Carbondale authors — and romantic partners — Larry Gottlieb and Katherine Knickerbocker have written a new book that combines philosophy, adventure and the great outdoors. The book is called “Secrets of the River: A Parable for Our Times.” It is being published by Di Angelo Publications, with a book launch at the Carbondale Library in concert with White River Books on June 4 at 5:30pm.
A river carries the reader through the story, just as readers were transported by river in “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and “Apocalypse Now.” Rivers are a proven literary vehicle to “move the reader through a story,” Gottlieb remarked.
The characters in “Secrets of the River,” strangers to each other, have joined together for a rafting trip down an unnamed river in America’s Southwest. The rafting company is called Insight Rafting Adventures, which should serve as a strong hint about the nature of the experience to come.
Each member of this rafting group is successful in their professional lives but are feeling that something is missing. Annie owns a second-hand bookstore in a Victorian building (and has been urged by a coworker to “Get away from it all and to do something new”). Malcolm, who is handsome, clean-cut, athletic and smart, is vice-president of a manufacturing company. Jeremy, an architect, works for a successful design firm. And Benjamin is a water attorney. Last, but not least, is Margaret, who has climbed the corporate ladder of a large printing company.
Each member of the group signed up for the adventure for different reasons. They did not know each other prior to their adventure, but they would soon know each other very well.
This group of city dwellers learn that their trip will be more than a vacation when they meet their river guide, “Skip” (short for Skipper), who advises them to “Think of the next ten days as a floating survey of what we believe about our world and ourselves.” The guide promises the rafters personal discoveries that might make a lasting difference in their lives.
The rafters also meet “The Professor” who encourages them to question everything they already know, and May, a mysterious fellow traveller who assumes a pivotal role as the trip goes on.
Clearly, this journey was intended to be far more than a typical rafting trip downstream. It differs greatly from the typical rafting trips that many of us have enjoyed on the Roaring Fork River! Rather than encouraging a member of the rafting group to pass the water or a beer, Skip wants the rafters to know that their world is magical and mysterious, awesome and unfathomable. What follows is a journey of growth and introspection.
Each rafter benefits from deep, thoughtful discussions, and over the course of the rafting trip these discussions have a genuinely positive impact. Skip offers metaphysical insights that will make a real difference in the rafters’ lives, and their worldviews are broadened and enhanced by these life lessons.
Think of it as psychoanalysis while “going with the flow.” The people on the rafting trip experience personal growth and a better understanding of the universe in which we all live. Skip is like a guru, and is certainly an effective spiritual adviser.
One particularly interesting feature of the book is that the unseen narrator, referring to itself as “We,” travels within the characters, guiding their decisions and actions, and that dear reader, makes me wonder who is guiding my decisions.
