The story focuses on 16 year old Margo Crane, who decides to live on a river (near Kalazamoo, Michigan). The book follows her life for several years. I think the author is trying to write a coming of age novel, and the books is somewhat reminiscent of Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn or the Odyssey.
The main character is very odd in my opinion. She is a quiet, almost silent girl. Her character knows how to live off the land, skin deer, handle boats, and basically survive. She is drawn, almost obsessively, to Annie Oakley, and like Annie is a crack shot with any gun she can get her hands on.
For some reason Margo decides that to protect herself she must sleep with each male character. Later in the book (as a sign of growth, I believe), the first thing she tells a male character on meeting him is "I am not going to sleep with you....And not your brother Johnny, either." There are no major female characters in the book - her mother and aunt play small roles while shaping Margo's character. Plus, Margo seems to watch life from the outside even when she is in a relationship.
There is a scene where her mother takes her to an abortion clinic to take care of a problem, and later a scene where she lets an old man die in the river when she realizes how much pain he has and how he wants this, "Margo felt his tension and pain slip away, and his grip on her hand gradually loosened." The book also contains drug usage and production, and several murders - none of which appears to have a large impact on the main character - even when she kills someone.
While the writing is beautiful and even somewhat tranquil, I feel like the theme is twisted somehow. Behind beautiful words here is a sombre, tragic world with very little hope, just events happening one after another.
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