It's All River (and almost nothing goes deep)

I finished reading It’s All River by Carla Madeira. A friend recommended it to me, so I searched about the book and found many very positive reviews. People saying it was “beautiful”, “powerful”, “breathtaking”. I did a mistake, I created expectations.

My wife had already warned me. She tried to read it and gave up, said the book did not grab her and she stopped in the middle. I still don’t have the detachment to abandon books halfway, maybe another mistake. I went until the end and yes, I was disappointed.

The book talks about prostitution, domestic violence, abuse, pain, emotional misery. This exists. It exists much more than we like to admit. I don’t mind heavy books or uncomfortable stories. That is not the problem. The problem is that everything feels shallow. This river does not have the depth that the themes deserve.

These are complex subjects, but they are treated in a superficial way. The book touches the topic, uses a strong sentence, and moves on. It does not sustain the discussion. It does not face what it puts on the table.

In my view, if you choose to bring themes this big, you need to carry them until the end. You need to treat them with the seriousness and depth they demand. Here, the feeling is that it could have been a great book, but it wasn’t.

The writing tries to be poetic all the time. It feels like every sentence was made to cause impact. Metaphor after metaphor: water, river, flow, liquid pain, suffering that runs. For me, it feels forced. Cliché. Too sweet. The beauty of the text dies in the excess.

The chapters are very short and the reading becomes too fragmented. The language tries to mix impact, poetry, and shock, but many times this hurts more than it helps.

Dalva and Venâncio do not work as a couple. There is no chemistry, and the dialogues are often confusing. The relationships between characters demand extra effort from the reader, without giving depth in return.

In the end, IIt’s All River feels like a book made to cause impact and emotion, not real reflection. The themes are big, but the treatment is shallow.