Go as a River: A Novel

Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses racism and racist violence, hate crimes, and the legacy of colonialism.

All the characters in the novel undergo an experience of displacement, whether through historical injustice, war, or forced migration due to environmental resource policies. Each of these sets of cultural circumstances uproot the characters’ place identity, or connection to the physical landscape. Initially, Victoria and Wil hold opposing views of place that are shaped by their different cultural and family backgrounds. Wil, who is nomadic, believes that “[o]ne place is about as good as another” (9). In contrast, Victoria, who has grown up in one town and has always farmed the same piece of land, identifies herself and her community with the buildings and natural features of the Gunnison River Valley. She is initially critical of Wil’s perspective, wondering “why this boy didn’t seem to know a thing about home” (13). However, as she ages and faces her own forced displacements from Iola, first into the wilderness and then to Paonia, she begins to dream of “nowhere” and understands the pain of displacement that Wil faced, for now she and her son must face the same hardship.