The River Is Waiting (Oprah's Book Club): A Novel
4.5 | 22,843 ratings
Price: 14.99
Last update: 12-19-2025
Product details
- ASIN : B0DHDF2RDL
- Publisher : S&S/ Marysue Rucci Books
- Accessibility :
- Publication date : June 10, 2025
- Language : English
- File size : 2.0 MB
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 480 pages
- ISBN-13 : 978-1668006412
- Page Flip : Enabled
- Best Sellers Rank:#41 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- Saga Fiction
- Literary Sagas
- Contemporary Literary Fiction
- Customer Reviews:4.54.5 out of 5 stars(22,843)
Top reviews from the United States
- William de RhamA gut-wrenching piece of literature.Wally Lamb’s “The River is Waiting” is one of the better novels I’ve read in a while.
It’s the story of Corbin (“Corby”) Ledbetter, a graphic artist deeply in love with his wife, and the proud father of twin toddlers. The Ledbetters have all the makings of a happy family. But then Corby causes a tragedy, turning everyone’s life upside down and earning himself three years in state prison. Like a modern-day Job, he loses just about everything and everyone important to him. Prison being one of the least likely places to gain redemption, will he ever be able to find his way back to anything resembling his former life?
Mr. Lamb has created an enthralling, character-driven story. No character is a hero or a villain—no one is all-good or all-bad. All are deeply human. And all are in conflict, both internally and with each other, over what Corby has wrought.
I found parts of the story gut-wrenching, especially the beginning and the end. Other parts were thoroughly absorbing. Mr. Lamb knows how to research and writes completely and convincingly about the subjects he chooses to address. Addiction and sobriety, criminal justice, prison systems, and psychology and counseling are some of the topics he tackles here.
A caution for some readers: Mr. Lamb writes from a decidedly progressive viewpoint, especially when it comes to the issues of race and “the white patriarchy.” Those who find such views objectionable may wish to look elsewhere for their next read.
But those who enjoy works like Stephen King's "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" or Jeffrey Archer's "Prison Diaries," or films like "The Hurricane" or "The Last Castle" probably will find much here to absorb them.
I know it's a book that I'm not likely to forget any time soon. - Savvy VA ShopperLoved this bookAt the recommendation of a fellow reader, I ordered this book. I am so glad she recommended this to me. I started and finished it in one sitting. Very strong story that had me feeling all the emotions possible
- DadannacRiveting read with some major flawsI am a fan of Wally Lamb. He is an excellent writer and creates great characters. This was a very sad, dark story, but I got drawn in and could not wait to finish it (hoping that there would be some kind of redemption at the end after enduring so much sadness). The main character was such an enigma—so kind and wise at times and so foolish and immature at others. His wife was an unlikeable,albeit sympathetic, character who played the selfish victim card continually. The first portion of the book was compelling and set the reader up for what I thought was going to be a very riveting family drama, but the book evolved thereafter mostly into a story about his prison sojourn and the justice system.
What did I think were the main defects?
1. The author’s blatant political and social biases detracted from the story and its pacing. They were often literally shoehorned into the narrative and actually distracted from the telling of the story. Why do fiction authors think readers want to be weighed down with real world issues they read fiction to escape?
2. The ending. I felt like the ending was a cop out. Not only did the reader not find out if there was redemption and reconciliation post-release from prison, the ending was hurried and even darker than what the reader had been enduring.
3. The title. This may sound picky, but an author whose prior books bear titles that are creative, quirky and very memorable comes up with a bland title that no one will remember. How many books already have “River’ in their title and how many use rivers as tropes and symbols? Way overused - Darren M. ReedRiveting novel with heartbreaking emotions.I read the book summary and knew I would have to move this to the top of my TRL:
Corby Ledbetter is struggling. New fatherhood, the loss of his job, and a growing secret addiction have thrown his marriage to his beloved Emily into a tailspin. And that's before he causes the tragedy that tears the family apart.
Sentenced to prison, Corby struggles to survive life on the inside, where he bears witness to frightful acts of brutality but also experiences small acts of kindness and elemental kinship with a prison librarian who sees his light and some of his fellow offenders, including a tender-hearted cellmate and a troubled teen desperate for a role model. Buoyed by them and by his mother's enduring faith in him, Corby begins to transcend the boundaries of his confinement, sustained by his hope that mercy and reconciliation might still be possible. Can his crimes ever be forgiven by those he loves?
As a person in recovery from alcoholism (17 years) I picked up this Oprah's Book Club novel knowing it would be a good story but I had no idea it would shake me to the core and even kept me up one night tossing and turning as I wrestled with past memories of what could have been. This is a story about a man (Corby) who has lost his job (and perhaps his dignity and self-respect) and has turned to mind-numbing substances to mask the pain he was feeling (that is way to familiar for me and so many others). And like so many others a little becomes a little more, ands a little more. Corby is a great father to twin toddlers. Without a job he becomes Daddy Daycare but relishes his time with his children even if he drinks while caring for them. This again, is way to familiar to me, and like Corby I never saw the dangers to what I was doing because the alcohol blinded me from the danger and I never thought I was drunk, "it was just a little to take the edge off"...
Eventually, tragedy beyond words happen and lives are changed forever. I will admit for me this was VERY hard. The authors description of the alcoholic is so accurate that as a former alcoholic it draws you into the story and you are re-living your past. Honestly, I think anyone who has ever drank too much and did something foolish will relate. Because Corby isn't a bad man, he is your next door neighbor who unfortunately paid the ultimate price for his alcoholism.
Prison life is mentally brutal for Corby, his remorse and his fear and apprehension torment him daily and this is just his internal struggle let alone the terror he faces from prison itself. I don't want to say too much more as this book is best read without knowing to many additional details. There is so much I would like to talk about this book, and I wish I would have read it as part of a book club...
One theme this book portrays that I hope everyone understands is NO ONE chooses to be an alcoholic/drug addict, not do they realize when they have become one. Addiction can affect anyone regardless of their background. Recovery works, but unfortunately, sometimes people don't find it until hitting the most extreme rock bottom.
This book is a must read for everyone.