A clear narrative voice is equally at home with the book’s country folks and city people. Great historical and regional details come in, including of vehicles, clothing, and preelectric housekeeping ... The dam’s holdups raise the stakes of the story, and waiting to learn the characters’ fates, which are wrapped up in the success of the project, makes this historical tale gripping.
Electricity comes to rural Tennessee in Barr’s impressive debut novel ... Beautifully written, with deeply sympathetic characters and a richly described Tennessee landscape, Watershed brings a unique chapter in American history to vivid life through the eyes of two people working hard to find their place in the story.
... powerful ... suspenseful, heartfelt ... an eloquently written story of two people and their ambitions, yearnings and passions amid a key historical period.
There are appearances by stock characters (including a 'city slicker' and a roughneck with a heart of gold), and some scenes may appear stereotypical (including outhouses, dogfights, and moonshine), but the level of detail Barr provides shields the book against condescension and argues in favor of researched reality. Lyrical descriptions of the Tennessee landscape contrast vividly with the harsher reality of day-to-day life in a region and time almost exotic in its isolation ... Barr sheds light on a unique episode in American history while illuminating the stories of two sympathetic characters.
... powerful ... Barr displays impressive emotional depth in the depictions of Claire’s growing self-confidence and Nathan’s worrying. Readers looking for vivid historicals full of emotional turmoil in the vein of Wallace Stegner will enjoy this impressive novel.
