"The Riverbed" is a poignant coming-of-age tale that explores the power of friendship, imagination, and resilience in the face of adversity. I enjoyed how the author delved into themes of identity, belonging, and the struggle to find one's place in the world, drawing readers into the richly drawn landscapes of Orange, California, and the riverbed that serves as both a physical and metaphorical refuge for the characters. Fox, Axel, and Angel are intricately developed protagonists whose personal journeys and relationships drive the narrative forward with authenticity and heart. As they navigate the challenges of adolescence and confront societal expectations, they discover the strength to embrace their true selves and forge meaningful connections amidst uncertainty.

This book did not meet my expectations and it took me way longer than usual to get through it. The writing style was too sophisticated to get the point across. Sometimes I was confused in the middle of reading. I couldn't get to care about the main characters thoughout the majority of the book. The ending felt like it came out of nowhere, as I didn't think the story advancement and elements were leading to it, and then it came. It didn't feel, for most of the book, like the story was going somewhere. It also felt overly long. Would recommend only to a fan of this specific book style.

DNF @ 50%.

Stefan Mattessich’s novel The Riverbed is a very beautifully written and literarily complex novel that was ultimately not for me, but that I would definitely recommend to a different sort of reader than myself. The story follows two outcast high school boys, Axel and Fox. Axel in particular is a troubled child, at times seeing himself as a prophet or an angel, and he goes about the world as if reality is just a suggestion, inventing fictional worlds and stories for him and Fox to fit into. The titular riverbed that cuts through their city lies at the heart of the novel, twisting its way into each character’s life in a distinct way. The novel plays with a variety of genres and themes, offering commentary on class, coming of age, religion and fanaticism, and the line between fiction and reality.

Although I did not finish this novel, there was still a lot about the first half that I did enjoy. The writing style in particular is really wonderful, and Mattessich’s descriptions of the natural world in particular captivated me. I always love a novel with a focus on water as a vehicle for metaphor, and the recurring “character” of the riverbed was really well done. The novel also plays with the literary canon in a variety of ways. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings plays a central role in Axel’s life and his own literary aspirations, and the characterization and storytelling employed by Mattissech is reminiscent in many ways of Don Quixote, with Axel and Fox serving as interesting parallels to Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.

Where the book lost me a little bit was that this is definitely a character study, but I never felt particularly close to or invested in the characters. Mattessich keeps Fox and Axel at a distance in his writing. There isn’t much of a clear narrative thread or plot running through the book, with the chapters serving more as vignettes that illustrate something about the characters or their pasts, without actually doing much to allow for character development or growth. Axel in particular can be difficult to warm up to as a character. Many of the scenes involving him more or less boil down to him coming up with these fantastical stories with a variety of invented names and places, often occupying several pages without doing much to move the novel forward. In general, the characters are often only described in the ways that they deviate from the norm, so much so that they become caricatures of themselves. We only see them at their worst—at their most conflicted, at their strangest—and it’s therefore hard to really connect to them or follow them in any way. It’s a very abstract novel in this sense.

I think that this could have made a wonderful short story, but for me personally it stretches out a bit too long to be a full-length novel. If you enjoy older vignette-style classics like Don Quixote or even The Tale of Genji, I do think that this is worth a read. I just unfortunately was never able to connect to the characters in a way that let this novel click for me.

Stefan Mattessich’s new novel, The Riverbed, follows Axel, a brilliant and gifted teenager with an extraordinary imagination, and his friend Fox, who wishes he could see what Axel believes. The two friends escape their respective lives via ‘the riverbed’ and the fantastical world found therein. Through effortless prose, Mattessich builds a world of mirrors where physical and imagined space, religious dogmatism and liberality, family and friends, and sincerity and hypocrisy colorless into an integrated interrogation of all and each with the hope of understanding just what it [life] means. This novel is part coming of age, mystery, fantasy, environmental study, and religious critique; each part grows independently as part of the greater human exploration.

I particularly enjoyed the language. Mattesssich does have a way with words: his phrasing, his ear for dialogue, his blending of tropes and genre — all splendid and top-tier. His sentences grab you from the start to the finish and don’t let go for days on end.

Though Mattessich has an obvious world-class handle on the English language and encyclopedic knowledge of literature and story, I found the novel to have several shortcomings that hindered my enjoyment. Each critique that follows could easily, and probably does, come down to personal preference, and everything I say should be taken with this in mind and a proverbial pinch of salt.

I was unable to fully engage with the friendship between Axel and Fox. I understand their differences and their similarities. I understand, albeit intellectually, why I am supposed to believe their friendship. And I understand again intellectually, the tension between them, but I was unable to emotionally engage for much of the novel. The perspective granted by the author purposefully muddies the water in this regard. Still, I do think the crux of the story requires a greater understanding and belief in their love for one another to fully buy into the story as a whole. I think the balancing act of the striking differences between Axel and Fox is a hard one to maintain but I found that personal details that would help me empathize with each character either came too late (Fox), or not at all (Axel), and thus, I was lacking feeling toward or understanding of their friendship. I also think that due to the frame of the story and its many blended elements, there was not enough time to develop all things at once and in time for me to fully engross myself in the lives of the characters. I, a character-driven reader, sadly watched as their human qualities were put on the back burner while the fantastical and physical history of space was developed in great detail.

The ending of the novel also felt rushed, not because it happened over a few pages, but because I never felt as if I were being guided toward a conclusion until the book was concluded. The best way I could explain this feeling is I felt like a great portion of the novel was me being told about someone's dream. This dream had a great impact on the teller, it was emotional, real, and significant to them, but because it was a dream, I have no access to the impact or emotions required to understand or buy into what I am being told. This undercut what could have been a cathartic ending because I carried the baggage and frustration of wanting more understanding, but only received more dream telling. I understand the book blends realistic and fantastic elements, a hard thing to accomplish to be sure, but because it lacked the human element, I wound up feeling as if I were being told a story rather than experiencing one unfold. Rather than the story coming to a natural conclusion, it seems as though the characters that guide the reader toward the ending are shoehorned into place simply because books need an ending.

Overall, I loved the language. Stefan Mattessich is a wonderful writer with high batting averages for cultural insights, world-building details, metaphors, and family dynamics. I think his use of language and imagination alone makes The Riverbed worthy of being read.