Early on his crafty and layered novel A Perfect Confluence, Peter Bridgford describes the struggles of his terribly flawed protagonist Noah: “When danger lurked around every corner, nothing new or good can actually take root.” After impregnating Lizzie followed by a particularly rough encounter, Noah is on the run to escape from Lizzie’s mafioso father Papa Guerro and his five thuggish sons.
Noah’s trip along the Allegheny River and onward to the Ohio is one memorable journey, tapping into American traditions from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and onward. Haunted by his troubled past and a menacing present, Noah finds in the river and its islands as a opportunity to create both physical and psychological distance from his problems. Bridgford used Noah’s learning how to navigate his new path, marked by rapids, locks, and a multitude of challenges to great symbolic effect. On one level, A Perfect Confluence serves as a story of America’s rivers and their abuse – abuse serving a particularly powerful motif throughout the novel. On another, the novel becomes a story of contrasts: nature’s wonders against so much industrialization (the power plants have particularly harsh effects); Noah’s savage past (he’s committed enough horrible acts in his short life to fill two much longer ones) juxtaposed with a gentler present.
That evolution in Noah is directly related to the presence of the pregnant Becca, who joins him on the journey. While Noah is quite the quick thinker in some tight spots with the Guerro brothers, Becca ultimately shows she has a resourceful mind that will keep him on his toes. Becca’s belief in faith and providence serves as guiding light in the novel and will lead to a truly unexpected and satisfying climax.
Bridgford is a eloquent writer, prone to clear, sharp sentences that stay with the reader: “There was a weight to it, wasn’t there. Like those lead blankets dentists make you wear when they get an X-ray of your teeth.” I highly recommend A Perfect Confluence (a title with its own layers of meaning). The novel is an impressive journey as much for the redemption of Noah and Becca as for the evocation of the American landscape.
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Cicero
It's not only the river that twists its way but the pot too.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 5, 2024