recounting a long-awaited houseboat trip through connected lakes in the province of Ontario in Canada by the author, her two older children, her mother, and her aunt and uncle (who had taken a similar journey some years before). The ultimate destination is to revisit the site where the author's impressive grandmother had formerly gathered her family for marvelous, meaningful times over the decades during their engaging Canadian summers. The story continues with brief updates two and four years following the trip.

Ms. Rapoport has an ability to be open with her reader that is very rare and enchanting. You find out as much about her anxieties, her setbacks and her impractical side as you do about her many impressive gifts. There's a quiet humility woven throughout the book that makes an uplifting and thoughtful family story more original and refreshing. She then makes the story spiritually breathtaking by exploring the roots and meaning of her religious faith.

She uses the houseboat trip to give you a sense of her family, her antecedents, her friends and herself. At the same time, she raises universal questions about what time is and isn't, how we change and don't change and how we might access what is difficult to grasp or is denied to us. Her sincere questioning will resonate with any reader who has ever waxed nostalgic for another time and place, and wondered how one might regain some of that connection.

Beyond that, she looks into the future to plan ahead for how to deal with death and loss.

With all of her far-flung perspectives (which include thoughts about Jewish scholarship during medieval Europe, living in Manhattan, venturing from the quiet tranquility of Canada, and the incipient challenges of raising a third child who will be born when she is 44), you also emerge with a sense of being in the present that can make life more delicious and meaningful. Many parts of the book will remind you of sitting under a tree on a beautiful summer day watching the birds soar and the clouds scud across the sky. As a result, you will have your own meditations about how to escape the distractions that keep us away from the timeless. The experience of reading the book is very Zen-like in that sense.

Her writing is quite remarkable. She uses simple words, but picks poignant and vivid ones. So the page becomes a jumping off point for an imaginary journey of your own that's independent of her story. You are never left behind as she gently draws your attention alternatively to the horizon and to yourself. Each idea is carefully developed from every possible angle so that you can take your time to absorb the gentle wisdom of what is being described.

I hope that you will find this book (and its beguiling photographs) as intriguing as I did. Perhaps you, too, will someday take a leisurely houseboat journey with your family. I hope you will. In the meantime, House on the River will be a memorable substitute as you temporarily join Ms. Rapoport's family.