Book Review
Rapids By TIM PARKS
Reviewed by PEGGY BARNETT
Fortunately, a reader does not have to be an expert in an activity that forms the background of a novel to enjoy the novel. Much of the action in Parks' new novel Rapids takes place in a speeding river. It might be more fun if one has experienced kayaking or white water rafting, but Parks' descriptive power is such that the reader is breathless and exhilarated along with the characters.

Clive and his girl friend Michela have organized this adventure in the Italian Alps. The opening chapters are told mostly from Michela's point of view. She loves and admires Clive and goes willingly with him to environmental protest demonstrations and becomes an expert kayaker in order to help with his business.

The group they are hosting now is from England, a country she would like to move to, though she is Italian. Six adults and nine teenagers are in the group, with a range of abilities and interests. Vince, a recently widowed banker, has come because he hopes to get to know his daughter again. She has been living with an aunt and uncle since her mother's unexpected death. It is through Vince's eyes that we see most of the action.

There is action aplenty. Clive is charismatic and very skilled. He is deeply concerned about global warming and the danger to the nature that he loves. He hopes to persuade the people he leads on the river to protect it and the surrounding mountains. Everyone in the group is adequately competent in a kayak, but the river is rapid and challenging, and there is real danger.

The characters are convincing. No one is perfect, and not everyone is lovable. They are, however, attractive enough that we do not want them to be injured in the rapids or hurt by each other. The pace of the story is fast, with some time spent on philosophizing, but never in a polemic way. There are genuine differences of opinion, just as there are differences in courage and skill.

Clive presents challenges that are perhaps too dangerous, and the participants, including Vince, take chances that they should probably not take. Almost everyone is changed in some way by the experience, some dramatically. There is no "epilogue" with this novel, but at least the next step for most of them is clear by the end.

Rapids will soon be available at the Mary Willis Library.

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