The River Queen | 
| Author: Mary Morris
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Category: Book
List Price: $24.00
Buy New: $11.90
You Save: $12.10 (50%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 441206
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 13.5 x 8.4 x 1.1
ISBN: 0805078274
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780805078275
ASIN: 0805078274
Publication Date: April 3, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Expedited shipping is not available for this item. Items are mailed via USPS media mail within 2 business days and should arrive 4-14 business days later.
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Product Description
This story of a middle-aged woman’s odyssey down the Mississippi River is a funny, beautifully written, and poignant tale of a journey that transforms a life
In fall 2005 acclaimed travel writer Mary Morris set off down the Mississippi in a battered old houseboat called the River Queen, with two river rats named Tom and Jerry—and a rat terrier, named Samantha Jean, who hated her. It was a time of emotional turmoil for Morris. Her father had just died; her daughter was leaving home; life was changing all around her. It was then she decided to return to the Midwest where she was from, to the river she remembered, where her father had played jazz piano in tiny towns.
Morris describes living like a pirate and surviving a tornado. Because of Katrina, oil prices, and drought, the river was often empty—a ghost river—and Morris experienced it as Joliet and Marquette had four hundred years earlier. As she learned to pilot her beloved River Queen without running aground and made peace with Samantha Jean, Morris got her groove back, reconnecting to her past. More important, she came away with her best book, a bittersweet travel tale told in the very real voice of a smart, sad, funny, gutsy, and absolutely appealing woman.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
 My River, Too July 26, 2008
In her memoir, The River Queen, Mary Morris takes her readers on a unique journey down the mighty Mississippi as she makes a private journey of her own--coming to terms with her father's passing. Her naivete is refreshing, and she admits early in the book, "I don't have the river in my head, yet." Unlike the writer's friend, who never thought about the river despite growing up in St. Louis, I grew up twenty miles southeast of St. Louis, and the river has been a large presence in my life. Like many Midwesterners, I have traveled the river and visited some of the places Morris describes. By the book's end, Morris has changed. She has learned things about her father's life and about herself, contentment evident as she pilots the last leg of her journey with the river firmly fixed in her head. I agree with T.S. Eliot, "The sea is around us, but the river is in us." Reading Morris's memoir will put a little of the river in every reader.
 A Personal Journey December 17, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Mary Morris' father lived to the age of 102. He was many things during his long life; dandy, ladies man, business man, developer, husband and father. He also left strong memories in his daughter of his uncontrollable and unreasonable rages that he took out on whatever family member happened to be near. A portion of his life, but by no means all of it, was spent in small towns along the banks of the Mississippi River. Mary hires a houseboat, and sets off on a journey down the river to try and reconcile her grief, ambivalent feelings, and understand her father's roots better. Sounds like a fascinating journey. The trip down the river is an adventure in itself, encountering hurricanes, hazardous currents, and busy shipping channels that make navigating the houseboat a serious undertaking. Ms Morris writes well. The story flows, and the transit between musings on her memories and telling the story of her river journey is smooth and not jarring. It is a well written book. However, the story both of the river trip and her father seemed superficial to me. She tells mostly of everyday occurrences; who cooks dinner, where they eat on the boat, and the never-ending quest for a hot shower. The towns they visit are only given sketchy portrayal. She mostly doesn't care for the people they meet, and gives them a wide, therefore un-insightful berth. Her father's life lives within the same boundaries her memory supplied before the trip. She finds no insight, does not experience either elation, grief, or camaraderie of his memory by being on the river. A good travel book can be engrossing. A good book of exploration of familial ties can be enlightening. I was neither engrossed, nor enlightened, but I was also not bored to the point of giving up. I read the book waiting for the "other shoe to fall", and it never does. Nor will I take any memories from this book as I lead my life. I read it, it's done. Reading this book is like holding a handful of Mississippi river water; it trickles between your fingers, then it's gone.
River Queen October 30, 2007
I loved the River Queen and am sharing it with the group that I am escorting on a Mississippi River cruise on the American Queen next July. Mary Morris gave wonderful discriptions of the Mississippi as she learned to love the river. I can just picture the "River Queen" as she called the house boat she was on with Tom and Jerry, 2 great river boat captains. She also understood her father much better after her trip. When we cruise in the luxury of the American Queen we will remember Mary's cramped quarters in the cabin, the shower that didn't work, the locks and dams she went through, the heat, the bugs and enjoy our turn even more! I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn about the Mississippi.
 Great Read! October 14, 2007
Although I had heard of Mary Morris, I had never read any of her books. The River Queen is excellent, and her other books are now on my "to read" list.
The author decides to travel down part of the Mississippi on a houseboat, and she takes us on the ride with her. It is interesting (and humourous) to learn about the Mississippi river, and all the small towns and characters she meets along the way. The book is also about her father, who passed away at the age of 102.
Ms. Morris manages to intertwine, very successfully, the story of the river and of her father.
The personality of the two men (and a dog) that she hires to take her down the river really adds to the appeal of the book. I wish there would have been photographs!
A very Funny Read.... July 19, 2007
I never meant to purchase this book. I was browsing at a local bookstore, knew the author's work from "Nothing to Declare," and sat down with it in a big stuffed chair on a cloudy Saturday afternoon. I did not get up for another two hours! There are several themes running through this book. One is that of life's options narrowing, given that the author's own perch is that of, shall we say, post-middle age. Another theme is of life's opportunities having been fully seized on, even if not all of the efforts described by Morris actually panned out. A third theme is an empathetic one, as Morris contextualizes her own personal ups and downs within the tragically human setting of post-Hurriane Katrina. For me, it is the fourth theme that made this book such a fun and compelling read: parts of it are an absolute riot. Morris is superb at using dry humor and tongue-in-cheek narrative to tell her own stroy through the lens of her reactions to others. I have given the book as a summer reading gift to at least five friends. I highly recommend it.
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