Wally Lamb's latest protagonist is a messy dad — and may be too realistically flawed

Wally Lamb’s archetypal caller successful 9 years, “The River Is Waiting,” opens with a devastating country successful which a troubled but devoted stay-at-home dada spikes his java with 2 splashes of Captain Morgan and pops an Ativan earlier getting into a car to thrust his two-year-olds, Niko and Maisie, to their grandmother’s. Corby’s program is to usage the time pretending to occupation hunt, though successful information he’s resigned to being unemployed aft being laid disconnected the twelvemonth earlier from his presumption arsenic a commercialized creator astatine an advertisement agency. His woman Emily, a teacher, has already near for work, truthful helium dresses the kids and brings them extracurricular earlier realizing he’s forgotten their diaper bag.

He buckles Maisie into her car spot portion Niko studies a swarm of ants devouring cooky crumbs connected their driveway. Corby retrieves the container and starts the car. It’s lone upon seeing his neighbour gesturing wildly, past proceeding her screams and the horrific crunching dependable beneath his tires, that helium realizes with fearfulness what he’s neglected to do.

As helium proved with his astonishing archetypal 2 novels, “She’s Come Undone” (1992) and “I Know This Much Is True” (1996), arsenic good arsenic 4 well-received consequent books, Lamb has a singular quality to unpack dysfunction and the cascading effects of trauma, which is among the reasons each six of his erstwhile novels person been bestsellers — and the archetypal 2 Oprah’s Book Club picks. Compelled to springiness backmost aft his out-of-the-gate success, Lamb for 20 years conducted penning workshops astatine Connecticut’s York Correctional Institution for pistillate offenders, and helium has intelligibly drawn connected that acquisition here: “The River Is Waiting” is acceptable astir wholly successful situation aft Corby is convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 3 years down bars.

In the days starring up to the judge’s decision, Corby attends AA meetings, counseling sessions and frantically clings to his fraying marriage. Emily’s grief is all-consuming, the calamity exacerbated by the revelation of her husband’s concealed addiction to medicine drugs and alcohol. Through it all, she fights to shield her girl from further harm, though Maisie, too, is progressively distraught — and confused.

All of this should marque for a compelling saga, but the alert successful the ointment is that Corby is simply a narcissistic quality little acrophobic with the enormity of his transgression than with however helium tin instrumentality everything to normal. He weighs whether to admit helium was nether the power erstwhile the mishap occurred, until a humor trial makes that moot. He addresses his dormant son, musing arsenic to whether to plead blameworthy to the charges against him: “Hey, small man, tin you perceive me?” helium intones. “Niko, what’s going to hap if I archer the truth? Will your parent permission me? Will I spell to prison?” To Corby’s credit, helium yet opts to travel cleanable successful the sanction of accountability.

(Marysue Rucci Books)

Throughout the novel, Corby says helium is consumed by guilt and remorse, and those emotions are present, but consciousness performative. We are told that helium has predominant crying jags and bouts of insomnia, but we don’t consciousness his despair. In his fewer conversations with Emily, he’s often blithe, focused much connected the inconveniences situation beingness poses oregon whether Maisie volition retrieve him than connected what his woman and girl indispensable woody with. In 1 specified interaction, Emily attempts to reassure Corby that she’s keeping his representation live portion helium serves retired his term: “We look astatine pictures of you connected my iPad and my phone, notation you successful her bedtime prayers. And those drawings you’ve been sending her? We enactment them successful her ‘Daddy folder.’ And her favourite — the ones of her and her dolls having their beverage party? That one’s Scotch-taped to her wall.” Corby’s response: “Well, fortunate you, Emily. You tin usage Scotch tape. It’s contraband here.”

I person nary uncertainty that Lamb worked hard to faithfully bespeak what he’s gleaned astir situation life, and has large sympathy for his character’s plights. Yet overmuch of what occurs feels cliched, arsenic does overmuch of the connection and dialogue. Corby has a predictably hard clip with his archetypal cellmate, Pug, until the bosom of golden wrong the hardened transgression is revealed. Enter Manny, who becomes Corby’s protector, and implicit time, his confidante. When Corby is sexually abused by a brace of guards, Manny suspects what has occurred and tries to get him to unfastened up. Eventually, an probe is initiated, and wide wrongdoing is revealed. The nonmigratory librarian takes Corby nether her wing, and invites him to enactment his creator skills to enactment by coating a mural, which proves cathartic. Yet Corby remains haunted by the incidental with the guards, and by Emily’s nonaccomplishment to forgive him.

“The River Is Waiting” is much than 400 pages long, yet the ending feels similar an afterthought, wrapping up escaped ends without satisfying the reader. To uncover Corby’s destiny would beryllium a spoiler, but what disappointed maine was the lack of an authentic epiphany; I was near feeling I’d spent years with a antheral who ne'er genuinely reckoned with his regrets oregon learned from his mistakes. Maybe that’s the much realistic scenario. Still, I yearned for a protagonist who hits bottom, past finds a mode to germinate and transcend. Lamb has written an earnest, well-intentioned novel, albeit 1 with the committedness of truthful overmuch more.

Haber is simply a writer, exertion and publishing strategist. She was manager of Oprah’s Book Club and books exertion for O, the Oprah Magazine.