LitStack is excited to bring you Allie Coker’s review of Peace Like A River, the latest novel from Scott Gould.
In This LitStack Review of Peace Like A River
Rifts and Resolution, Levity and Gravity
Scott Gould’s refreshing Peace Like A River, is a novel filled with surprising characters and an unmatched balance of levity and gravity. Set along the Black River in South Carolina, the story that unfolds between Elwin McClennon, his son Thom, and Thom’s mother, Roma, defies the nature of the title Peace Like A River. While being near the river may bring peace to some—and it can flow soothingly slowly at times—the river also has challenging bends and can be quite dangerous. Elwin, who lost his best friend to the river as a child, remembers every brutal detail even decades later. Through the lens of innocent Thom and his youth, Elwin discovers what it means to trade letting go of the past for living in the present and, potentially, even the future.
We find out Roma is Thom’s mom the same way that Elwin did—by surprise. A one-night stand, the woman (who is 25 years younger than Elwin) shows up at the local bar to tell him she’s pregnant and ask what she should name the baby. While Elwin provides an answer, he says Roma put the flare of adding an “h” to Thom’s name all on her own. Opening with humor, the narrative flows in conversation with the reader while the natural storytelling adds to the bemused tone of Peace Like A River, precisely what had me invested in these characters and their triumphs or pitfalls.
Thom, now 13, is accompanying his father to the bedside of Elwin’s dad (Thom’s granddad whom he’s never met). With his unconventional communication style, attachment to his earbuds and golf pencil, and uncanny personality, Thom is considered neurodivergent, something neither parent fully understands. Thom does not call Elwin “dad” since they don’t see each other very much, but he does know how to get under his skin, like any child, by numbering the well-worn stories Elwin tells and predicting the make/model accurately of any headlights that beam their way. Elwin, a retired English teacher now working in the shoe department at Dillard’s, often asks himself how he got to this place in his life.
Unfinished Endings
Elwin hasn’t seen his father (whom he refers to as “The Old Man”) in 15 years. After his mom died, The Old Man took up with Linda McCrea, the widow down the street even though they kept separate residences and remained unmarried despite staying together for the long haul. Elwin’s brother Eli bolted after the funeral, and no one has figured out where he went in all the interceding years. Elwin left on rocky terms, the relationship with The Old Man previously strained, and now broken entirely. When Linda calls to tell Elwin his old man is pretty sick and he better come, Elwin puts aside their thorny relationship and takes to the road with Thom.
Stuck in the type of town with nothing doing, they hole up in a dingy motel. Gould employs perfect double entendres for life throughout Peace Like A River. Thom is instantly fascinated by and enamored with the motel owner’s daughter, Lily Salters. It doesn’t take long for the two to become thick as thieves. Thom also hits it off right away with Linda and the Old Man (whom he calls “Private” due to his service in Vietnam). Elwin is amazed that for a kid he perceived to have few social skills, Thom can connect with people in ways that Elwin struggles to. The characters click into place like puzzle pieces slowly joining to create a picture of what having a functioning family could look like.
Elwin’s father has snuck out of the hospital to die at his house by the river, a secret spot he’s kept for escaping during turbulent times. When they find him lying outside drinking a beer, Elwin feels like a kid again and there is stony silence between them until Elwin speaks up first. The frank, unabashed dialogue underscores the contentious dynamics between them, the kind that only familial history can evoke. Even at 80, the Old Man reminds Elwin just how difficult and unconventional he can be.
It turns out that Roma has been calling the Old Man with updates about Thom every six months, which Elwin was unaware of. But before he gets his mind wrapped around that fact, Elwin and the rest realize that Thom has accidentally floated away on the river in a boat.
Everything Old is New Again
Peace Like A River is the kind of book about finding out who you are, discovering who others are instead of taking them at face value, and expanding interests and knowledge at any time in life. Every character in Peace Like A River is inexperienced at something, whether big or small, but life makes a beginner of us at every new stage and there is no presupposing. For Elwin and Thom, this means greeting life with an open mind and heart even when the safety of the known beckons daily. Like meeting the family members you’ve known for years for the very first time.
Elwin is crazy worried about Thom but realizes he doesn’t know much about his son including whether he can swim or not. Elwin has grown too used to thinking of Thom at a remove, as “that kid” because of his autism, but what if he started to see his son with a fresh perspective and as more than a monthly chore? Thankfully, Thom, who is advanced for his age, survives his haphazard boat journey by using his smarts and when the adults find him, he has made a pet out of a chill, orange, stray cat whom he names Willie Nelson.
Missing and Missed
Despite the miracle of Thom surviving unscathed, the characters in Peace Like A River must face this same river time and time again. Elwin is haunted, at some points quite literally, by his best friend Lonnie Tisdale who drowned by suicide when they were children. Elwin has never been able to dispel his grief and guilt around the incident, but throughout Peace Like A River the apparition of Lonnie slowly morphs into acceptance.
When Linda announces to Elwin that the Old Man has passed, Elwin finds out from the undertaker that his dad has set up everything in advance and instructions are clear—no urn, no memorial, no fuss. He wanted to be cremated and scattered along specific points of the Black River. Roma, who had come to town to check on Thom, comforts Elwin over the passing of his father. In his typed will, there’s a lack of “h’s” almost as though that key had burned out…but of course, the missing “h” can be found in Thom’s name.
While the characters in Peace Like A River may not come out with their full bodies intact, their spirits certainly are. Elwin, who has always been a crier, is determined not to be as callous and unsentimental towards his son as the Old Man was towards him. Communication and making amends are the peace named in the title Peace Like A River. Much like the cat Willie Nelson, all the characters are a little wild and unpredictable, but not quite feral as initially believed.
Peace Like a River is a rich story rife with the message that life is about going through things instead of around them—which includes crying, feeling, and accepting with curiosity while not speeding through.
~Allie Coker
About Scott Gould, Author of Peace Like A River
Scott is the author of Peace Like A River, The Hammerhead Chronicles, winner of the Eric Hoffer Award for Fiction, and Things That Crash, Things That Fly, which won a 2022 Memoir Prize for Books. His other honors include a Next Generation Indie Book Award, an IPPY Award for Fiction, the Larry Brown Short Story Award and the S.C. Arts Commission Artist Fellowship in Prose. His work has appeared in a number of publications, including Kenyon Review, Black Warrior Review, Pangyrus, Crazyhorse, Pithead Chapel, Garden & Gun, and New Stories from the South, among others. He lives in Sans Souci, South Carolina and teaches at the S.C. Governor’s School for the Arts & Humanities.
You can connect with Scott Gould on his website, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Source: Scott Gould website
Publisher: Regal House Publishing
ISBN: Softcover: 9781646036066
Pub Date: Aug 26, 2025
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Other LitStack Resources
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