As a former reporter and editor for several newspapers in the Northern Virginia area, I was immediately drawn to Ben McGrath’s debut novel, “Riverman: An American Odyssey.” Mr. McGrath is a longtime staff writer for The New Yorker.
A Chance Encounter
Mr. McGrath first meets Dick Conant on Labor Day in 2014, after a neighbor called his attention to a scrubby red canoe tied to the seawall near their properties on the west bank of the Hudson River in Piermont, New York. For Mr. McGrath, Mr. Conant, a large man with ruddy cheeks, a hearty laugh, sporting overalls and muddy boots and who owned a canoe, was a larger-than-life presence and could have been Santa Claus arriving early via boat.Mr. Conant, at 63, was on a mission to paddle from Canada to Florida. His tales flowed from him like the many rivers—the Missouri, Mississippi, or Yellowstone—he had traversed over the decades. Mr. McGrath listened with interest and awe: Was it courage or folly that drove this man to America’s waterways with most of his belongings stashed in the bow of the boat?
Mr. McGrath gleaned enough from the stranger, who landed in their backyard like a fish out of water, to write a story that was subsequently published and that Mr. Conant later read and liked.
The months passed. In November of that same year, Mr. McGrath received a phone call that an overturned red canoe had been found in the Outer Banks in North Carolina. Mr. Conant wasn’t on board. Mr. McGrath’s contact information was, and authorities from the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission had reached out hoping to find answers.
Did Mr. McGrath now have a bigger story to write? What had happened to this gregarious and jovial man who was no stranger to the challenges that a river can present? Mr. McGrath had found himself captivated by his brief encounter with Mr. Conant and his quest—not only with the man but also with the mysteries surrounding him and his choosing the precarious life he led.
‘Riverman: An American Odyssey’
Mr. McGrath set out on an odyssey of his own, psychologically submerging himself, working his way through often murky waters as he persistently followed leads, made phone calls, checked records, and visited with hundreds of people across the country who remembered Mr. Conant and were willing to talk about those encounters, including members of Mr. Conant’s family. He had several siblings.
In the book, Mr. McGrath often questions his own motivations and serves as his own emotional fact-checker. Was he reading too much Americana folk hero into Mr. Conant’s often eccentric and paranoid behavior? Was this man delusional and Mr. McGrath seduced by his charms?
Mr. McGrath is a diligent journalist. He does his job as a conscientious writer to peel back the layers of this complicated character who, more often than not, greeted people graciously and most definitely had an effect on them. Mr. Conant shared more than stories of his river sojourns. Mr. McGrath unearths numerous instances of his generosity and “be quick to be kind” demeanor.
Well-educated and intelligent, Mr. Conant, for many, was a floating encyclopedia paddling his way through life, always with a book to read and tidbits to share about what historical person or event had taken place at this juncture or around the bend. He was an enigma.
The members of Mr. Conant’s network of contacts, which spanned many states along his thousands of miles of waterway meanderings, all had their stories to share. Mr. McGrath had to make many decisions about what to include in the book and what to leave out. It took him five years to complete, no doubt too long for those familiar with delirious deadlines.
The end result is mesmerizing. There are unanswered questions. Mr. Conant’s body was never found. His fate remains a mystery.
Mr. McGrath gives readers a deeply moving account of a troubled man beset with ghosts from the past but ever searching for a brighter and hope-filled future. His own perceptions change as he opens up a world of little-known small towns and remote waterways cascading with lush landscapes and poignant personalities. Mr. Conant is the observer, the one living on the edge but yearning for the fireside familiarity of family.
It’s a story worth telling and reading, an affirmation of spirit and soul, and a rekindling of all that’s possible even in the confines of modern-day living.
