How could this happen in reality?

At school we also made a project about the novel that we should present at class one day. So I decided to ask myself how this story of Jess and her dying grandfather can be put in reality. So is there a possibility that such a story happens in our life? To my mind that is possible, if you'll erase some too fictitious points in the story. Therefore, in order to show what I actually mean, I wrote this letter from the point of view of Jess.

Dear Reader,

I hope that you enjoyed the novel “River Boy“ of Tim Bowler. It is written in an unbelievable way of describing surroundings, especially the nature, and the whole story seems to happen in a place full of mystery, isn’t it? However, to be honest, such a boy living somehow in a river, wild and only depending on the nature around him is only able to exist in a fictitious¹ story or novel. That’s what we all know, but although Tim Bowler wrote a fictitious novel, there’s some truth in it.

And that’s what I want to tell you with this letter:

I’m Jess, Jess Baker and today I’m 21 years old. I live in Canada in Ottawa. My big passion is swimming and I won lots of medals until now.

7 years ago, there was an incident in my life that you, if you read the book, might know. My grandpa was the man who was my biggest friend ever in childhood (because I haven’t any siblings). It seemed always like I was the only one who understood his stubborn thoughts and doings and sometimes I think that he also was the only one who understood my thoughts and problems.

Nevertheless, he got a heart attack. I really remember this day. It was very hard for me to see my grandpa fallen in the pool. In all of a sudden I felt empty. My whole thoughts were erased in a minute by this view. I’ll never forget it. Until now it’s hard for me to say that I couldn’t guess what would happen and that I couldn’t protect him from this attack.

As Mr Bowler wrote, we, my mother, my dad, my grandfather and me, went on holiday a short time later to the place where my grandpa lived in his childhood. However this place was near South Baymouth² and not near “Braymouth”. There we lived in a cottage of Mr and Mrs White (in the book they’re called Mr and Mrs Grey). And the father of Mrs White called George (Alfred) was a good friend of my granddad from old times.

So despite all his weak of having had a heart attack my grandfather began there a painting which was really called “River Boy”, like in the novel. Awesome that this is true? J

Well, that didn’t change that my grandpa died caused by a second hard heart attack and that he didn’t want to go into a hospital, until he finished the picture. I helped him at last to finish it.

Nevertheless, I missed the time when my granddad got his second I attack because I was out for a walk in the morning. So, as you know, I swam really the whole river down (but it past only 4 hours) and reached South Baymouth at the end to see my grandpa for the last time. I failed. But no matter, this 4-hours-swim gave me that unbelievable strength to know and to understand that he had to go. Also I have the picture that helped me to keep on going. When I look deeper in it, I can see really grandpa’s face.

Today the painting is in my apartment and I have an unbelievable relationship to it. On one hand, when I look at it, it seems to me like my grandfather never died, like he’s still alive. On the other hand it tells me what it means to lose someone you really love. The body of my grandfather might be dead and might disappear, but the memories I have with him of the time that we spent together, they’ll stay, stay in that painting.

Nevertheless, I have to desperate you with the river boy in the novel. As you may think he wasn’t true. That was an invention of Mr Bowler to make the story more interesting and to draw his novel more to the mystery I feel at least by thinking about the relationship and the doings I do with my grandpa, because a person who won’t even be in my situation couldn’t feel this mystery as strong as I did and do.

That’s not a question of empathy³ and not at all a question of concentration. It is the human mind:

You can think whatever you want, but your thoughts can’t be put with the same association, with the same pictures, with the same strength in the brain of your neighbour.

Best regards and thank you for reading the book,

Jess Baker

fictitious¹= fiktiv; South Baymouth²=Dorf an der Grenze von USA und Kanada; empathy³= Eifühlungsvermögen

So to put it in a nutshell, I erased the very mysterious personage of the "River Boy" and therefore I put the painting of the grandpa more in the foreground of the plot. For the place of action I chose a real little town with a name that is mostly similar with the name of "Braymouth". I changed even the time Jess spent in the river while swimming to its end from 11 to 4 hours. Otherwise I didn't chnage the fact that Jess helped her grandfather to fulfil his painting. However, why did I decide to do so?

I think, the River Boy couldn't exist in reality because he's too wild, too metaphoric and too unexplainable. How could a teenager boy live on his own in wilderness? Without sleeping (because the River Boy is often walking through the river at night)? Without eating (There won't be any animals or great fruits outside he's able to eat without any tool of hunt? Without a house, where he lives at a cold winter? Without any clothes, except these black trousers?
I couldn't imagine that such a boy is able to exist.
Otherwise I know that such inhabited areas exist in America and Canada, where rivers flow from hills up to the sea without any city around them. So I chose such a place: South Baymouth, a town in the south of Canada near America where a lot of hills, forests, lakes and rivers without any human beings exist.
However, look at these pictures to convince yourself ;)





(Click on them for enlarging)

Nevertheless, it's my opinion that a human being isn't able to swim for 11 hours. I think that's really impossible. However, I chose 4 because that's a good time for making a marathon and I mean that's comparable with Jess swimming a "swim-marathon".
Otherwise it's also my opinion at least that it is possible to draw a painting with the advisory of an experienced painter. The painting won't be as nice as he could paint it, but with the will to do so it will be possible.

Review of "River Boy"

To review the novel "River Boy" of Tim Bowler I'll give you first a little precise summary of the content of the novel.

Jess, a fifteen-years-old girl, doesn't only like swimming, she needs to swim. It's her big passion. When her grandfather, a stubborn painter, gets his first heart attack, she's confronted more and more with the sad death of this much loved person.
However, Jess, her grandpa and her parents go on holiday to the place where Jess' grandfather spent his childhood, despite his heart attack. There, Jess is able to confront herself with the life of her grandfather which is nearly drawing to a close. The natural surroundings and especially the river near her holiday cottage help her by doing so and by understanding how to cope with such a dolorous situation.

What is it good for?

To my mind, the novel describes very well the situation and thoughts of a teenager which is confronted by such an event for the first time. So you can be really caught in this detailed examination of the death of one important person in life. The story of the novel will help teenagers, especially those who are interested in nature and swimming, to cope with the difficult issue of death and will bring it a bit nearer to them.

Editorial reviews

Chapter 20

Content:

When Jess and her parents are back at their cottage, spirit of Grandpa and coherent with that, the River Boy, is gone from this place. The ceremony at Braymouth of Grandpa is very simple and there are no things Grandpa wouldn't have liked.
The evening, back at the cottage, the family talks about what to do with the ashes of Grandpa. Jess decides with the agreement of her parents to do that what Grandpa would have said to do with him:

The next morning she takes the urn and goes up the hill to the waterfall where she met the River Boy for the first time. There she lets the ashes fall down the waterfall and dives after it.


My thoughts while reading:

I think that this chapter describes the feelings that you have when well known people leave you on your way through your life very well. It's really true that you're caught in memories and pictures of adventures you spent together with that person and that you see him in front of you, looking at you and doing usual things.
To my mind it's also good described that you want to give a dead person you loved the best last resting-place which he would have wanted and which fits to him.
To put it in a nutshell I think that this chapter expresses well the thoughts of a person or of families who lost an important person of their life.

Chapter 19

Content:

The police find Jess near the estuary mouth of the river lying on the ground. Her only will is to go to the hospital. So the police take her in the car and brings her to the hospital. While eating a toast with peanut butter in the car, Jess gets to know that she had been swimming for 11 hours and that the police instructed by her parents searches her for even a long time because they didn't think that she is able to swim until the end of the river.
When Jess arrives at the hospital she meets her parents, but both of them aren't mad with her. They're only glad to see their daughter and that she is able to cope with the death of Grandpa which comes over him half an hour ago. Jess realizes that the death belongs to every life and that the death of her loved Grandpa will be hurt her. However, she also knows that this pain will go and that life will be possible without Grandpa.
Nevertheless, also the difficult relationship between Grandpa and Dad becomes clear at the end. (Mum says to Jess that there were no more differences in the end between both of them after a short conversation)


My thoughts while reading:

The whole tension rose down in this chapter. So it gave some kind of harmony to me. I was really glad that the end of the story was realistic, because I don't like stories having an ending exaggerated happiness and harmony. If Grandpa didn't die and was healthy in a minute later, I'd find it very exaggerated. But it would be also weird for me in some way if Jess, for example, died also.
So all in all I say that this ending is a well chosen and as well a realistic ending.
Nevertheless I had question to myself when I finished this chapter. What would be the last chapter about? Is there anything to add?
For me it would make more sense to end here.

Chapter 18

Content:

The time pasts and Jess is caught in his thoughts and worries about Grandpa keeping on swimming down the river up to its end. The more Jess swims the more she feels herself tired, but then she sees the River Boy again at noon. Is it an imagination? No, that can't be. She doesn't gives up, but goes more quickly. She wants to catch him. Another hour pasts and Jess isn't able to catch him. So the River Boy disappears again from her view. But that doesn't matter. She keeps on going and arrives at Braymouth. Nevertheless after a few hours she felt herself failed and loses her will to go on. She faces the banks, but then she hears the River Boy again. He asks again: "Why are you crying?" And when Jess turns round the River Boy is just a few feet away. He persuates her to keep on swimming with him. So they swim on a short time together.
However, after this short time Jess looks up and sees that he is gone and in front of her there is only the sea. Jess reaches the end of the river and in some way she knows that Grandpa reached the end of his life yet.


My thoughts while reading:

For me this "journey" of Jess is too detailed. There are a lot of facts that won't be necessary for the story. But on the other hand I think that the thoughts of Jess and her fight of giving up or keeping on going. I made a lot of distance events (Langstreckenläufe) and I can really say that this chapter describes it very well how you feel if you're only depend on your will and your body is full of pain. So this fight of will and body is explained very well to me. I really thought about weather Tim Bowler knew this fight. I don't know.

Chapter 17

Content:

Alfred explains to Jess that Grandpa got a heart attack once more. It was such a serious one that Mum and Dad had to bring Grandpa directly into the hospital in Braymouth. So Jess' parents wanted him to look after Jess. However, she wants to follow them to the hospital. Alfred tries to keep her away from this felt will and wants her to eat some rolls his daughter made for Jess. She isn't hungry. So Alfred wants her to talk with him about the painting of Grandpa. He calls it a "self-portrait" and in a sudden Jess sees the River Boy with his black hair in the painting. She jumps into the river without any doubt to do right. Her only will is to catch the River Boy before he reaches the end of the river. She wants to solve the riddle of the boy out there and the painting. It's now her turn to put these two mysteries in an understandable coherence.


My thoughts while reading:

I was really caught by this horrible dilemma of Jess. Could she really be able to help Grandpa? Or wouldn't she even reach the hospital before Grandpa dies? Or won't Grandpa die anyway? I think this situation is really hard to stand for her, because she loves his Grandpa very well. However, I was also a bit surprised by this new way to see the painting as a self-portrait of Grandpa. I know that there are these kinds of pictures you can look at in two ways. Nevertheless I think that Jess should have seen this before.
Her decision to try to catch the River Boy and to solve his riddle of identity I really liked because that'll raise the tension of the plotline once more.

Chapter 16

Content:

Early in the next morning, Jess stands up, leaves a letter for Mum, Dad and Grandpa (That she's out for a walk) and goes up the hill to find the source of the river and to meet the River Boy in the dawn. So she has really to hurry to find it because the night won't take a long time to go away. After a while Jess arrives at the waterfall and climbs it up to the source. There she meets the River Boy. He thanks her for coming and they gaze together down the hill. Jess sees the rivers way from its source up to the sea and the River Boy describes it very detailed with a human life.
However he tells his challenge quickly: He wants to swim straight on the whole river to the sea and wants Jess to swim with him because he feels a little bit frightened.
Nevertheless, Jess doesn't agree. She isn't able to leave Grandpa and her family to go with him. So he goes on alone, jumps down the waterfall and disappears from Jess' view without saying any word about his person.
Jess doesn't have the heart to jump. Therefore she climbs down the rock next to the waterfall and goes back to the cottage.
When she arrives, the car isn't anymore on its place and to her surprise only Alfred stands in front of the cottage. What has happened?


My thoughts while reading:

I felt really disappointed when the River Boy disappeared without saying anything about his personage. I thought that he would be more than only this mysterious boy because the novel is labelled by his name. There was not really coherence between him and the painting until now and I don't think that he'll come back again.
A completely different question I asked myself after this chapter is the following: What happens to Grandpa? Did he get a new heart attack or why isn't the car there, in front of the cottage?

Chapter 15

Content:

When Mum and Dad see the painting and Grandpa can't hear them, they say that it isn't really one of his best. But no matter to that, Grandpa is really proud of himself and especially of Jess. After a short sleep, he says that in a conversation with Jess. He feels really better and stronger and thinks about to stand the attacks and become completely healthy again. However there is not that strength in him that they really can think of it, but there grows a little hope again.
In the evening Jess goes back to the place where they'd finish the picture and she talks to the River Boy, although he isn't there. She promises him to come to his challenge.
Then in the night she wakes up again and somehow she goes down to Grandpa. He sleeps in a soundly rhythm of his breath. Jess sits beside him and she can only say: "I love you, Grandpa"

My thoughts while reading:

This chapter had a big harmony. Everything seemed to become better. So I really asked myself weather Grandpa dies anyway. Nevertheless I think that there'll be some action again in the next chapters about Grandpa, the painting and especially the River Boy. What's his challenge really about? We'll see.

Chapter 14

Content:

At eight o'clock, Jess wakes up Grandpa in order to fed him some breakfast. Grandpa is really pessimistic at first and doesn't want to anything. He only thinks about the end of his life in the hospital. However, Jess makes him to eat and to sit up in order to paint in a way of hard stubbornness within a short time. So they quickly begin to paint outside at the same play of the river they paint last time. And it works, with the help of Jess Grandpa is able to fullfill his dream: He finishes the painting.
Nevertheless, to Jess' wonder there was no boy in it. What does that mean? Doesn't Grandpa know the River Boy? Was it quite mere chance?

My thoughts while reading:

I was really surprised about the easy way of Jess making her Grandpa to finish the picture. This strength and stubborn way, I didn't realized the whole novel before. I felt happy for Grandpa and Jess that they managed it.
However there comes a bad thought to my mind. Did Grandpa really finish his picture, or did he only say that because of his pain and weakness? Did he give up at least? I was also really surprised that Grandpa didn't paint in the River Boy. I only can explain it to myself, if I say that
Grandpa didn't finish his picture actually, but gave up. For me, there must be something with this painting, some mystery, some tension stayed in it.

Chapter 13

Content:

The River Boy speaks to Jess and she is really unprepared to answer. First they stand in silence, but then there's a repetition of the answer of the River Boy. Jess isn't sure whether she should answer. Nevertheless, after a while the River Boy wins her confidence. She tells him about Grandpa and about the worries she had with him, especially about the picture. However she doesn't mention the name of the painting. To her surprise the River Boy has a solution to finish the painting without grandpa's hands: Jess should be his hands. This weird but maybe successful way makes Jess to wonder about the River Boy. She wants to leave him, but he doesn't let her: he swims next to her.
The River Boy wants her to help him at the "biggest challenge" of his life and without mention what it is he makes her promise to think about to help. They'll meet the day after tomorrow at the source of the river.
When Jess returns to the cottage, Dad tells her that Grandpa wishes to be taken to hospital tomorrow because for him there's no way to finish the picture anymore. However, Jess wants to try to be Grandpa's hands before they'll take him to hospital and to fulfil the painting.

My thoughts while reading:

I felt really the high tension while reading. There is no tension falling down in this chapter, but however I felt some kind of exaggeratedness by this way to climax which grows and grows like a chewing gum getting pulled on its ends. That's a bit bad to let Jess ask "Who are you?" without answer. I don't think that Jess doesn't want to know who the River Boy is in this situation. If you're crying, you won't feel yourself to keep a high mysterious tension for your own. You'll want to know what's going on. So I couldn't stay this way of telling a story.
Nevertheless two other new events caught my mind. Will Jess really able to paint the painting for Grandpa? Will Grandpa agree with this solution? And of course, what's about the River Boy's challenge? Will Jess help him and in which way?

Chapter 12

Content:

The next morning Doctor Fairweather comes from Braymouth to the Hospital in order to check the state of health of Grandpa. He absolutely advise them to take Grandpa into an hospital (e.g. in Braymouth) and not to waist his time any longer at the cottage. However, Grandpa doesn't want to go to hospital. So Mr Fairwether comes a week long straight the way up to the cottage and looks for Grandpa, but this isn't enough for taking care of Grandpa in an adequate way: The whole family has to help Grandpa mostly in every doings of everyday life.
Jess doesn't do anything else, except swimming and so she doesn't make thoughts about the river or the river boy. Only the painting of Grandpa takes her sometimes back in the flavour of mystery. Nevertheless the biggest thoughts are about his health and his close death.
After a week, Grandpa loses his will to stay at the cottage and that really moves Jess. She sees a Grandpa giving up his life in this action and that hurts her a lot.
She runs out in the river and begins to cry, when a quiet voice speaks to her from behind: "Why are you crying?"

My thoughts while reading:

To my mind the story is going to rise up to the highest point of tension of the whole book. It is going to come to the climax.
The situation of Grandpa becomes really bad and he is near to his death. I don't think that there's any hope for him to rescue his life. Nevertheless, I asked myself while reading: What'll happen with the painting? Will he able to finish it? Perhaps in the hospital the doctors will give him a last strength in his hands by a medicament, otherwise I don't think that this'll be actually possible.
Of course, I asked myself also who talked to Jess in the end. Maybe it'll be Mum, Dad or Alfred but I don't think so, because Jess stands in the river. So it makes the most sense at all if it is the river boy or a new person who doesn't exist in my mind yet.

Chapter 11

Content:

Also in this night Jess stands in front of her window and gazes out into the night and another time there is this boy, wearing only black shorts and waiting through the river. So she decides to go out a second time and to get more information about this weird, but mysterious boy.
When Jess is outside she and the boy come very near, but then all in a sudden the boy disappears again in the current of the river behind a bend.

My thoughts while reading:

At this chapter I was really taken by this mysterious atmosphere of the night, of the boy and of the nature surrounding him and Jess.
However I don't understand why they didn't talk to each other. If it is a real boy, they have to, haven't they? Perhaps they'll talk later. I don't really know.
But there's another idea burnt down in my mind while reading this chapter: Could it be possible that Grandpa had a twin or only a sibling who might die with his parents during the fire of the house? Maybe this twin or sibling exists as a ghost in a figure of a boy which is this weird river boy. Grandpa would know him and so that would explain why Grandpa paint this painting. My specs go on and on and I don't know how the story will end somehow.

Chapter 10

Content:

When Jess wakes up in the next morning, Mum sits next to her bed. She wants to talk with Jess about how she feels because Dad told her what was happened last night. Mum wants really make sure that they don't have to stay any longer at the cottage, if Jess doesn't want to. Although Jess wants to stay, because she doesn't want to erase Grandpas dream of finishing the painting at the cottage. Mum talks also about the picture. She wants that Grandpa finishes his picture as quickly as possible in order to get him into hospital.
So after a short time Jess and Grandpa sit at the river and Grandpa begins to paint, while Mum and Dad wait for Alfred in order to keep him away from Grandpa so that he won't be disturbed by Alfred.
Nevertheless Grandpa has a big problem with his fingers. He hasn't the strength to paint very accurately. It hurts him whenever he moves them. But somehow he's hard and also let Jess go for swimming. So Jess swims down to the river and has another meeting with the river boy. The boy doesn't seem to see her, but she sees him and his accurately swim-style. He swims like a fish.
Then Jess hears someone shouting help and swims as quickly as she's able to back to the place where she left Grandpa. However, there is no Grandpa and no painting at all. There is only Alfred with the empty wheelchair. How is that possible? Where is Grandpa? Mum, Dad and Jess begins to search him, but there was no sign of him. Then Jess finds him in the coffin (the package box of the car) however only after Alfred was gone. He says he hides himself and his picture because of Alfreds unexpected arrival.
Grandpa sleeps until 8, then he talks with Jess alone about his worry to go into hospital. He wants really finish his picture here, at the cottage and nowhere else. Jess goes away from Grandpa and Grandpa talks with Alfred who came back in the evening. Mum brings the two old men some soup and Dad talks a bit with Jess. He and Mum are anxious with Jess, although Jess says that everything is alright with her. There is no way for Jess to say anything about the boy to them.

My thoughts while reading:

I found this chapter really mysterious. How is it possible that an old man who is barely able to move can ensconce himself with a painting in a car box? Images of Grandpa changing his outward appearrance into the appearance of the river boy came to my mind.
Another point that really makes me interested is the relationship between Grandpa and Alfred. There aren't a lot information about this aspect. Maybe Alfred mustn't know anything about the picture. Maybe there's some coherence to an aspect like. I really don't know but I really convinced that the tension of the story rises up to its absolutely climax and I'm really curious about what happens in the next chapters.

Chapter 9

Content:

At night Jess can't sleep. She goes to the window, looks down at the river and there she sees the boy of the fall again: wearing black shorts, in the middle of the night, walking through the river. Who is this mysterious boy? She wants to find it out and decides to go out in order to ask him some questions, because he doesn't look any dangerous.
However when she reaches the river the boy was disappeared. How is that possible? Jess doesn't know. Then she sees Dad coming to her. She is really confused by the incidents around her, however she doesn't say anything about the boy to her worrying Dad.
They return to the cottage together and while Dad begins to nod in sleep, Jess stands in front of her window and gazes into the night.

My thoughts while reading:

This mysterious boy kept me busy at this chapter again. What kind of boy could that be? A boy spending a night at a river by rambling through it without anything except black shorts? That couldn't be a usual boy.
I really think that the boy could stand in coherence with the dramatic fire that murdered Grandpas parents, but I don't know why. Maybe the boy is the ghost of the brother of Grandpa.

Chapter 8

Content:

When Jess arrives at the cottage her parents and Alfred talk with Grandpa in time. So nobody missed her. She eats some roles that Mum made and listens to the voice of the stream.
While Mum and Dad slowly try to take Alfred's leave (It seems really difficult because he talks the whole time through), she goes to Grandpa who is really bad in time. However she says nothing about the river boy (she wants to do it, but not in time).
But, when Alfred is actually gone, she wants to try to ask him indirectly whether he know the boy she saw. She asks him whether it is surely right that there's no boy in her age around the cottage. And he assures that in every time. Only in Braymouth there'll be other people in Jess' age. Also to his mind there are normally no ramblers nearby.
So Jess really asks herself how it was possible to see this boy only wearing black shorts. She can't understand it and while she leaves Alfred, while she eats dinner, while she watches TV, her mind is caught in a conflict of coherence between the boy, Grandpa and his picture. Mum, Dad and especially Grandpa notice that there's something that really keeps her busy.


My thoughts while reading:

My first thought after reading this Chapter was about Grandpa. Did he know that Jess saw the river boy at least? Or doesn't he know the boy Jess saw, too?
However these sentences on page 56 gave me a strong belief that Grandpa is able to anticipate what Jess saw:

"Mum spoke.
"You all right Jess? You're very quiet."
She saw Grandpa's eye flicker towards her.
"I'm fine," she said quickly. "Just thinking."
"OK."
He held her gaze a moment longer, then turned back to his food."

I think that flickering of his eye, really shows his anticipation.
Another question I asked myself was the question of the picture. Will Grandpa really be able to improve his state of health and to finish his picture?
That's a difficult question for me. Nevertheless I think there'll be a point in the plot of the novel where the situation will change in a more negative way or in a positive way. I don't think that Grandpa's health will be between life and death the whole time. I think it'll change into either life or death.

Chapter 7

Content:

Jess decides to go up the hill in order to search the source of the river. During the way up she thinks a lot about Grandpa, his past, his future and his "now" and asks herself why he never wanted to talk about those things that happened in his life and those who will happen one time. Also, she is taken by the wonderful nature around her and her thoughts, the nice sounds and images that grow up in front of her eyes. At ca. 15.00 she begins to think about returning to the cottage. But her will to find the source and maybe also to find something that explains some of her anxieties with Grandpa makes her to go further up.
In unexpected suddenness the river becomes a waterfall. Jess is really surprised about that and in some way the feeling of being observed by someone comes back to her. She looks around and then he sees a tin hardly visible boy. He stands at the lip of the waterfall in the current of water. And the water reflects the light of the sun directly to her eyes. She becomes dazzled and has to look away. When she sees back, there is no boy anymore and she decides to go back to the cottage.

My thoughts while reading:

There rose up a lot of things in my mind about this boy when I read the chapter. I asked myself whether is it possible that Grandpa also saw this "River Boy" and that it is this boy who is actually the boy in his picture. Normally I would say yes because there are a lot of details that would justify this spec: The waterfall and the barely invisible boy at the cover of the novel, that the painting of Grandpa is called "River Boy" and of course the fact that yet in Grandpa's painting there's no visible boy. However it could be that Grandpa doesn't know this boy because there's the problem of the age: How is it possible that the boy is a boy for more than 60 years?
Nevertheless I think that this boy will play a certain role in the plotline of the novel. Perhaps he will become one of the main actors of the novel. I'll see.

Chapter 6

Content:

The man standing next to Jess' parents is Alfred. While Alfred begins with his big passion, talking, Jess feels unprepared, anxious about Grandpa and confused about her promise to him: About what is she allowed to talk with her parents?
So she doesn't say a lot in order to keep her promise right. It comes out that Alfred is the father of Mr Gray and in order to meet Grandpa he came to the cottage. Alfred tells Jess and her parents about the past together with Grandpa. When Grandpa agreed that Alfred meets him after 60 years (Grandpa is in his bed and doesn't look any good) Jess becomes bad because of her promise: She didn't mention yet the second attack Grandpa got. So she decides to go out for a walk. First the others are surprised by that decision, but, when Alfred says that there'll be no danger, if she wants to go out, they let her go.

My thoughts while reading:

At page 40 Alfred asks "Where is the old boy?" (meant Grandpa). This "old boy" really caught my eye. I thought directly about my spec that Grandpa himself is the "River Boy". Maybe there's some relationship between Alfred and Grandpa that creates Grandpa's idea and his will to paint this picture. So I'm really excited about what Grandpa is going to say and how Alfred and he behave when they see each other after such a long time.
I also don't know whether Alfred know about the problems of health of Grandpa. Perhaps he is impressed negatively to see his old friend in such a bad mood and will argue with him why he went away in an unhealthy big city and didn't stay near Braymouth in deep silence and clear air. I don't know yet, but I'm really excited how the story will go on.

Chapter 5

Content:

Grandpa becomes more and more bad and Jess thinks about to call her parents back to the cottage, but Grandpa doesn't want her to do that. By his stubbornness he wants her to take him to his bed with the wheelchair. Then, to his mind, everything will be alright. Jess doesn't think like that, nevertheless she is taken by his dolour and does that what he wants. Also when Grandpa says that she shouldn't tell mum or dad anything about this second kind of heart attack, Jess gives him a promise against her mind. As the reason for all these things he do and that nobody can appreciate of he says that he wants to finish the painting here, at his place of childhood. Only after that important aim they could do everything with him to give him a better die.
At the end of the chapter, when Grandpa seems to become better, she goes out in order to bring the tools for the painting back to the cottage. At the door she meets her parents and an unnamed man.


My thoughts while reading:

For me, during reading this chapter it comes more and more out which high importance Grandpa takes on this picture. His ambitiousness is unbelievable. How can a man take more importance on a picture than on his will not die? I asked myself what's the reason for this hardly understandable ambitiousness? I didn't find any answer. Also it impressed me a lot how strong the relationship is between Jess and Grandpa. Grandpa is really confident with her and she gives him a promise that I don't think that she'll break it. There's more, Jess wants to come closer to him, to understand Grandpa on her own.
The last question that everybody'll ask after finish reading Chapter 5 is: How's the man of the last sentence? Mr Gray? Alfred? The man who really observed Jess? Or another man?
We'll see.

Chapter 4

Content:

When Jess comes back to the cottage, Dad and Grandpa have an argument because Dad wants that Grandpa takes a wheelchair to make his life easier and to reduce the worries about him in the family. The stubborn character of Grandpa doesn't want to accept that.
So the wheelchair stays without Grandpa and Dad and Mum go out for a walk. Grandpa and Jess stay at the cottage and Jess assists Grandpa while he draws his picture. They sit at the river and it comes out that the river is the river of the picture "River Boy". Grandpa draws in his usual way and Jess has to bring him those things he needs to go on.
After a while, Grandpa becomes mad with his picture, he really begins to dislike it. He thinks about to throw it away and to restart the picture. To Jess' fear Grandpa becomes bad and claps his and to his chest. Is it a second heart attack?

My thoughts while reading:

At the last pages of this chapter I was really kept by the rising tension. I asked myself a lot of questions and I really tried to answer myself. So I was really caught in speculations:

Will it really be a second heart attack?
- I think yes, there'll be that second attack. The tension of this point of the story is really high because everything that happens in this chapter works for a special event, maybe there's a climax of the whole novel. For me this attack will also bring a lot more difficulties in the everyday life of Grandpa. Perhaps it makes him actually sure that he ought to die.

What about the painting?
- I think that the setting of painting the picture is nearly combined with this second heart attack and actually the "dying" of Grandpa reveals that the painting is a certain aspect of importance in this story. For Grandpa it is indispensable to finish the picture "River Boy". To my mind it has a kind of auto-biography for him because his mysterious life (His parents died when their house burnt down near the river and after his childhood he lives in a big city. So why? And what's the reason for never saying anything about his past? Why is he completely abstinent to these things? And why does he never talk about his pictures?) is reflected in the painting of "River Boy"(A painting with a river, but without any boy).

Why does he dislike the picture in all of a sudden?
- That's a really mysterious question that I can't explain to my own. How can it be that a really practised painter like Grandpa doesn't know how to paint down the feelings, the emotion that he has had? No I don't know. However I think, I'm going to know why next time.

Where's the part of the river he draws?
- At my point of view the part of the river will be even a special part in his life. So I can imagine that there's a place where Grandpa met the "River Boy" or where he lived with his parents. I think this part of the story must be a really big highlight in his life. Because, why does he draw this part otherwise.

Chapter 3 - And what about the "River Boy"?

After reading chapter 3, I asked myself what is actually about the title of the novel "River Boy". Until now, there was no "boy" mentioned in the book and I'm also very sure that the main actor of the novel is Jess, a girl. So what can I guess about a "River Boy"?
One can argue the river boy is already mentioned in the first chapter. Yet the recent picture of the grandfather is called "River Boy". Probably it will belong to the role of the river boy in this book, but I'm convinced that the whole book won't only concentrate on this mysterious picture which even doesn't have a boy in it yet. To my mind there must be a real boy as a person, as a character in the plot of the novel.
Nevertheless, it's my only ability to guess who could be this mysterious river boy and to ask myself whether the boy is mentioned somehow. People may say in my situation that the river boy is not mentioned, but there is either no indication for that.
So I'll guess who of the mentioned persons offers the ability to be the river boy. I think the river dealing with the river boy is mentioned yet. It seems to be the river beside the holiday cottage of the family because it's described so detailed (the whole third chapter describes the river in actual). And why would the author let the family go for holidays to a remote place that only the painter of the picture "River Boy" knows and where he lives in his childhood otherwise?
So at my point of view, no one of the family never being at this river before could be the river boy, except grandpa.
He may be the mysterious river boy of his picture and I think that is one rational possibility. Grandpa is going to die and had a cruel childhood at the place where the river is located. Both of his parents died and it seems as his childhood was always a demonstration of weakness for him. So it may be that Jess' granddad wants to tell his family in this picture something about his past he never had shown them before. Perhaps he also wants to remind himself of those experiences he made with the river when he was a little boy, a river boy. That could also be the reason why he wanted to travel with them to that remote place of the river.
However, I have also another imagery of who could be the river boy. For me it is also a possibility that Alfred that mysterious guy grandpa talks about at Chapter 2 could be the river boy. Alfred, that's what we already know, will be, if he's still alive, in the same age as grandpa. So he won't probably indicate a boy yet, however it is possible that grandpa wants to draw a good friend of old times in this "River Boy" picture.
I also would conclude coherence between the end of Chapter 3 and the river boy. Jess feels observed herself by someone, but she cannot guess who is it because she sees nobody. Perhaps the river boy, Alfred, observed her while swimming.
All these specs needn't to be right, but both of them are coherent to the part of the book I read. So they might be fortunetly right.

Chapter 3

Content:

It's the first morning, 5:30, at the cottage and Jess is already awake. She doesn't feel tired anymore, although she felt asleep lately. The nature, the twittering birds and the dabbling river, call her out. So she decides to put on her swimsuit and follow the noises.
Now, in the sunlight she's able to gaze the surrounding of her much better. Around the cottage built at the base of an hill there is a lot of woodland and beyond this woodland she can see a wonderful valley cleaved by the river.
She walks down the cold river and after a short time she recognizes that the river becomes deeper and deeper. After circa 100 yards she begins to swim. First she swims carefully breast-stroke further down to explore the unknown river. Then she stops and looks back. The current (Strömung) took her very fast away from her starting point. It is a completely new experience for the actually experienced swimmer Jess. However, after exploring lots of other facts (e.g. the banks and the different depth) Jess starts to swim in a crawling way against the current back to the cottage. She doesn't want to worry their parents. However, she feels herself observed by someone. Is that only imagination?

My thoughts while reading:

While reading the third chapter I was really influenced by the description of the wonderful nature around Jess. I could absolutely feel this natural silence, this invitation to find some time to relax. All in all I think this novel lets one fall into two extremely different feelings. There is the worry about the grandfather of Jess, but there is also this feeling of relaxation by nature, of course especially of water. Water, that's the passion of Jess and you can get this feeling while reading in an empathic way.
Chapter 3 really calmed me down because this chapter really underlines the effect by nature and water that gives Jess a chargeback for her worries with her loved grandpa. The stress, the fear and the worries with grandpa are cut off here.
So, to put it in a nutshell, Chapter 3 is a calming down chapter where only Jess plays a certain role. The other facts are cutted mostly off.

Chapter 2

The Content:

The journey to the remote place where grandpa has lived in his childhood takes a very long time., but only every now and then there is a conversation between mum, dad, grandpa and Jess. She watches out of the window and looks back to the times of her childhood where she and grandpa explored the whole world together. She reminds of the strength of grandpa and her hope that it'll be ever like this disappears more and more.
Then they arrive at her residence for holiday late at night. There's a little river directly at their little cottage which takes all their attention. The cottage itself is better as they imagined and the loneliness is also liked by every member of the family. The nearest house, the owner's house of their cottage, is 2 miles away and in order to reach the next town, Braymouth, they must go for even 40 miles.
Nevertheless, the journey makes them all very tired. So they want to go to bed quickly. Grandpa sleeps downstairs in a put-up bed and Jess and her parents sleep upstairs. However, a few hours later, as mum anticipated, Jess wakes up in cause of the noisy river directly beneath her window and she is not able to fall asleep again in time. So she makes a trip through the house. At Grandpa's room, she rests, grandpa is also awake and so they talk a short time about what grandpa feels in his old new surroundings. Grandpa mentions the changes that come through a life and that nobody can stop those changes. That really touches Jess and she feels that grandpa thinks about his death. It makes her a kind of afraid and sad. She minds what bad feelings and sad thoughts she'll have when grandpa will pass away.

My thoughts while reading:

Even I got a lot of feelings while I read this chapter. On one hand I dreamed about this remote landscape, with birds in the trees, green hills, brown cornfields and rivers that dabble into my ears. This natural silence put me in thoughts of regeneration and relaxation.
On the other hand, I felt this feeling of sadness and anxiety of Jess. To lose someone of your family you spent your whole life with is very hard to cope with. Even if this is expected to happen.
But I think that are thinks that every teenager becoming an adult has to cope with and it's a fact, as grandpa said: "Everything changes [...]. Nothing lasts forever." (p.21)

Chapter 1

The Content:

Since 6:30 Jess, a teenager girl, is out there in a pool for swimming. Nearly every morning she goes out with her grandpa in order to swim. It's her passion and she won a lot of medals. After 20 minutes grandpa wants to call her out. But Jess doesn't understand why and so she continues her lanes. She only minds when it is too late. Her grandpa gets a heart attack and crashes into the pool. He is taken to a hospital. Nevertheless after three days the stubborn character of grandpa takes him out of the hospital back home because one day later, the 20th August, the family wants to go to summer holidays. They'll drive to the place where grandpa was grown up, so there is no way to force him to stay at home at least.
Everyone of the family, dad, the only son of grandpa, Jess and mum are worried about this kind of insistence.
However, this is not the only aspect to think about. Grandpa begins to draw a new picture. It's called "River Boy" and it seems to be very mysterious because of two certain facts. Grandpa has never named one of his pictures before and the picture has no boy in it. There is no living creature on it. Nothing that indicates a boy. Only a big river, the sky and banks are on it. However, Grandpa decides to work on it during their holidays. So Jess will put it in the car.

My thoughts while reading:

The first chapter shows that those things I expected aren't definitely wrong. The story seems to be very mysterious. While reading I had a lot of thoughts dealing with this stubborn behaviour of the grandpa. I ask myself whether there's an answer for that unusual attitude and I think I'll found the answer in the mysterious picture called "River Boy". It needs to be important for the story. There's no other way because the novel itself is even called the same.
I also thought about the role of Jess. What role does she play in this novel? I think to be a muse for a picture, that seems to be an important role and also her detailed description in the first chapter militates in favour for that.
In my mind the holidays will play a certain role in the story because the author raises most of intention to that event.

Before Reading the Novel

Before I start to read the novel I would like to say some words about what I expect:

When I look at the cover of the novel I see a mysterious blue shadow of boy or girl (I think it's a boy because the book itself is called river boy) jumping down in a lake within a waterfall. Down on the left side there is a black rock. In the background on the picture there are lots of green trees and plants. So all in all it looks like a mysterious place in a rain forest.
Another aspect is the backside of the cover. There is the same picture without this shadow of the boy. That really makes me thinking about whether it is an aim of the novel's cover. I can't know. However I think this boy, the river boy, will have to have an important role in the book.
Furthermore the style of lettering on the cover looks really mysterious. "Tim Bowler" looks like as if it is written by a nib (Schreibfeder). The next line "winner of the Carnegie Medal" (the medal itself is also on the book's cover on the upper right side) is written in the same style. Only the colour changes from yellow into purple. The title of the novel is printed on the cover in silver. This purposes that it catches the eye of the reader.
To precise those facts into my expectation of the novel I say the novel will be really mysterious and a "river boy" will play a certain role in it. That's what I expect.