'Ten Mile River' is a novel by Paul Griffin. It is an ideal novel for study with high school English literature students, as it gives opportunity to explore themes such as language, diversity, resiliance, friendships, social expectations, poverty and homelessness.
'Ten Mile River' is a novel by Paul Griffin. It traces the adventures, traumas and personal challenges of two young men in New York City. The key chracters in the story are Ray and Jose, who share a special although at times tenuous frienship bond which is tested at several points in the novel. They are both homeless, and the theme of homelessness within the story is a strong feature of this book. They are also both incredibly resiliant young people, and resiliance is another theme which is well depicted in this novel.
Ray and Jose live in an abandoned warehouse with the company of a pack of stray dogs that they befriend. They bounce from one disasterous decision to another, as they are caught stealing cars, wind up in juvenile detention, get released to discover their warehouse 'home' has been ransacked by drug users, then find two dead bodies that have frozen together in the winter cold. They decide to drop the bodies through the ice on the river, then nearly drown in the icy cold waters themselves.
Although the story is challenging and confronting, it is rarely graphic in terms of its violence. Certainly it is a book where bad things happen. It is probably a fairly close depiction of life on the streets of New York, and so clearly ventures into topic areas such as theft, drug use, homelessness and relationships. But as a novel to study with teens and young adults it would still be appropriate, as the language and scope of the novel is written with this age group in mind. Ultimately it is also a positive novel, as the resiliance and friendship of the main characters are shown to be traits which serve them well to the end.
The language used in 'Ten Mile River' takes some getting used to if it is unfamiliar territory for the reader. It is full of dialogue such as 'We oughta torch that punk's joint' and 'Ray, I'm jus playin wichou, dawg. C'mon home, son. Ray? Yo, Ray!'
For a reader who uses this language as part of their everyday speech, or for whom this language is familiar territory, the novel will be easy to manage at least in terms of dialogue. But for a reader who is no used to reading and listening to street language, the novel will be hard going, although it tends to get easier to read as the story unfolds and the characters and their speech patterns become more familiar.
At 213 pages, it is a fairly lengthy novel to study with teens, particulary if they have a limited literacy level or if they find it challenging to stick with a story that is variously confronting, disturbing and thought provoking. It also contains a reasonably high number of secondary characters, and contains very challenging dialogue. But ultimately for most readers the hard work put into mastering this story is worth it, as they will be rewarded by main characters with whom a strong emotional connection develops throughout the chapters, and a representation of young homeless street kids which is tough, rugged and true to life.
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