The River Warren, a novel by Kent Meyers. Hungry Mind Press (1648 Grand Ave., St.

Paul, MN
55105). 280 pp.; 5¼” X 8¼”; Cloth; $21. ISBN: 1-886913-23-4.

By Tim W. Brown

People living in small towns always know their neighbors’ business. Close proximity

coupled with repeat encounters breed an intimacy that residents of sprawling, anonymous cities

do not feel. In addition, the lack of daily distractions experienced by city dwellers magnifies the

significance of events occurring in small towns, where a public display of drunkenness or a fist

fight between two schoolgirls can provoke talk for years. When something catastrophic like a

flood or a tornado happens, small towns erupt into jawing frenzies lasting decades.

Kent Meyers explores a small town’s talkative ways in his novel The River Warren. The

story opens with a spectacular semi truck crash that demolishes half of downtown Cloten. Killed

in the accident are Two-Speed Crandall, his wife Luanne, and two dozen head of cattle hauled in

the trailer. This accident is ground zero for gossip and innuendo as well as informed opinion

radiating through the town.

Ten current and former townspeople narrate the story. They include Luke Crandall, Two-

Speed’s son; Jeff Gruber, Luke’s best friend; Angel Finn, a fisherman sage; Arlene Schul, the town

gossip; and Pop Bottle Pete, a mentally handicapped individual whom Two-Speed befriended.

Each speculates about the cause of the accident.

Gradually, a portrait of a colorful character emerges: Two-Speed is remembered as an

expert tractor-trailer operator, a funny storyteller, and an inveterate dreamer. Two-Speed’s darker

side also surfaces. He was an alcoholic, and he abused the animals he hauled with an electric cattle

prod. Many believe he abused his wife and family, too. Given his skill behind the wheel, several

characters theorize that he committed suicide, in the process murdering Luanne and destroying

the property of several parties who had wronged him. Convinced of this possibility, Luke ponders

the cause of Two-Speed’s suicide, drawing on insight he acquired during their troubled

-1-
relationship: “Dad was afraid of being afraid…. If you can prove you’re not scared of death, then

you’re not scared of anything, maybe—not being alone, and not the man who’s not afraid of you,

and not your dreams or your wife or your son.” (p. 216)

Ostensibly Two-Speed’s story, The River Warren plumbs the minds of an entire cast of

characters. Explaining the behavior of his fellow townspeople and what it reveals about them,

Angel Finn says,

The talk goes around and around about Two-Speed Crandall, but the talk’s all about
something else, like a whirlpool still in its center and everything going around it. It’s like Two-
Speed, now that he’s dead, and dead’s about as still as you can get, he’s drawn other stories to
him, and they’re all whirling around, and people’re trying to see it all. (p. 4)

Meyer’s characters typify different segments of the rural Midwestern population and are

utterly believable, with one exception. Jeff Gruber displays too much wisdom for a young man not

very far out of college. Moreover, his continual recounting of the death of his little brother in a

farm accident years before contributes nothing discernible to the story. However, these flaws in

The River Warren do not detract from the author’s considerable accomplishment in showing how

truth is fabricated from gossip, half-truths and outright lies.

-2-