#Knife River

[a-skirmish-of-wit-and-lit]

Book Review: Knife River by Justine Champine

Knife River is a captivating debut that centers around a pair of sisters, Jess and Liz, who are anguished over their mother's unsolved disappearance. While one of them (Jess) has taken to running from the tragedy, living a nomadic existence as she skips from city to city, girlfriend to girlfriend, the other (Liz), has remained behind in their hometown, cloistered in their old family home and pouring over missing persons cases.

Fifteen years have lapsed when the call they've been waiting for yet dreading comes through: their mother's remains have been discovered.

This sends Jess back to Knife River in the hopes of finally finding closure. Of having an answer. However, with their mother's bones having been exposed to the elements for so long, any evidence they had hoped to find has run cold, with leads running stale and old suspects haunting them like a specter, leaving them with more questions than ever.

This was more of an atmospheric, character-driven exploration of grief than it was a cold case thriller, but I found that was what gave the story resonance and poignancy. Because of that, the strokes of the plot are more introspective in nature, with more internal rather than external movement happening. It's less about solving the case than it is about readers gaining insight into how this profound trauma has equally, but diametrically, frozen Jess and Liz and time. They're both stuck. Stagnated. Up to their chins in sorrow, and fear, and puzzlement--with neither one of them knowing how to move on.

The story's main strength was demonstrating how the two sisters were tethered by this tragic event. I liked seeing their enduring bond, also the way love and hurt and mystery twisted how they each coped with the loss of their mother. I did think Jess's romantic entanglements left something to be desired, though. They felt disjointed, distracting at times, leaving me feeling unmoored and uninterested. That said, I did think this was an intimate and harrowing portrayal of grief.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC in exchange for my review.

3/5 stars

**Follow me on Goodreads

[victoriaperpetua]

Book Review: Knife River

This was a “would you like to read” from Random House and the description was intriguing enough that I had to say yes. And while it was a mystery (it begins with the discovery of a skull), it is so much more than that. It is also about how differently people handle tragedy and grief and not just the sisters, Liz and Jess whose lives are completely upended when their mother disappears after going…

[moonyswarmsweaters]

Regulus: I’ll kill you

James: You want to fuck me sooo bad

Regulus:*pulls out a knife*

James:

[gallifreyanhotfive]

All it takes is for someone to point a weapon at the Doctor and he's smitten

[andmaybegayer]

Every time I sharpen a knife I am astounded by the control and perception you can exert on the world with your hands. You're just rubbing some metal over a rough flat surface, but you can tell when the surface is slightly not flat by a few micrometers because the blade will scrape across it unevenly. You can perfectly follow a curved edge to set an even grind by pure feel of friction, even with confounding factors like an uneven stone and haphazardly applied water as lubricant.

You can maintain a consistent angle and reset that angle multiple times as you flip from side to side, you can feel out that your draw length is the same and you feel a kind of innate wrongness when you don't draw long enough on one side as the other. I'm not even particularly good at this and I can get a shaving edge on my knives in a few minutes.

Like, I do other hand crafts, sewing, sure, I can sew a 2mm backstitch seam all day, but there's so much obvious visual feedback to help you do it, here you are on a mode of operation that cannot be perceived visually pretty much at all, and it works!

[knific]

another day another click ❤️‍🩹 https://arab.org/

[hallsjordanss]

CW;; MENTIONED INJURY/STAB WOUND

No one fucking tell B but i just got stabbed and hit on the head so now i have a concussion AND stab wound. Lord you make a joke about someone coming after you ONE TIME and it actually happens. So yeah now i am bleeding and attempting to take care of said wound while my head hurts LIKE A BITCH.

Do not tell Roy too, he will get worried and i don't want to bother nor worry any of those two. I will be fine though i suffered far worse.

[abirddogmoment]

We woke up to fog and -1°C in the river valley so we bundled up for a little hike before hitting the road in search of sunshine and sand.

[cressthebest]

Crimson Rivers thoughts pt. 8

chapter 14:

1. “"Obviously fish have brains. All living beings have brains," Regulus tells him. "Well, except for you."”

ADKDJKSJSKS i’m sure that’s another moment in which regulus wanted to look to sirius as if to say “are you seeing this shit?”

2. 😭😭😭😭 james why are you still figuring out you might have a knife kink?? i been knew since before the arena. plsssss

3. 😭💀 the rocks in jars story

4. 😧 james killed someone for reg. no hesitation. that’s gonna haunt him forever

5. oh god, the tenderness reg uses with james after james murdered someone. he’s so gentle and worried for him. this is gonna haunt them forever

6. in reference to james committing murder: “He has the disjointed thought that his parents must have seen that, as well as Sirius. The last people in the world who would judge him for it, and he still wonders what they're thinking.”

JESUS THAT IS HEARTBREAKING. the people he cares most about isn’t judging him cause they’ve done the same thing. it just hurts

7. god, and now they’re face to face with death eaters. i can’t do this shit anymore

8. 😟😧 oh no.

“James can safely say he doesn't have a knife kink. Blade kink. Sword kink. Any of that—he doesn't have it. No, it's just Regulus he likes, and anything to do with him. When Mulciber has a sword to his throat, it's not sexy at all.”

9. reg’s threats are so scary

10. knowing reg’s loyalty to kill for sirius is fucking wild. he would murder everyone in that arena if it meant keeping sirius safe. and sirius did the same for reg.

11. 😧 shocked. oh my god. jaw dropped. reg is just hacking at mulciber with a hatchet

12. ✨evan✨☺️🩷

13. whoop there it is. in reg’s mind, he mistakingly referred to james as his boyfriend. it’s downhill from here

14. oh god, james is using his “it was self defense and murder is grotesque and not always clean” speech that he used to give to sirius all the time. i wonder how often he’s had to tell that to himself in this arena

15. GOD NOT THE FUCKING BEAR TRAP- JFC CAN THEY HAVE ONE MOMENT IN THIS ARENA???

chapter 15:

1. reg called james baby ☺️🥰💞

2. “"Sirius, you're going send something to fix him, or so help me, when I get out of here, I'm going to rip all of your hair out right from the scalp until you're fucking bald."” LMAOOO REG IS SO PROTECTIVE OF HIS NOT BOYFREIND THATS GONNA HAVE TO DIE ANYWAYS. and he threatened to make sirius bald 😭😭😭

3. “"I like you," James declares cheerfully, and Evan winks at him.” EVAN AND JAMES FRIENDSHIP EVAN AND JAMES FRIENDSHIP EVAN AND JAMES FRIENDSHIP

4. “Sometimes, healing is harder than being hurt.” godDAMMIT he’s right, and that cuts deep into my soul

5. reg and sirius are so like me fr in hating change. for them it’s the needing stability after a childhood of not having it, and for me, it’s autism.

6. reg is absolutely insane sounding and i’m 2000% on board for it

7. reg is willing to kill because they scarred james’ face but still says he hates every breath james takes. bitch. wtf do you mean you hate him? do you not get it yet?

8. 😐 bitch, yet another self indulgent moment that reg calls a parting gift

9. evan and reg team!! 🐈‍⬛🫱🏻‍🫲🏾🐍

10. comparing james to the sun >>>>>>>>>>

11. reg being the best seeker during hide and seek 👀

12. EVANNNN NOOOO

13. 😧 evan says he’s reg’s friend. shit i’m about to sob at one am as i’m writing this. and reg jsut lost the best friend he never got to have

14. god, reading from sirius’ pov now IS making me sob.

15. LMFAOOO I SHOULD NOT BE LAUGHING OVER THE BURNING TREE

16. shame on me for not realizing that the author of crimson rivers also wrote just lovers. i just realized that. like, while reading authors notes. i feel so fucking stupid rn

[faaun]

we sang in the aeroplane over the sea tgth ☆

[leostimstuff]

A 13MissyRiver stimboard for @thedemonastrophel!!

🗡️ 🌟 ☕️ | 🗡️ 🌟 ☕️ | 🗡️ 🌟 ☕️

[jolieeason]

WWW Wednesday: May 29th, 2024

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme Sam hosts at Taking on a World of Words. The Three Ws are: What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next? Here is what I am currently reading, recently finished, and plan to read from Thursday to Wednesday. Let me know if you have read or are planning on reading any of these books!! Happy…

[1stillbejeweled]

*screams into the void* JAMES POTTER I SWEAR TO GOD

[introspectivememories]

oh my god bernard gets batman and dick to help save tim in the last issue and everyone in the family takes that to mean that bear knows about their night jobs. except tim still thinks bear doesn't know. that bear being there was just a coincidence. he just tagged along to save him cause bear is such a standup guy! cue tim doing everything to hide his identity and the family looking at him like he's lost his mind because obviously bernard know tim?? he literally patches you up every night???? why would he not know??????

[ivytheenbyfae]

i’ve decided it’s time for me to read crimson rivers. the problem? i can’t find it in english on ao3. now, if i have to google translate sentence by sentence, i will! but i’d rather not so please send help

[anrisimps]