Listen to this review: The River is Waiting
Much has been written about Wally Lamb and his ‘compassionate writing’, his ‘Imperfect people’, his ‘unerring eye, ear and signature heart’. His latest novel The River is Waiting is all this and more. A deeply felt story, gut-wrenching, heart-breaking – I ran the gamut of emotions as I read, sometimes having to catch my breath. Feeling that jolt in my stomach as tragedy unfolded, gasping out loud. It is one of those stories that grips you page after page. A newcomer to his books, I am now hooked, and will be looking out for others.
Corby and Emily Ledbetter – a regular couple, with toddler twins. She’s an elementary school teacher, he a graphic artist. But he’s been retrenched, so he’s a house husband. A good and loving father, he adores his kids. But he’s struggling to find a new job – the constant rejection feeding his anxiety. Pills and booze – only in small doses – unknown to Emily, keep him afloat. But when he causes the tragedy that tears their family apart, it’s a downward spiral.
Written in the first person, present tense, we are so close to Corby that, as the tension builds, I could feel my breath coming sharper until my own anguished cry of ‘Oh No!’ – this within the first 12 pages.
An honest man, Coprby owns up to his addiction, doesn’t take a legal loophole, and lands in jail for three years. Lamb understands the prison system, having taught in correctional facilities. For Corby, suffering from guilt, grief and that emptiness of the soul that comes after loss, it is a life unknown, fractured, seemingly without hope. Brutality and injustice are the norm, but the small glimmers of kindness slowly seep into him. Manny, the flamboyant cellmate who cares; the librarian, Mrs Millman, who fans his artistic ability; his mother, who believes in him; and his own kindness to Solomon, the troubled teenager who should never have been in this facility.
There are many themes. Death, grief, addiction, guilt, brutality, fear, bullying, expectations, inequality, hope. But overall it is forgiveness – will Emily ever forgive him? A hovering question – one that opens up one’s own feelings. Would I? Could I?
A deeply felt book, a book about the journey to healing, written without sensation. Like the river in the title, which Corby can hear from his cell, and from which he can pluck a flat ‘lucky’ stone, the ebb and flow is gentle to turbulent. The river and the blue heron represent hope and freedom to Corby as he lives out his sentence, until he suffers a vicious assault.
This book stops you in your tracks. It’s moving and makes you think deeply about consequences. The ending is surprising; yet somehow sadly fits. The story stays with you…in fact, it has haunted me since finishing reading – a good thing. All the adjectives and phrases that other reviewers have written are so apt. I won’t repeat them but to say…read it. ●
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