The River by Michael Neale

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through their BookSneeze program.  When Gabriel Clarke was 5 years old he watched his father drown in The River.  His whole life has been spent missing his father and reliving what happened that day.  He has nor really lived since that awful day.  When he is 20 a friend convinces him to go camping at The River.  While Gabriel is there he has a profound experience that changes how he views The River and allows him to start to heal.  This was an interesting story.  I found Gabriel an interesting character.  I felt sympathy for him and wanted him to find a way to thrive.  The supporting characters were interesting as well.  This book was written as an analogy and I felt like the story suffered a little because of it.  Some things didn't make sense as part of the story, but they did as part of the analogy.  Overall I enjoyed the book I would give it 3.5/5 stars.