June 2025

Wow is the first word that I use to describe this powerful and moving work from Wally Lamb. I finished THE RIVER IS WAITING last Saturday morning and went through most of the rest of the weekend ruminating about it.

I will say that this is not a happy book. In fact, there is a lot of sadness woven between its pages. There are moments when you will want to knock characters’ heads together. There are other times when you will have so much sympathy and know that this novel will have you seeing incarceration up close in a raw way.

So, what is the story? At the opening, Cory Ledbetter is struggling. He has lost his job and has been unable to find another. He is caring for his twins and enjoying them. But he is in a bad place mentally. The stress has been wearing on him, and he has been self-medicating with liquor and drugs. He feels that he has been letting his wife, Emily, down. An accident with one of the twins lands Cory in jail with a multi-year sentence. He leaves his comfortable suburban life directly from the courtroom and is thrust into prison life. These scenes are written vividly, reminding me that Wally spent time working in a women’s prison in a writers’ workshop program.

We come to know the schedule of early meals of barely edible food, the way inmates come to tolerate each other, and scenes like Cory’s time in the library where he finds camaraderie with the librarian. We also see him give a warm hand to a young man who clearly is reeling from his prison life.

There are moments of hope, and readers will find themselves uplifted with Cory --- and then what unfolds is one of the most brilliant endings to a novel that I have read. You will want to discuss it, and it would be a great choice for book groups.

After I finished reading THE RIVER IS WAITING, I came across this interview that Oprah did with Wally, which gives away nothing that you will not read in the early pages. It is well worth watching.