I was amused by this way of trying to walk the line between realism and magical-realism. I think I still ended up on the slightly irritated line there, but there was so much to like in the book I didn’t let it bother me.
I felt a bit dumb about not realized Odie was short for Odysseus. It’s the classic journey tale of the hero trying to get home. (And I’m fine with defining Odie’s killing DiMarco as heroic.) I’d have to go look at the Odyssey again, but surely we meet sirens, and Circe and pigs, as he tries to get home.
It’s interesting that he chose a fictional name for his river. There’s a lot to ponder in its choice from the Biblical origins to its use in more recent fiction. I see that according to Wikipedia.
In Hebrew, גלעד (transcribed Gilad or Ghil’ad) is used as a male given name and is often analysed as deriving from גיל (gil) “happiness, joy” and עד (ad) “eternity, forever”; i.e. “eternal happiness”.