What do you think?
Rate this book
River, Sing Out
“And through these ages untold, the river did act as the lifeblood of all those things alongside it.”
Jonah Hargrove is celebrating his thirteenth birthday by avoiding his abusive father, when a girl named River stumbles into his yard, injured and alone. The teenager has stolen thousands of dollars’ worth of meth from her murderous, drug-dealing boyfriend, but lost it somewhere in the Neches River bottoms during her escape. Jonah agrees to help her find and sell the drugs so she can flee East Texas.
Chasing after them is John Curtis, a local drug kingpin and dog fighter, as well as River’s boyfriend, the dangerous Dakota Cade.
Each person is keeping secrets from the others—deadly secrets that will be exposed in violent fashion as all are forced to come to terms with their choices, their circumstances, and their own definition of God.
With a colorful cast of supporting characters and an unflinching violence juxtaposed against lyrical prose, River, Sing Out dives deep into the sinister world of the East Texas river bottoms, where oppressive poverty is pitted against the need to believe in something greater than the self.
Jonah Hargrove is celebrating his thirteenth birthday by avoiding his abusive father, when a girl named River stumbles into his yard, injured and alone. The teenager has stolen thousands of dollars’ worth of meth from her murderous, drug-dealing boyfriend, but lost it somewhere in the Neches River bottoms during her escape. Jonah agrees to help her find and sell the drugs so she can flee East Texas.
Chasing after them is John Curtis, a local drug kingpin and dog fighter, as well as River’s boyfriend, the dangerous Dakota Cade.
Each person is keeping secrets from the others—deadly secrets that will be exposed in violent fashion as all are forced to come to terms with their choices, their circumstances, and their own definition of God.
With a colorful cast of supporting characters and an unflinching violence juxtaposed against lyrical prose, River, Sing Out dives deep into the sinister world of the East Texas river bottoms, where oppressive poverty is pitted against the need to believe in something greater than the self.
315 pages, Hardcover
First published June 8, 2021
25 people are currently reading
2102 people want to read
About the author
James Wade
5 books340 followersJames Wade lives and writes in the Texas Hill Country with his wife and daughter. He is the author of "Beasts of the Earth," a winner of the 2023 Spur Award for Best Contemporary Novel, "River, Sing Out" and "All Things Left Wild," a winner of the 2021 MPIBA Reading the West Award for Debut Fiction and a recipient of the 2021 Spur Award for Best Historical Novel from the Western Writers of America.
Represented by Mark Gottlieb with Trident Media Group.
Awards and Honors:
A winner of the 2023 Spur Award for Best Contemporary Novel (BEASTS OF THE EARTH)
A finalist of The Austin Chronicle's Best of Austin 2022 Best Fiction Writer
A winner of the 2021 Reading the West Award for Best Debut Novel (ALL THINGS LEFT WILD)
A winner of the 2021 Spur Award for Best Historical Fiction (ALL THINGS LEFT WILD)
A winner of the 2016 Writers' League of Texas Manuscript Contest (Historical Fiction)
A finalist of the 2016 Writers' League of Texas Manuscript Contest (Thriller)
A finalist of the 2016 Tethered By Letters Short Story Contest
Honorable mention in the 2016 Texas Observer Short Story Contest
Honorable mention in the 2015 Texas Observer Short Story Contest
Work by James can be found in the following Publications and Anthologies:
The Bitter Oleander | Skylark Review (Little Lantern Press) | Tall...ish (Pure Slush Books) | Intrinsick Magazine | Dime Show Review | Bartleby Snopes | Jersey Devil Press | Typehouse Magazine | After the Pause Journal | J.J. Outre Review | Potluck Magazine | Yellow Chair Review | Through the Gaps | Eunoia Review
Represented by Mark Gottlieb with Trident Media Group.
Awards and Honors:
A winner of the 2023 Spur Award for Best Contemporary Novel (BEASTS OF THE EARTH)
A finalist of The Austin Chronicle's Best of Austin 2022 Best Fiction Writer
A winner of the 2021 Reading the West Award for Best Debut Novel (ALL THINGS LEFT WILD)
A winner of the 2021 Spur Award for Best Historical Fiction (ALL THINGS LEFT WILD)
A winner of the 2016 Writers' League of Texas Manuscript Contest (Historical Fiction)
A finalist of the 2016 Writers' League of Texas Manuscript Contest (Thriller)
A finalist of the 2016 Tethered By Letters Short Story Contest
Honorable mention in the 2016 Texas Observer Short Story Contest
Honorable mention in the 2015 Texas Observer Short Story Contest
Work by James can be found in the following Publications and Anthologies:
The Bitter Oleander | Skylark Review (Little Lantern Press) | Tall...ish (Pure Slush Books) | Intrinsick Magazine | Dime Show Review | Bartleby Snopes | Jersey Devil Press | Typehouse Magazine | After the Pause Journal | J.J. Outre Review | Potluck Magazine | Yellow Chair Review | Through the Gaps | Eunoia Review
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 89 reviews
August 4, 2021
“So what are we then, Bonnie and Clyde?” The boy frowned. “Bonnie and Clyde ended up dead,” he said. “Yeah, well, everybody ends up dead.”An innocent 13-year-old boy and a mysterious teenage girl hit the road to find a lost satchel carrying $25K of stolen meth. Criminals are after them, violence ensues, and many philosophical conversations are had.
This is a story about hope and fear, choice and consequence, and God. Incredibly descriptive and with characters that get under your skin in all the best and worst ways, James Wade is now a one-click author for me. Check him out.
🎧Audiobook narration by Roger Clark was excellent with a deep, strong drawl perfect for this rural Texas setting.
🙏Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for complimentary access to the audiobook edition for review purposes. My first listening experience with NetGalley Shelf was a success!
June 9, 2021
As soon as I finished reading River, Sing Out, I sat there completely awash in the journey I just took. The end is as the beginning, and the beginning is as the end. And for this reader, the bar for poetic prose excellence was just raised to heights unknown.
Describing this story, or even the style of this story, is going to be difficult. I can still feel the story as much as I can feel my most vivid dream. But trying to describe it? I’ll do my best.
The storyline is complex simplicity. The story follows Jonah, a teen in East Texas. The time is the year of record rainfall and flooding. Jonah lives in a trailer out in the boonies near the river - the Neches River - with his father, an oil rigger. His father is gone to work for weeks at a time, leaving Jonah on his own.
One day, a twenty-something women, River - she called herself, happens upon Jonah’s trailer. She is running for her life from drug runners. Jonah ultimately makes it his mission to keep River safe.
The two plot lines - one being Jonah and the other being the drug runners - are apparent from the very beginning. They stay separate for most of the story, except for a few quick skirmishes when they intersect, but finally come fully together in the climax.
The river is like a mysterious character in the story. We know it’s there, but what lurks above or below it remains in darkness until the story is ready to reveal it.
What really impressed me in this book is how James Wade told the story. The whole story reads almost like poetry. If it is possible for a book to have feng shui - as in the balance of yin and yang - it would have to be this book. Practically every paragraph seems to be balanced in some type of perfect way. I can just imagine author James Wade jumbling the words of a paragraph in his mind, teasing the words and the meanings until they are all perfectly blended and balanced. I don’t know how else to describe it.
This story is not just a story to be read. It is a story to be experienced. By the time you’re finished reading, you will indeed feel the humidity of the Texas heat as rain comes and goes, yet the heat remains. You will feel the mud of the river between your toes. You will hear the raindrops on a tin roof. This author knows how to open a reader’s being and flood it with description that plucks on the senses like a harpist plucks the strings, and also fills the void with an abundance of so many emotions.
The imagery used is just stellar. “The old man watched a memory as it bobbed atop the surface of the river then disappeared.” If I provided all of these examples, I’d pretty much be giving you the entire story.
Technically, the book sits on a high shelf with few peers. The pacing of the story is slow and deliberate, like the current of the river. But it never stalls. The character arcs are also slow to form, but form they do. The editing is flawless.
Although this is the first book by James Wade that I’ve read, he has immediately become one of my favorite and most respected authors.
If you believe in the magic of the written word and what can become of it, you need to read this story. You need to read this author. You will enjoy both very much!
Describing this story, or even the style of this story, is going to be difficult. I can still feel the story as much as I can feel my most vivid dream. But trying to describe it? I’ll do my best.
The storyline is complex simplicity. The story follows Jonah, a teen in East Texas. The time is the year of record rainfall and flooding. Jonah lives in a trailer out in the boonies near the river - the Neches River - with his father, an oil rigger. His father is gone to work for weeks at a time, leaving Jonah on his own.
One day, a twenty-something women, River - she called herself, happens upon Jonah’s trailer. She is running for her life from drug runners. Jonah ultimately makes it his mission to keep River safe.
The two plot lines - one being Jonah and the other being the drug runners - are apparent from the very beginning. They stay separate for most of the story, except for a few quick skirmishes when they intersect, but finally come fully together in the climax.
The river is like a mysterious character in the story. We know it’s there, but what lurks above or below it remains in darkness until the story is ready to reveal it.
What really impressed me in this book is how James Wade told the story. The whole story reads almost like poetry. If it is possible for a book to have feng shui - as in the balance of yin and yang - it would have to be this book. Practically every paragraph seems to be balanced in some type of perfect way. I can just imagine author James Wade jumbling the words of a paragraph in his mind, teasing the words and the meanings until they are all perfectly blended and balanced. I don’t know how else to describe it.
This story is not just a story to be read. It is a story to be experienced. By the time you’re finished reading, you will indeed feel the humidity of the Texas heat as rain comes and goes, yet the heat remains. You will feel the mud of the river between your toes. You will hear the raindrops on a tin roof. This author knows how to open a reader’s being and flood it with description that plucks on the senses like a harpist plucks the strings, and also fills the void with an abundance of so many emotions.
The imagery used is just stellar. “The old man watched a memory as it bobbed atop the surface of the river then disappeared.” If I provided all of these examples, I’d pretty much be giving you the entire story.
Technically, the book sits on a high shelf with few peers. The pacing of the story is slow and deliberate, like the current of the river. But it never stalls. The character arcs are also slow to form, but form they do. The editing is flawless.
Although this is the first book by James Wade that I’ve read, he has immediately become one of my favorite and most respected authors.
If you believe in the magic of the written word and what can become of it, you need to read this story. You need to read this author. You will enjoy both very much!
Read
June 16, 2021DNF-ed at 40%
Didn't like the narrator, way too dramatic. The whole time I felt like someone was yelling at me. It was very distracting, I couldn't focus on the story at all.
40% into the book, I just gave up. I almost never DNF, but this was just too much. Why should I bother when all it does is annoy me?
However, my review applies only to the audio version of this book. For all I know, the story might be well worth the read. It did seem really well written.
Also, just wanted to stress out that me not liking the narrator is just my own personal opinion. I can totally see people listening this book and thinking his voice was just very expressive. It just wasn't for me.
But, the little I did listen - do check the trigger warnings before reading this book. It gets very violent and dark. Otherwise, I might have tried to just physically read the rest of the book.
Thank you to the #NetGalley and to the author and publisher for providing me with an audiobook version of River, Sing Out by James Wade in exchange for an honest review.
Didn't like the narrator, way too dramatic. The whole time I felt like someone was yelling at me. It was very distracting, I couldn't focus on the story at all.
40% into the book, I just gave up. I almost never DNF, but this was just too much. Why should I bother when all it does is annoy me?
However, my review applies only to the audio version of this book. For all I know, the story might be well worth the read. It did seem really well written.
Also, just wanted to stress out that me not liking the narrator is just my own personal opinion. I can totally see people listening this book and thinking his voice was just very expressive. It just wasn't for me.
But, the little I did listen - do check the trigger warnings before reading this book. It gets very violent and dark. Otherwise, I might have tried to just physically read the rest of the book.
Thank you to the #NetGalley and to the author and publisher for providing me with an audiobook version of River, Sing Out by James Wade in exchange for an honest review.
July 11, 2023
I discovered this delightful and depressing novel at a book signing that author James Wade conducted at a small-town Independent Bookstore. His passion for the area he wrote about and the characters he created made it impossible not to pick up a copy.
This is a beautiful literary look at the effect of meth on a small town. It is written from a perspective of knowledge while still being told through the eyes of realistic characters.
The majority of this story is heartbreaking and oozes the desperation of a struggling town filled with struggling families dealing with the oilfield lifestyle and what that influx of cash can lead to. In this case, it has led to Cartel-supplied meth and dog-fighting rings.
The lyrical style of the writing flows like the river of the town and brings an interesting method of storytelling that is enjoyable to experience.
My favorite quote in the book
"We spend half our lives accumulating experiences, the other half forgetting them."
5 Stars
This is a beautiful literary look at the effect of meth on a small town. It is written from a perspective of knowledge while still being told through the eyes of realistic characters.
The majority of this story is heartbreaking and oozes the desperation of a struggling town filled with struggling families dealing with the oilfield lifestyle and what that influx of cash can lead to. In this case, it has led to Cartel-supplied meth and dog-fighting rings.
The lyrical style of the writing flows like the river of the town and brings an interesting method of storytelling that is enjoyable to experience.
My favorite quote in the book
"We spend half our lives accumulating experiences, the other half forgetting them."
5 Stars
June 13, 2021
River, Sing Out certainly lives up to the praise it has received so far. The beauty of the language is stunning, and the author’s ability to reflect the minds of the various characters with such precision was one of the best parts of the book for me. From the young boy, Jonah, to John Curtis, and to the old man at the cabin, the differences in voice and characterization were sharp and each came across as such a believable person.
I enjoyed the narrator’s voice, as well. His section always presented in italics. And this quote was so revealing as to the mind of an old man experiencing his last days upon the earth as he lies in bed, listening to a young man building a coffin. “And to awaken each day is to be reborn as an old man, and to have a life lived over in the split second it takes to wipe away at half-flung eyes. And such eyes offering a bleak recounting of the world – a reminder of what waits outside of dreams. As if in some immeasurable flash, the brain must give an accounting of every breath ever taken, so as to bring to consciousness those memories lost each night.”
Going into that goodnight, is perhaps the hardest thing, and the essence of that is captured so profoundly in the mind of this old man. At first, the reader doesn’t know who this narrator is. Could it be the River itself? Is it the man who helps Jonah? That not knowing, and wanting to know, kept me reading long past times when I should have stopped, and when it finally becomes clear, that understanding is sweet.
In addition to great narrative, the dialogue in the story is terrific. I highlighted many sections that had made me smile when reading, including this exchange between Jonah and River. This is about mid-way into their quest to find the lost drugs, and River is lamenting about some of the bad choices she’s made. “God I’m an idiot.” she says.
“No you’re not.”
“Well then I’ve been acting real convincingly like I am.”
Jonah is a tragic hero, but also the one true “good” in this story, despite the things he does to survive. He captured my interest right away when I started reading the book, and that interest never faltered. I worried with him about the constant rain and the river rising, adding a another sense of impending doom just below the surface of the other dangers from his father and John Curtis. The threat of being taken out by the river, heightened the suspense and the drama, and I was always waiting for the next terrible thing that would happen to Jonah.
I loved this book and recommend it to readers who like to be entertained by lyrical writing, as well as have a story with depths of characterizations and truths to ponder.
I enjoyed the narrator’s voice, as well. His section always presented in italics. And this quote was so revealing as to the mind of an old man experiencing his last days upon the earth as he lies in bed, listening to a young man building a coffin. “And to awaken each day is to be reborn as an old man, and to have a life lived over in the split second it takes to wipe away at half-flung eyes. And such eyes offering a bleak recounting of the world – a reminder of what waits outside of dreams. As if in some immeasurable flash, the brain must give an accounting of every breath ever taken, so as to bring to consciousness those memories lost each night.”
Going into that goodnight, is perhaps the hardest thing, and the essence of that is captured so profoundly in the mind of this old man. At first, the reader doesn’t know who this narrator is. Could it be the River itself? Is it the man who helps Jonah? That not knowing, and wanting to know, kept me reading long past times when I should have stopped, and when it finally becomes clear, that understanding is sweet.
In addition to great narrative, the dialogue in the story is terrific. I highlighted many sections that had made me smile when reading, including this exchange between Jonah and River. This is about mid-way into their quest to find the lost drugs, and River is lamenting about some of the bad choices she’s made. “God I’m an idiot.” she says.
“No you’re not.”
“Well then I’ve been acting real convincingly like I am.”
Jonah is a tragic hero, but also the one true “good” in this story, despite the things he does to survive. He captured my interest right away when I started reading the book, and that interest never faltered. I worried with him about the constant rain and the river rising, adding a another sense of impending doom just below the surface of the other dangers from his father and John Curtis. The threat of being taken out by the river, heightened the suspense and the drama, and I was always waiting for the next terrible thing that would happen to Jonah.
I loved this book and recommend it to readers who like to be entertained by lyrical writing, as well as have a story with depths of characterizations and truths to ponder.
June 11, 2021
If I could only use one word to describe this book, I think it would be poetic. The words flow seamlessly from one subject to another and the imagery fits East Texas to a T.
There are several plots in this story that meld together. There is a young boy, Jonah, that is just trying to survive despite abject poverty. River, a young woman that has lost her way but is determined to find her path, and John Curtis and Cade, local drug dealers and thugs who believe they are above the law. This novel is gritty and while has some happy moments, shows us the true underbelly of the drug world and the ruthlessness of those involved.
"How much of this life is truly your choice?"
This line resonated with me because I believe that we all make choices in our lives. Those choices may not always be the right ones, but every situation can be a learning experience. Of course, there are people and circumstances that create situations not of our choosing or making, but those are the times that one can learn from it and I think that is what happens with River and Jonah at different times throughout the book.
"You've made yourself the world's victim and you'll do the same with this."
Jonah may be just 13, but he has seen a lot in his young life. His mother left him and his father is not a kind man. Plus his living situation isn't wonderful but thankfully there is the kindness of a neighbor that looks out for him and gives him food when Jonah visits. This may be Jonah's saving grace in life from a horrible life and abusive father. Jonah realizes that he wants more from life than what he has and seeks to find a better life for himself.
"He was her lifeline in so many ways. And he was kind to her. More kind than any human had ever been."
I think my favorite character might have been River. She realized (albeit a bit too late perhaps) that a life wrapped up with drugs and thugs may not be the best for her. There was quite a little twist near the end that was quite the surprise. Her life was possibly never going to be all her own. However, her time with Jonah helped her see the good in people and strive harder to change her circumstances.
"We all come to appreciate those things lost to us. The sweetest breath of the day not realized until the night. Such is our reckoning as men. And how do you keep going, when something so meaningful is taken from you? How do you move forward? How do you move at all?"
This introspective quote gave me a lot to ponder. We all have losses in our lives and it is the hope for a better tomorrow that keeps us moving forward. I think that is what River and Jonah discover in their short time together. There is even a moment for John Curtis where I thought that he might want to change his life but it might have been too late for him.
This book will paint a picture of a world many of us are not subjected to but it gives us a glimpse into the lives of these characters and how they adapt and adjust to what life has thrown at them. The ending is both sad and joyful at the same time.
We give this book 4 paws up.
There are several plots in this story that meld together. There is a young boy, Jonah, that is just trying to survive despite abject poverty. River, a young woman that has lost her way but is determined to find her path, and John Curtis and Cade, local drug dealers and thugs who believe they are above the law. This novel is gritty and while has some happy moments, shows us the true underbelly of the drug world and the ruthlessness of those involved.
"How much of this life is truly your choice?"
This line resonated with me because I believe that we all make choices in our lives. Those choices may not always be the right ones, but every situation can be a learning experience. Of course, there are people and circumstances that create situations not of our choosing or making, but those are the times that one can learn from it and I think that is what happens with River and Jonah at different times throughout the book.
"You've made yourself the world's victim and you'll do the same with this."
Jonah may be just 13, but he has seen a lot in his young life. His mother left him and his father is not a kind man. Plus his living situation isn't wonderful but thankfully there is the kindness of a neighbor that looks out for him and gives him food when Jonah visits. This may be Jonah's saving grace in life from a horrible life and abusive father. Jonah realizes that he wants more from life than what he has and seeks to find a better life for himself.
"He was her lifeline in so many ways. And he was kind to her. More kind than any human had ever been."
I think my favorite character might have been River. She realized (albeit a bit too late perhaps) that a life wrapped up with drugs and thugs may not be the best for her. There was quite a little twist near the end that was quite the surprise. Her life was possibly never going to be all her own. However, her time with Jonah helped her see the good in people and strive harder to change her circumstances.
"We all come to appreciate those things lost to us. The sweetest breath of the day not realized until the night. Such is our reckoning as men. And how do you keep going, when something so meaningful is taken from you? How do you move forward? How do you move at all?"
This introspective quote gave me a lot to ponder. We all have losses in our lives and it is the hope for a better tomorrow that keeps us moving forward. I think that is what River and Jonah discover in their short time together. There is even a moment for John Curtis where I thought that he might want to change his life but it might have been too late for him.
This book will paint a picture of a world many of us are not subjected to but it gives us a glimpse into the lives of these characters and how they adapt and adjust to what life has thrown at them. The ending is both sad and joyful at the same time.
We give this book 4 paws up.
June 13, 2021
'River, Sing Out' has obvious echoes of modern classics like Winter’s Bone. In East Texas, a young lad reaches beyond the loveless boundaries of his white-trash background. His initial exploration of the bigger world beyond the backwoods might turn out to be his last – he risks everything by sheltering a young woman on the run from a gang of drug dealers.
She’s an opportunistic thief and a junkie; the men hunting her are strung-out scum. Their boss is a manipulative monster, a clear-eyed killer, and he’s in thrall to a remorseless cartel. Addicted and abused, she stole her chance for freedom… which happens to look a lot like a backpack stuffed with crystal meth. And now both she and young Jonah may have to pay in blood.
What lifts River Sing Out far beyond the ordinary is its exquisite, elegant writing which concisely confronts the ugly truth of rural poverty. Souls are stripped bare with mesmerising intensity. The incessant rain, the oppressive heat and the river itself saturate the story.
Author James Wade eloquently captures the brutal, beautiful reality of coming of age; first love, deceit, betrayal and rejection, and he weaves all these themes into a nail-biting plot that would do Hollywood proud.
It can be hard-going at times as Wade explores just how bleak and brutal this world can be. Yet ultimately this is a celebration of the strength of the human spirit.
It is relentless at times and it should be shocking, but River Sing Out also illustrates the strength of quiet conviction with poetic grace and understated compassion.
9/10
Find more of my recommendations, reviews (and an oocasional book you might want to swerve) at http://www.murdermayhemandmore.net
She’s an opportunistic thief and a junkie; the men hunting her are strung-out scum. Their boss is a manipulative monster, a clear-eyed killer, and he’s in thrall to a remorseless cartel. Addicted and abused, she stole her chance for freedom… which happens to look a lot like a backpack stuffed with crystal meth. And now both she and young Jonah may have to pay in blood.
What lifts River Sing Out far beyond the ordinary is its exquisite, elegant writing which concisely confronts the ugly truth of rural poverty. Souls are stripped bare with mesmerising intensity. The incessant rain, the oppressive heat and the river itself saturate the story.
Author James Wade eloquently captures the brutal, beautiful reality of coming of age; first love, deceit, betrayal and rejection, and he weaves all these themes into a nail-biting plot that would do Hollywood proud.
It can be hard-going at times as Wade explores just how bleak and brutal this world can be. Yet ultimately this is a celebration of the strength of the human spirit.
It is relentless at times and it should be shocking, but River Sing Out also illustrates the strength of quiet conviction with poetic grace and understated compassion.
9/10
Find more of my recommendations, reviews (and an oocasional book you might want to swerve) at http://www.murdermayhemandmore.net
July 12, 2021
I spent most of this book waiting for it to end.
I was very close to not finishing due to the constant exhausting overly earnest descriptions of the dang river, always imbued with unbearable philosophical weight. It felt very forced and I struggled to connect with what should have been some beautiful lyrical prose at the start of each chapter.
After sitting on this review for a few days I think my main problem was the heavy-handed nature of these passages. American Dirt is a great example of a recent read that did this well - beautiful sentences dotted throughout the action that would make my breath catch, light as air and open enough for the reader to imbue them with their own meaning. The same passages in River, Sing Out felt heavy and overwrought and I frequently skimmed them waiting for the plot to progress.
The story separate to the swathes of description beginning every chapter, was gripping and well crafted. The plot follows Jonah, a young boy navigating a life of abject poverty alongside a cruel and often absent Father. When he meets the mysterious River he joins her in her desperate escape from her own demons.
River, Sing Out was gritty, harrowing in places, and very touching. It found humanity in unlikely places and made my heart ache. The characters were complex and well rounded and I felt connected to them.
I just really wish the lengthy prose had been heavily edited.
I was very close to not finishing due to the constant exhausting overly earnest descriptions of the dang river, always imbued with unbearable philosophical weight. It felt very forced and I struggled to connect with what should have been some beautiful lyrical prose at the start of each chapter.
After sitting on this review for a few days I think my main problem was the heavy-handed nature of these passages. American Dirt is a great example of a recent read that did this well - beautiful sentences dotted throughout the action that would make my breath catch, light as air and open enough for the reader to imbue them with their own meaning. The same passages in River, Sing Out felt heavy and overwrought and I frequently skimmed them waiting for the plot to progress.
The story separate to the swathes of description beginning every chapter, was gripping and well crafted. The plot follows Jonah, a young boy navigating a life of abject poverty alongside a cruel and often absent Father. When he meets the mysterious River he joins her in her desperate escape from her own demons.
River, Sing Out was gritty, harrowing in places, and very touching. It found humanity in unlikely places and made my heart ache. The characters were complex and well rounded and I felt connected to them.
I just really wish the lengthy prose had been heavily edited.
January 22, 2022
In the captivating River, Sing Out, author James Wade weaves lyrical prose and character driven regional dialect against a hardscrabble backdrop along the East Texas Neches River.
Thirteen-year-old Jonah Hargrove lives in a trailer beside the river that “sat clumsy and diagonal, and faced the small clearing, looking out at the world as if someone had left it there and never returned.” Motherless and at the mercy of a hard-drinking, abusive father only at home part time, Jonah is a friendless, social outcast left to his own devises. When he finds a secretive, seventeen-year-old girl on the run in the woods, his life is upturned when he nurses her to health and helps her search for the lost backpack holding the meth she stole from shady John Curtis, which she plans to sell, in hopes of starting her life over.
John Curtis is not a man with whom to trifle. Wiley, quick-witted, and ambitious, he runs an East Texas drug operation, and is regionally feared. When Dakota Cade, Curtis’s muscle-bound, right-hand man, asks about the secret to Curtis’s success, Curtis replies, “If it weren’t for the rage inside of me, I don’t believe I’d be able to take another breath. Wasn’t always like that, of course. I used to think there was something wrong with me. Something missing, maybe. But the older I got, the more I understood what I had was a gift.”
When Jonah asks the girl he found to tell him her name, she casts her covert eyes to the water and says, “Call me River,” and with literary existential sleight of hand, author James Wade metaphorically writes, “The river flowed and the world turned, cutting paths both new and old, overwhelming those things which came before but could not adapt to the constant movement, the everlasting change. The river and the world together, and both giving life and both swallowing it whole, and neither caring which, and neither having a say in the matter. The boy watched both passing by, his choice and his path each belonging to some current long set in motion.”
Jonah and River are wary misfits, each without the skills to humanly connect even as they fall into collusion in their mutual flight from the pursuit of the determined John Curtis. With riveting pacing, a heart tugging relationship grows between the youths in fits and starts, “But such solace in those first days was rarely more than a whisper, fading so quickly and completely, the girl was left to question whether it had been there at all.” As the two wade together in the Neche River, their relationship dares to take root, “And somewhere in the beyond, a single fate was selected from a row of fates, no one more certain than the other, yet each bound to the world by threads of choice and circumstance.”
A sense of page-turning urgency drives River, Sing Out. It’s a high stakes story in flight by a babe in the woods who helps the first love of his life run from a criminal so cleverly sinister as to be oddly likable. Action packed and visually drawn with dire cliff-hanging crafting, River, Sing Out has the extraordinary one-two punch of fascinating high drama written in deep-thinking, elegant prose.
Thirteen-year-old Jonah Hargrove lives in a trailer beside the river that “sat clumsy and diagonal, and faced the small clearing, looking out at the world as if someone had left it there and never returned.” Motherless and at the mercy of a hard-drinking, abusive father only at home part time, Jonah is a friendless, social outcast left to his own devises. When he finds a secretive, seventeen-year-old girl on the run in the woods, his life is upturned when he nurses her to health and helps her search for the lost backpack holding the meth she stole from shady John Curtis, which she plans to sell, in hopes of starting her life over.
John Curtis is not a man with whom to trifle. Wiley, quick-witted, and ambitious, he runs an East Texas drug operation, and is regionally feared. When Dakota Cade, Curtis’s muscle-bound, right-hand man, asks about the secret to Curtis’s success, Curtis replies, “If it weren’t for the rage inside of me, I don’t believe I’d be able to take another breath. Wasn’t always like that, of course. I used to think there was something wrong with me. Something missing, maybe. But the older I got, the more I understood what I had was a gift.”
When Jonah asks the girl he found to tell him her name, she casts her covert eyes to the water and says, “Call me River,” and with literary existential sleight of hand, author James Wade metaphorically writes, “The river flowed and the world turned, cutting paths both new and old, overwhelming those things which came before but could not adapt to the constant movement, the everlasting change. The river and the world together, and both giving life and both swallowing it whole, and neither caring which, and neither having a say in the matter. The boy watched both passing by, his choice and his path each belonging to some current long set in motion.”
Jonah and River are wary misfits, each without the skills to humanly connect even as they fall into collusion in their mutual flight from the pursuit of the determined John Curtis. With riveting pacing, a heart tugging relationship grows between the youths in fits and starts, “But such solace in those first days was rarely more than a whisper, fading so quickly and completely, the girl was left to question whether it had been there at all.” As the two wade together in the Neche River, their relationship dares to take root, “And somewhere in the beyond, a single fate was selected from a row of fates, no one more certain than the other, yet each bound to the world by threads of choice and circumstance.”
A sense of page-turning urgency drives River, Sing Out. It’s a high stakes story in flight by a babe in the woods who helps the first love of his life run from a criminal so cleverly sinister as to be oddly likable. Action packed and visually drawn with dire cliff-hanging crafting, River, Sing Out has the extraordinary one-two punch of fascinating high drama written in deep-thinking, elegant prose.
July 1, 2021
I finished this audio book ages ago, and I kept waiting to rate it so I would have time to write the perfect review and do the book justice. Time is an elusive thing.
This book is dark, gritty, and painfully realistic in its depiction of a world that (fortunately for me) exists outside my bubble. The book is about contrasts: nature and those living in it; the calm and the chaotic, and it manages to be raw -- base or crass, even -- but it is fine literary fiction. Author Nick Wade is an immensely talented writer, and the world of RIVER, SING OUT will keep dragging me back for a long time to come.
The audio book narration by Roger Clark is perfection. That accent! I have forgotten the term for it, but he drops that final 'g' from words with 'ing' endings and has readers hangin' on Wade's every word. Clark's style is a mix of campfire storyteller and riveting preacher, and it perfectly complements Wade's story.
I expect this one is going to be on more than a few awards lists over the next year. Don't miss it.
This book is dark, gritty, and painfully realistic in its depiction of a world that (fortunately for me) exists outside my bubble. The book is about contrasts: nature and those living in it; the calm and the chaotic, and it manages to be raw -- base or crass, even -- but it is fine literary fiction. Author Nick Wade is an immensely talented writer, and the world of RIVER, SING OUT will keep dragging me back for a long time to come.
The audio book narration by Roger Clark is perfection. That accent! I have forgotten the term for it, but he drops that final 'g' from words with 'ing' endings and has readers hangin' on Wade's every word. Clark's style is a mix of campfire storyteller and riveting preacher, and it perfectly complements Wade's story.
I expect this one is going to be on more than a few awards lists over the next year. Don't miss it.
December 20, 2020
I think it's just me but I was not in the mood for this book's choppy sentences, violent narrative and the regular changing of topics. Sometimes I actually search for books with these attributes but now isn't the time. I read half way through the novel and just put it down. I loved the author's last book and was hoping I'd get another fix of his writing with this one, but the two novels are very different.
Perhaps it's because of covid. I want something lingering and with continuity. I couldn't find it with this novel.
Perhaps it's because of covid. I want something lingering and with continuity. I couldn't find it with this novel.
December 4, 2021
Somewhere in southeast Texas, seventeen year-old River stumbles upon thirteen year-old Jonah Hargrove alone at his house while his abusive father is out getting some strange. River, a defector from a local methamphetamine gang, suffers withdrawals and injuries from running through woods without proper clothing. Jonah nurses her back to health and agrees to help her find a lost backpack; a backpack which contains thousands in stolen drugs and the potential key to her future. Jonah and River must operate alone, save for the help of a kindly old neighbor, and they make their decisions knowing that to be found by John Curtis or his second Dakota Cade means certain death.
River, Sing Out is a multifaceted story. It is to be enjoyed as bildungsroman, grit lit, pseudo-philosophical novel, thriller, or regional set piece as it offers elements of each to varying degree. Perhaps the strongest element is Wade’s obvious affection for Texas Hill Country, characterized by the Edwards Plateau, Neches River, and the flora and fauna within. Much of the novel is dedicated to establishing the setting and then treating the woods and water as a character in and of themselves. The attention to naturalistic details suits the aggressive diction and themes nicely; it is not common to enjoy luxuriant descriptions of switch grass bending over in the wind and read about two felons cooking up shots in the next chapter. Despite the juxtaposition, the elements fit together and the story enjoys continuity.
Other strong elements in the story include Jonah’s growth as a young man in relation to his father, as well as the thrilling plot points at the end of the story that amount to a double climax of sorts. The reader is able to understand Jonah through complex themes about suffering and faith because the story is written in an omniscient third person, so it need not be understood via a thirteen year-old’s perceptions. And even though Jonah is the main protagonist, Wade is careful to deliver some exceptional thematic richness on the part of his female lead River. These details involve her learning from her own familial trauma, as well as being born again by virtue of her time with Jonah. The thrilling and grit lit elements of the story are executed well enough, even if a bit rushed for my liking.
River, Sing Out is a solidly enjoyable novel, and I could see it being easily recommended for most everyone. While I did not enjoy it quite as much as his excellent debut, Wade delivers a compelling story set in Texas Hill Country about big, existential questions as much as it is about two kids learning to trust each other.
River, Sing Out is a multifaceted story. It is to be enjoyed as bildungsroman, grit lit, pseudo-philosophical novel, thriller, or regional set piece as it offers elements of each to varying degree. Perhaps the strongest element is Wade’s obvious affection for Texas Hill Country, characterized by the Edwards Plateau, Neches River, and the flora and fauna within. Much of the novel is dedicated to establishing the setting and then treating the woods and water as a character in and of themselves. The attention to naturalistic details suits the aggressive diction and themes nicely; it is not common to enjoy luxuriant descriptions of switch grass bending over in the wind and read about two felons cooking up shots in the next chapter. Despite the juxtaposition, the elements fit together and the story enjoys continuity.
Other strong elements in the story include Jonah’s growth as a young man in relation to his father, as well as the thrilling plot points at the end of the story that amount to a double climax of sorts. The reader is able to understand Jonah through complex themes about suffering and faith because the story is written in an omniscient third person, so it need not be understood via a thirteen year-old’s perceptions. And even though Jonah is the main protagonist, Wade is careful to deliver some exceptional thematic richness on the part of his female lead River. These details involve her learning from her own familial trauma, as well as being born again by virtue of her time with Jonah. The thrilling and grit lit elements of the story are executed well enough, even if a bit rushed for my liking.
River, Sing Out is a solidly enjoyable novel, and I could see it being easily recommended for most everyone. While I did not enjoy it quite as much as his excellent debut, Wade delivers a compelling story set in Texas Hill Country about big, existential questions as much as it is about two kids learning to trust each other.
June 8, 2021
River, Sing Out is set in fictional Neches County, Texas, in the East Texas bottomland. It's a hardscrabble existence for many folks, and Jonah Hargrove is no exception. His father works on an oil rig, so the days he's gone on the job are days Jonah doesn't have to duck his blows. In spite of his seemingly bleak existence, though, Jonah has a good heart. So when River, a teenage girl, stumbles into his sphere, injured and running scared after stealing a backpack full of meth from local drug lord John Curtis, Jonah feels like he should help her.
This book is a fascinating contrast. On the one hand, you've got the violent life of the drug trade and the grinding poverty in which Jonah lives. On the other, you've got the author's lyrical turns of phrase like, "That night he dreamt the earth was water alone and he floated atop it and from the center of the endless sea rose enormous a single oak and upon its bark and branches clung thousands of gray and green tree frogs and none moving or trilling yet all somehow calling to him and the boy spoke in a voice they understood." As an editor and proofreader, that really, really long sentence makes me a little crazy. But what amazing imagery. Can't you just see that lone oak in your mind's eye? The book is full of vivid, musical word pictures that make you feel almost like you're right there with Jonah and River.
As the title would suggest, the river is an important part of the story. It offers Jonah and River shelter and a means of escape at times. It rises and falls, and sometimes floods, bringing destruction as the waters crest and then recede. The river may not be alive in the sense of a sentient existence, but it has its mysteries and changes and moods, much like a person would.
Ultimately, I thought the book was about the resilience of the human spirit and the struggle to maintain faith, even in the face of indifferent nature and the sometimes brutal realities of life. And here, it felt like indifferent nature maybe cared just a little, that nature thought it time to wash a few old wounds clean, and perhaps make room for, if not complete healing, then at least growth. Given the difficult subject matter, it wasn't always an easy read, but it's a story I'm glad I read.
This book is a fascinating contrast. On the one hand, you've got the violent life of the drug trade and the grinding poverty in which Jonah lives. On the other, you've got the author's lyrical turns of phrase like, "That night he dreamt the earth was water alone and he floated atop it and from the center of the endless sea rose enormous a single oak and upon its bark and branches clung thousands of gray and green tree frogs and none moving or trilling yet all somehow calling to him and the boy spoke in a voice they understood." As an editor and proofreader, that really, really long sentence makes me a little crazy. But what amazing imagery. Can't you just see that lone oak in your mind's eye? The book is full of vivid, musical word pictures that make you feel almost like you're right there with Jonah and River.
As the title would suggest, the river is an important part of the story. It offers Jonah and River shelter and a means of escape at times. It rises and falls, and sometimes floods, bringing destruction as the waters crest and then recede. The river may not be alive in the sense of a sentient existence, but it has its mysteries and changes and moods, much like a person would.
Ultimately, I thought the book was about the resilience of the human spirit and the struggle to maintain faith, even in the face of indifferent nature and the sometimes brutal realities of life. And here, it felt like indifferent nature maybe cared just a little, that nature thought it time to wash a few old wounds clean, and perhaps make room for, if not complete healing, then at least growth. Given the difficult subject matter, it wasn't always an easy read, but it's a story I'm glad I read.
June 15, 2021
Most reviews of this book mention the two storylines running parallel. I however feel like there is a third – water/river. The influence of water and the impact it has on all the characters, as well as the changes it makes to the environment, plays a major role. It is a constant and persistent character and action throughout the entire work.
Interspersed with the gritty storylines is an almost lyric approach to the background. The author worked hard and was largely successful in transporting the reader into the area and all of the environmental aspects. You could smell the river, hear the rain and feel the dampness that gets into your bones when trying to survive those conditions. You could feel the fatigue and the slight glimpses of joy.
With a majority of the story centering around Jonah, a thirteen year old boy/man, the other characters are an authentic response to his life. Jonah has a hard life. There are glimpses of nurturing and care but mostly, he is in survival mode. Even so, he manages to have a kind heart. Unfortunately, kindness can cause pain and Jonah will endure a lot.
I enjoyed the loops of plot lines all centering back to Jonah and his life. The side stories of drug dealers, con men, killers and other people living on the edges of society gave the story a singular feel of real life.
I rarely comment on covers but this one stands out. The grace of the scene depicted is a direct contrast to the awkward intensity of the characters' lives. Perfect juxtaposition.
Interspersed with the gritty storylines is an almost lyric approach to the background. The author worked hard and was largely successful in transporting the reader into the area and all of the environmental aspects. You could smell the river, hear the rain and feel the dampness that gets into your bones when trying to survive those conditions. You could feel the fatigue and the slight glimpses of joy.
With a majority of the story centering around Jonah, a thirteen year old boy/man, the other characters are an authentic response to his life. Jonah has a hard life. There are glimpses of nurturing and care but mostly, he is in survival mode. Even so, he manages to have a kind heart. Unfortunately, kindness can cause pain and Jonah will endure a lot.
I enjoyed the loops of plot lines all centering back to Jonah and his life. The side stories of drug dealers, con men, killers and other people living on the edges of society gave the story a singular feel of real life.
I rarely comment on covers but this one stands out. The grace of the scene depicted is a direct contrast to the awkward intensity of the characters' lives. Perfect juxtaposition.
June 16, 2021
James Wade once again pulls off a breath taking novel of poetic beauty. He weaves a tapestry of brutality, wonderment, innocence and hope into an absolutely compelling plot that you can't stop reading.
I found a new favorite author. I can't wait until his next book.
I found a new favorite author. I can't wait until his next book.
July 5, 2021
James Wade can write! I’m drained and yet not…..what prose, violence, grit, and the ethereal as well. Do yourself a favor and read James Wade. Please keep writing Mr. Wade.
June 7, 2021
I’m looking for the right words to tell you how I feel about this book, but what I have is a handful of adjectives and an onslaught of emotions.
River, Sing Out is beautiful, dark, heartbreaking, uplifting, and real.
James Wade’s writing has transformative power. Setting is a living entity that’s somehow both claustrophobic and expansive. The characters are all complex people who are flawed and dangerous and hopeful and scared. Their journey becomes ours, and we arrive at our destination with emotional scars, yet stronger somehow despite the hardships.
This book feels classic in its importance, literary in its writing, and contemporary in its content.
James Wade is a rockstar storyteller, and I am an unabashed fan.
*I received a free copy from Blackstone Publishing.*
River, Sing Out is beautiful, dark, heartbreaking, uplifting, and real.
James Wade’s writing has transformative power. Setting is a living entity that’s somehow both claustrophobic and expansive. The characters are all complex people who are flawed and dangerous and hopeful and scared. Their journey becomes ours, and we arrive at our destination with emotional scars, yet stronger somehow despite the hardships.
This book feels classic in its importance, literary in its writing, and contemporary in its content.
James Wade is a rockstar storyteller, and I am an unabashed fan.
*I received a free copy from Blackstone Publishing.*
June 9, 2021
River, Sing Out is a story of an abused boy with a heart of gold. Jonah Hargrove steps up to help a teenage girl on the run. She doesn’t offer her name, so Jonah dubs her River. Their tale starts out slowly, and both the story tension and plot pace quickly ramp as the threat to Jonah and River increases.
Author James Wade’s writing style is Hemingway-esque in its crisp, concise sentences. Mr. Wade’s writing perfectly portrays the desolate setting in Texas. The desperation, struggle and poverty are overwhelming. The point-of-view changes primarily from Jonah’s struggle for survival to Curtis’ battle with the cartel that controls his supply chain. There are some interesting messages about choices and consequences that are presented by an unnamed character that felt like the embodiment of death (a Grim Reaper of sorts).
This story of good and evil, of struggle and survival is honest, violent and doused with caring. In this regard, Mr. Wades writing made me think of Flanner O’Conner. I couldn’t put it down, and it left me thinking about the philosophical questions presented.
I received an advance copy of the book in exchange for my honest review. For more reading recommendations, visit Book Junkie Reviews at www.abookjunkiereviews.wordpress.com
Author James Wade’s writing style is Hemingway-esque in its crisp, concise sentences. Mr. Wade’s writing perfectly portrays the desolate setting in Texas. The desperation, struggle and poverty are overwhelming. The point-of-view changes primarily from Jonah’s struggle for survival to Curtis’ battle with the cartel that controls his supply chain. There are some interesting messages about choices and consequences that are presented by an unnamed character that felt like the embodiment of death (a Grim Reaper of sorts).
This story of good and evil, of struggle and survival is honest, violent and doused with caring. In this regard, Mr. Wades writing made me think of Flanner O’Conner. I couldn’t put it down, and it left me thinking about the philosophical questions presented.
I received an advance copy of the book in exchange for my honest review. For more reading recommendations, visit Book Junkie Reviews at www.abookjunkiereviews.wordpress.com
March 18, 2023
Like Wade’s other two books, River, Sing Out is a tragedy, weighed down by the lives of those struggling to escape violent and horrific circumstances with very little luck. Wade's philosophical/theological musings are front and center in this book. Like his other two, there really aren't any answers: just detailed accounts of lives that struggle between life and death. The book is lightened a bit with moments of levity. But, on the whole, the book is concerned with non-reality, reality, determinism, false consciousness, and the stories we tell ourselves. It's heavy. But really, really, interesting. And very well-written. Wade's prose probably isn't as tight in this book as it is in his other two, but it is still very good, leagues better than most modern writers. To get my brief criticisms out of the way: I didn't love the constant jumping between characters in the book. It was a bit undisciplined. We spent chapters with characters that, I think, were simply there for comic relief, or whose existence added very little to the plot or seemed thematically significant. Moving between characters is fine (this adds a polyphonic texture to the book, which is very nice), but I think he included too many.
After reading all three of Wade’s books, I can see the areas in which he consistently excels as a writer. On particular display in this book is his strong sense of geography and place, which he weaves into his book’s main philosophical preoccupations. For River, Sing Out, there is a powerful sense in the land is haunted. Haunted by its past in all its forms (evolutionary, anthropological, etc), the land is consistently characterized as a burdened place that harbors the scars of her past. Wade’s East Texas is indeed O’Connor’s South: Christ-haunted. In this way, Wade stylizes the book with a distinct Southern Gothic feel. Preeminently, though, the land is haunted by her present-day human inhabitants. Though the oilfield remains in the story’s background, Wade draws a tight connection between over-drilling and the ever-worsening climate conditions. I admit this could be an overread, but I think there is a deep ecological significance/argument to the book. Wade very clearly ties together drug abuse and the oilfields, human bodies and the earth: “Cade was an oilman and he conducted each excursion accordingly. He studied his own body like a map of a shale, envisioning where he could pump and where he couldn’t . . . . He surveyed it. It was ripe for drilling” (49). I don’t think it is a stretch to read the land as haunted by the human tendency to dominate and express itself violently. The weather can be read as earth attempting to spit out its human inhabitants, or, on the other hand, as the drug-induced convulsions of a dying corpse. The prologue foreshadows this theme: “And through these ages untold, the river did act as the lifeblood of those alongside it . . . Then came the oil and refineries and the promise of fortune, and the river was dug deep and unnatural along the estuary where it spilled into the ocean, and the water was turned at once brown and polluted” (2). Ultimately, the fractured relationship between humans and the land is a central piece of the book and adds a very interesting and important ecological dimension to Wade’s work, as well as socio-economic.
The prose even reflects the landscape. At times, the prose is heavy and labored, mimicking the torrentially oppressive rain. At other times, the prose is light, poetic, and airy, aspiring to the heights of the hope for which Jonah and River grasp. Wade switches impressively between the two, drawing out the poles (and everything in between) of human experience amid the existential thrownness with which the book is concerned. There is much that “haunts” these characters. In a literal sense, John Curtis and Cade haunt River and Jonah, River is haunted by her addictions, and Jonah by his abusive father. Everyone is haunted by their choices. When we first meet River, she is like a ghost, associated with a shadow: “A shadow moved across the light from the porch” (22), she runs through the darkness away from the light (24), and, then, very clearly: “. . . he thought her some specter, a ghost or haint from times forgotten” (69). Figuratively, the characters are haunted by the question of God’s presence (or lack thereof) and the significance of their own choices. Jonah’s innocence is tied up with his belief in god. To be Christ-haunted is to conceive of humanity in theological terms - a conception that seems to mean less and less to the characters as they are exposed to the grotesque levels of violence in their world. Jonah's innocence is shattered by the end of the book, wherein he admits: “I guess it doesn’t matter what I wanted” (269). And yet, this sits (uncomfortably to my mind) alongside the old man’s final words to the boy: “I said that the best I could figure, after all these years, is that we make of god what we want. We make him exist or not exist, make him good or evil or apathetic” (275). The question of "choice" is philosophically fundamental for this book. As is the case for his other two books, Wade writes a deceptively simple narrative, enriched with a complex layering of literary/philosophical themes. This is why, ultimately, his works demand a reread for interested readers.
Standing behind all of the story’s action is the “thin man.” This figure maps well onto McCarthy’s amoral Chigurh, another unstoppable force of nature. Both are animated by a kind of resignation to a narrative of inevitability. Wade alludes to Chigurh’s statement to Carla Jean Moss (“Even a nonbeliever might find it useful to model himself after God. Very useful, in fact”) when the thin man asks, “The story of Christ would mean nothing without his death. And in this, are we not like Christ? Like god?” (261). The relationship between narrative and identity is explored with exceptional significance in the final chapters, wherein the thin man lays bare his philosophically constituted worldview. The question of the thin man’s identity, however, is mostly left to the side. Wade leans into the interpretations of Chigurh as a figure of death, as a character asks: “You’re him, aren’t you . . . You’re death” (261). Instead of answering, however, the thin man presses the conversation in a different direction. His ambivalence to being ascribed this moniker gets at the book’s central questions around meaning and determinism. The human need to create these suprapersonal entities (like Death or God) reveals the fundamental human quandary of interpretation and meaning-making in a world where impersonal factors have determined the very personal details of our lives. The thin man says, “Here were all the worlds to choose from... A choice we’ve long since made. A choice made for us by ancestors we’ll never know save in spirit. They started us in a direction, some thousands of years ago, and that direction was built upon and hastened by each new generation until the direction was itself our only destiny” (261). John Curtis, this book’s antagonist, Grimes, All Things Left Wild’s antagonist, and Munday Fischer, Beasts of The Earth’s antagonist, are all men animated by stories they’ve told themselves, grand myths that attempt to swallow up those around them. This imperialistic tendency pervades the book, bearing witness to Augustine’s notion of the libido dominandi. In this respect, I think Wade joins McCarthy and Nietzsche as brilliant expositors of the psychology of sin.
In a small, seemingly throwaway line towards the end of the book, Wade flips Platonic metaphysics into its hell-ish counterpart: “Each one another pathway, held up and balanced b the pairs of T-topped pillars . . . the bottom of which disappeared somewhere below the water’s surface, as if they might go on forever, extending deeper than the river and deeper still through the earth’s crust and come to some speculated counterworld where they were at last attached to the reflection of the same bridge they’d descended from” (254). instead of the perfect Form of a bridge mirrored in some heavenly, eternal, transcendent realm, it is found in the core of the earth (Hell?). This mimics the book's emphasis on evolution and progress as a decidedly non-teleological process: This bridge is not a vestige of some ethereal reality to which we ascend, but something that is physically and organically connected to the earth, something from which we never escape, though ultimately return. Wade’s dialectic between the felt transcendence of characters and the seemingly arbitrary and violent outcomes to which many of them succumb is a hallmark of existentialism. This tension is prevalent in each of his novels that points not to God’s inexistence, but his incomprehensibility. There is a sense in which Wade’s theology is entirely negative, or apophatic. God’s presence and reality are disclosed by His absence. This is, I think, another area in which he shares significant overlap with McCarthy. Wade himself, like McCarthy, seems to be God-haunted.
I am glad to have stumbled across Wade's writings. My only regret is that I now have to wait another year for his next book. His literary/theological/philosophical interests map well onto my own, the devout Calvinist Christian that I am. It's always a joy to find those with whom we share moral and spiritual vocabulary as we struggle to make sense of the world. Though we probably arrive at vastly different conclusions about the world, I am grateful to read and learn from another pilgrim.
After reading all three of Wade’s books, I can see the areas in which he consistently excels as a writer. On particular display in this book is his strong sense of geography and place, which he weaves into his book’s main philosophical preoccupations. For River, Sing Out, there is a powerful sense in the land is haunted. Haunted by its past in all its forms (evolutionary, anthropological, etc), the land is consistently characterized as a burdened place that harbors the scars of her past. Wade’s East Texas is indeed O’Connor’s South: Christ-haunted. In this way, Wade stylizes the book with a distinct Southern Gothic feel. Preeminently, though, the land is haunted by her present-day human inhabitants. Though the oilfield remains in the story’s background, Wade draws a tight connection between over-drilling and the ever-worsening climate conditions. I admit this could be an overread, but I think there is a deep ecological significance/argument to the book. Wade very clearly ties together drug abuse and the oilfields, human bodies and the earth: “Cade was an oilman and he conducted each excursion accordingly. He studied his own body like a map of a shale, envisioning where he could pump and where he couldn’t . . . . He surveyed it. It was ripe for drilling” (49). I don’t think it is a stretch to read the land as haunted by the human tendency to dominate and express itself violently. The weather can be read as earth attempting to spit out its human inhabitants, or, on the other hand, as the drug-induced convulsions of a dying corpse. The prologue foreshadows this theme: “And through these ages untold, the river did act as the lifeblood of those alongside it . . . Then came the oil and refineries and the promise of fortune, and the river was dug deep and unnatural along the estuary where it spilled into the ocean, and the water was turned at once brown and polluted” (2). Ultimately, the fractured relationship between humans and the land is a central piece of the book and adds a very interesting and important ecological dimension to Wade’s work, as well as socio-economic.
The prose even reflects the landscape. At times, the prose is heavy and labored, mimicking the torrentially oppressive rain. At other times, the prose is light, poetic, and airy, aspiring to the heights of the hope for which Jonah and River grasp. Wade switches impressively between the two, drawing out the poles (and everything in between) of human experience amid the existential thrownness with which the book is concerned. There is much that “haunts” these characters. In a literal sense, John Curtis and Cade haunt River and Jonah, River is haunted by her addictions, and Jonah by his abusive father. Everyone is haunted by their choices. When we first meet River, she is like a ghost, associated with a shadow: “A shadow moved across the light from the porch” (22), she runs through the darkness away from the light (24), and, then, very clearly: “. . . he thought her some specter, a ghost or haint from times forgotten” (69). Figuratively, the characters are haunted by the question of God’s presence (or lack thereof) and the significance of their own choices. Jonah’s innocence is tied up with his belief in god. To be Christ-haunted is to conceive of humanity in theological terms - a conception that seems to mean less and less to the characters as they are exposed to the grotesque levels of violence in their world. Jonah's innocence is shattered by the end of the book, wherein he admits: “I guess it doesn’t matter what I wanted” (269). And yet, this sits (uncomfortably to my mind) alongside the old man’s final words to the boy: “I said that the best I could figure, after all these years, is that we make of god what we want. We make him exist or not exist, make him good or evil or apathetic” (275). The question of "choice" is philosophically fundamental for this book. As is the case for his other two books, Wade writes a deceptively simple narrative, enriched with a complex layering of literary/philosophical themes. This is why, ultimately, his works demand a reread for interested readers.
Standing behind all of the story’s action is the “thin man.” This figure maps well onto McCarthy’s amoral Chigurh, another unstoppable force of nature. Both are animated by a kind of resignation to a narrative of inevitability. Wade alludes to Chigurh’s statement to Carla Jean Moss (“Even a nonbeliever might find it useful to model himself after God. Very useful, in fact”) when the thin man asks, “The story of Christ would mean nothing without his death. And in this, are we not like Christ? Like god?” (261). The relationship between narrative and identity is explored with exceptional significance in the final chapters, wherein the thin man lays bare his philosophically constituted worldview. The question of the thin man’s identity, however, is mostly left to the side. Wade leans into the interpretations of Chigurh as a figure of death, as a character asks: “You’re him, aren’t you . . . You’re death” (261). Instead of answering, however, the thin man presses the conversation in a different direction. His ambivalence to being ascribed this moniker gets at the book’s central questions around meaning and determinism. The human need to create these suprapersonal entities (like Death or God) reveals the fundamental human quandary of interpretation and meaning-making in a world where impersonal factors have determined the very personal details of our lives. The thin man says, “Here were all the worlds to choose from... A choice we’ve long since made. A choice made for us by ancestors we’ll never know save in spirit. They started us in a direction, some thousands of years ago, and that direction was built upon and hastened by each new generation until the direction was itself our only destiny” (261). John Curtis, this book’s antagonist, Grimes, All Things Left Wild’s antagonist, and Munday Fischer, Beasts of The Earth’s antagonist, are all men animated by stories they’ve told themselves, grand myths that attempt to swallow up those around them. This imperialistic tendency pervades the book, bearing witness to Augustine’s notion of the libido dominandi. In this respect, I think Wade joins McCarthy and Nietzsche as brilliant expositors of the psychology of sin.
In a small, seemingly throwaway line towards the end of the book, Wade flips Platonic metaphysics into its hell-ish counterpart: “Each one another pathway, held up and balanced b the pairs of T-topped pillars . . . the bottom of which disappeared somewhere below the water’s surface, as if they might go on forever, extending deeper than the river and deeper still through the earth’s crust and come to some speculated counterworld where they were at last attached to the reflection of the same bridge they’d descended from” (254). instead of the perfect Form of a bridge mirrored in some heavenly, eternal, transcendent realm, it is found in the core of the earth (Hell?). This mimics the book's emphasis on evolution and progress as a decidedly non-teleological process: This bridge is not a vestige of some ethereal reality to which we ascend, but something that is physically and organically connected to the earth, something from which we never escape, though ultimately return. Wade’s dialectic between the felt transcendence of characters and the seemingly arbitrary and violent outcomes to which many of them succumb is a hallmark of existentialism. This tension is prevalent in each of his novels that points not to God’s inexistence, but his incomprehensibility. There is a sense in which Wade’s theology is entirely negative, or apophatic. God’s presence and reality are disclosed by His absence. This is, I think, another area in which he shares significant overlap with McCarthy. Wade himself, like McCarthy, seems to be God-haunted.
I am glad to have stumbled across Wade's writings. My only regret is that I now have to wait another year for his next book. His literary/theological/philosophical interests map well onto my own, the devout Calvinist Christian that I am. It's always a joy to find those with whom we share moral and spiritual vocabulary as we struggle to make sense of the world. Though we probably arrive at vastly different conclusions about the world, I am grateful to read and learn from another pilgrim.
December 23, 2021
This Novel grabs the reader from the very first page ,and doesn't let you go. James's Novel River, Sing, Out, has all the great elements of good storytelling in it, Romance, Action, and suspense. James writes so detailed and beautifully, that you feel as though you are right there with the characters every step of the journey. You never will forget the character's in River Sing Out , they will stay with you long after you are finished reading this novel.
December 25, 2020
I received this book via NetGalley to give an honest review.
Jonah seems to come from a household of no love, but that doesn't take away his sweetness and helpfulness. When River comes to his place as she is running, he ends up with a crush and is willing to put himself in danger to help her get away from the bad guys. As the story unfolds, we see that Jonah is willing to risk everything to help her become free not only from her addiction but from the guys that hunt her. He grows up a lot quicker than most teenagers his age. I really liked his neighbor, who doesn't ask many questions but is willing to give a helping hand if needed. In some ways, the book reminded me of Where The Crawdads Sing. I am not sure if it is because of the setting or kids growing up way too fast, but I got that same vibe when I read that story. Sometimes in the backwoods of the river or swamp, things have a way of coming full circle; Jonah and River will learn this.
Jonah seems to come from a household of no love, but that doesn't take away his sweetness and helpfulness. When River comes to his place as she is running, he ends up with a crush and is willing to put himself in danger to help her get away from the bad guys. As the story unfolds, we see that Jonah is willing to risk everything to help her become free not only from her addiction but from the guys that hunt her. He grows up a lot quicker than most teenagers his age. I really liked his neighbor, who doesn't ask many questions but is willing to give a helping hand if needed. In some ways, the book reminded me of Where The Crawdads Sing. I am not sure if it is because of the setting or kids growing up way too fast, but I got that same vibe when I read that story. Sometimes in the backwoods of the river or swamp, things have a way of coming full circle; Jonah and River will learn this.
June 24, 2023
Wow!
This book. First of all, it's southern noir. It's not a happy, hopeful book. It's truth, at its harshest. The hard, brutal truth of life in a small town where a young lady and a young boy crash into one another, and become close, have hopes, and then sadly, life.... Happens. You have your drug cartel, and abusive parent. You have an elderly, wise neighbor who cares. You have a young boy who just wants to be loved and get "away" and a young lady who has made one bad mistake too many.
The story itself was great. What I loved about this book the most, was the prose. The bits where characters thoughts were related to us, like a diary. Beautiful words. This author is on my radar forever more after this book. I just went and bought the ebooks of his other two novels.
If you enjoy southern noir, David Joy, Ron Rash, Larry Brown, Daniel Woodrell, Donald Ray Pollock, William Gay, Chris Offutt, etc. You will love this book.
This book. First of all, it's southern noir. It's not a happy, hopeful book. It's truth, at its harshest. The hard, brutal truth of life in a small town where a young lady and a young boy crash into one another, and become close, have hopes, and then sadly, life.... Happens. You have your drug cartel, and abusive parent. You have an elderly, wise neighbor who cares. You have a young boy who just wants to be loved and get "away" and a young lady who has made one bad mistake too many.
The story itself was great. What I loved about this book the most, was the prose. The bits where characters thoughts were related to us, like a diary. Beautiful words. This author is on my radar forever more after this book. I just went and bought the ebooks of his other two novels.
If you enjoy southern noir, David Joy, Ron Rash, Larry Brown, Daniel Woodrell, Donald Ray Pollock, William Gay, Chris Offutt, etc. You will love this book.
June 28, 2021
James Wade has a gift. I absolutely fell in love with his debut and picked up “River, Sing Out” as soon as it came out, diving in without even reading the synopsis. Although quite the departure from the “Western” style of his first, it was still an absolute pleasure the read, beginning to end. The characters felt real and the plot was thought provoking and engaging. The author can piece a story together and bring about thought provoking topics and ideas seamlessly. I highly recommend this story to anyone wanting a good, engrossing, lyrical, albeit dark, journey.
“…what alternative is there? What option is given to these children of the pines? Raised by parents of a likemind, worshipping in great, towering churches but sent to decaying schools. Raised to use the land but not respect it. No, the choice is little and less and I pity every last one of them as they disappear down the same well-worn path, believing they are living free. Rebels, all of them, in their own caged minds.”
“…what alternative is there? What option is given to these children of the pines? Raised by parents of a likemind, worshipping in great, towering churches but sent to decaying schools. Raised to use the land but not respect it. No, the choice is little and less and I pity every last one of them as they disappear down the same well-worn path, believing they are living free. Rebels, all of them, in their own caged minds.”
June 28, 2021
I fell in love with James Wade's debut novel, ALL THINGS LEFT WILD last year and I dove into his sophomore novel RIVER, SING OUT with no questions asked. I didn't know the first thing about it, but I knew I was going to love it and I have never been more right in my entire life. RIVER, SING OUT is the quintessential American novel. It is simultaneously a beautiful homage to classic genres of books past and a bright new voice that is completely unique. Through the eyes of a thirteen year old boy who lives in a trailer with his abusive father and a teenage girl on the run from a notorious drug lord in east Texas with thousands of dollars of stolen meth in her backpack, we see how poverty, drugs, and corruption tear a community apart. It's violent, heart- racing, and hopeful and I quite literally could not put it down. Fans of Cormac McCarthy will fall in love with this book, but it's really for anyone who loves to feel their heart ache at just how gorgeous literature can be.
November 15, 2022
I finished this book days ago and I still am unsure how I feel about it. Mostly this book was depressing, and this caused me to not want to finish. But I persevered and I am glad I finished, but really, I was glad when it was over and felt all-along that the book would have an unpleasant ending. For the most part the characters were well-formed, but they were not enjoyable, with the exception of Jonah and Mr. Carson. The river descriptions were probably the favorite passages for me as Mr. Wade painted beautiful scenes allowing me to view the Neches River in my mind's eye, having been there lifetimes ago.
Mr. Wade is a very talented author and quite possibly this book was not a wise choice to start reading his works. I will definitely give his other books a shot because he is talented and because I like supporting Texas artists.
Mr. Wade is a very talented author and quite possibly this book was not a wise choice to start reading his works. I will definitely give his other books a shot because he is talented and because I like supporting Texas artists.
June 6, 2021
This book has quite the cast of characters in it with most of them having bad intentions. This story takes place in Neches County, Texas. There is Jonah Hargrove a 13 year old boy who is someone who is pure and with no friends from a broken home and lives out in the sticks in a dump of a trailer with a father that is rarely there who is also abusive and a drunk. There is a girl that has the nickname of River who decides to steal something that does not belong to her but may provide a way out of the current situation she is in. She is being chased by a couple of war time buddies who along with their minions are the biggest dealers in the the Neches County who have their own troubles with their business partners in Mexico. This is a quick read with plenty of turns follow along to see if a young boy who thinks he's learning about love can save the girl. Can the girl get away ? Or will the bad guys who run rough shod over the area will win. There are some triggers in this book if you might have missed somethings in the description. There is drug use, brief description of dog fighting to name a few. But overall this is a solid read. Thank you to Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for an ARC for a fair and honest review.
September 5, 2021
This is the darkest book I have read in a while and one of the saddest I think I’ve ever read. But the writing is great and you really root for the characters and hate the bad guys. This was a pleasant surprise and reminded me of Daniel Woodrell mixed with the movie Mud.
September 9, 2021
James Wade has done it again. I loved, loved, loved this book. The author is coming into his own as a first rate story teller with such thought-promoting comments. While it might seem unbelievable for this young boy to be so aware of so many universal truths, the author nonetheless brings them to the forefront for the reader to consider. In the end, it really didn’t matter how you were introduced to the thought, but that you as the reader were.
March 13, 2022
Audio This is the second of this author’s books I have read. He has a distinct voice that I like.
March 19, 2021
I enjoyed most of this book!
I really liked Jonah. For growing up in an abusive home with nothing, he was the sweetest character. He was faced with challenges no 13 year old should have to brave alone.
There was a little more violence in the book than I anticipated. But when drugs and cartel are involved I suppose that's to be expected.
I really liked Jonah. For growing up in an abusive home with nothing, he was the sweetest character. He was faced with challenges no 13 year old should have to brave alone.
There was a little more violence in the book than I anticipated. But when drugs and cartel are involved I suppose that's to be expected.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 89 reviews