Eternal on the Water - A Review

Eternal on the Water - Joseph Monninger (Barnes & Noble First Look Book Club)

Product Details (from B&N website)

• Pub. Date: February 16, 2010
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group
• Format: Paperback, 368pp
• Sales Rank: 821,695

• ISBN-13: 9781439168332
• ISBN: 1439168334

Synopsis (from B&N website)

From the day Cobb and Mary meet kayaking on Maine's Allagash River and fall deeply in love, the two approach life with the same sense of adventure they use to conquer the river's treacherous rapids. But rivers do not let go so easily...and neither does their love. So when Mary's life takes the cruelest turn, she vows to face those rough waters on her own terms and asks Cobb to promise, when the time comes, to help her return to their beloved river for one final journey.

Set against the rugged wilderness of Maine, the exotic islands of Indonesia, the sweeping panoramas of Yellowstone National Park, and the tranquil villages of rural New England, Eternal on the Water is at once heartbreaking and uplifting — a timeless, beautifully rendered story of true love's power.

My Thoughts:

This book grabbed my attention from page one and it never let go, not once.

I instantly loved Mary and Cobb, The Chungamunga Girls, Wally, Francis, Turtle Freddy, their parents. I even enjoyed all the smaller characters that were a part of Mary and Cobb's journey through their life together. I thought Joseph did a wonderful job telling Mary's story of living with Huntington's disease. I think the disease and it's effects were told with compassion by Joseph.

On top of the amazing love story, there was such beauty in nature. The Allagash River where the Chungamunga girls camp every year. By the end of the book, I longed to see this river. Indonesia where Turtle Freddy dedicates his life to preserving turtles. When they released some of the turtles into the wild, the image was so vivid, I swear I saw it happen. To Yellowstone to study the crows, brought back memories I had long forgotten of my travels there as a small child. The wolves at Yellowstone, how I would love to hear their night callings.

Not only did we get fantastic nature surroundings, we got wonderful animal stories intertwined throughout the book. I had such fun reading all the stories and myths Joseph included in the book. The added that little something extra that made the book just a tad more special.

This book made me laugh, it made me smile, it made me long to see the world, and it made me cry.

Mary and Cobb's story was a joyous and sorrow filled love story that is timeless and will stay with me for a long time. I don't normally give a rating to books in my reviews, it's not my thing, but for this one I am making an exception. 5 stars hands down.