Book Club
Current Book
Join us on April 14, 2025 at 7:00 pm at Cancun Mexican Grill for a lively discussion of this month’s book “Once Upon A River” by Bonnie Jo Campbell. Books can be checked out at the library Circulation Desk, or put on hold here.
Copies of the book are available at LTPL and also as an e-book on Libby. Please contact the library if you need assistance in how to use Libby or Hoopla on your own device
Download the eBook or audiobook on hoopla here.
Download the eBook on Libby here.
Book Summary
Once Upon a River by Bonnie Jo Campbell is a coming-of-age novel about 16-year-old Margo Crane, who, after her father’s violent death, takes to the Stark River in a boat to find her missing mother, armed with a rifle and an Annie Oakley biography. The book follows her two-year journey through rural Michigan as she survives by hunting, foraging, and using her sharpshooting skills, encountering a cast of characters in the backwoods while grappling with her past and searching for love and freedom. It’s a story of survival, self-reliance, and the search for belonging, often compared to classic American adventure tales like Huckleberry Finn.
All are welcome! No registration required.
Discussion Questions
- The book opens and closes with scenes of Margo in the river. What role does the Stark River play in the book, and how does it shape Margo?
- Margo’s journey up and down the Stark River seems to be modeled after other famous journeys in literature, from The Odyssey to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. How does Once Upon a River fit into this tradition?
- Margo describes her mother, lying in the sun, as “browning like one of Joanna’s loves of bread”. There are several different types of women in the novel. How is Margo similar to, or different from, her mother and her aunt? How does Annie Oakley fit in?
- Margo sleeps with three very different men in the book: Brian, Michael, and the Indian. What do each of these men offer her?
- Margo is raped twice in the book, first by Cal and then by Paul. How do you understand her two very different reactions to the rapes?
- Early in the book, Margo’s father warns her to “think bout the consequences” of her actions. What consequences does she face throughout the book? By the end, has Margo learned to face them?
- Sharpshooting obviously means a great deal to Margo. Why do you think this is?
- Margo goes by a variety of names in the book: Margaret Louise, Maggie, Sprite, Nympho. How does her identity change, or not change, which each name? What role does Smoke fill in Margo’s life? How does Smoke’s death affect her?
- As Margo writes to her mother, she thinks “all the questions she was asking her ma added up to the one question: How should Margo live?” Does Margo figure out how to live by the end of the book? What do you think her goals are?
GOOD READS
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