RIVER, SING OUT
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.
PRAISE FOR RIVER, SING OUT
”With echoes of Jim Harrison, Cormac McCarthy (and perhaps a smidge of Flannery O’Connor), River, Sing Out is a beautiful, brutal meditation on survival and love in the face of nearly unspeakable violence and depravity in an East Texas community ravaged by the meth trade. Taut, lyrical, and precise, the prose soars in this important new novel by James Wade.” —Elizabeth Wetmore, New York Times bestselling author of Valentine
”If you read one novel this year, make it this one. James Wade’s River, Sing Out, is an instant classic filled with characters that will break your heart, lyrical prose as haunted as the river it evokes, and a Southern Noir undertow that wholly sucks you in and keeps you turning the pages until it’s searing, masterful conclusion.” —May Cobb, author of The Hunting Wives
”Wade, whose striking debut, All Things Left Wild (2020), traveled back a century in Texas history, uses an unlikely friendship to explore an equally wild present-day landscape…A haunting fable of an impossible relationship fueled by elemental need and despair.” —Kirkus Reviews
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.
James Wade lives and writes in the Texas Hill Country with his wife and daughter. He is the author of All Things Left Wild, which is a winner of the 2016 Writers’ League of Texas Manuscript Contest, a winner of the 2021 Spur Award for Best Historical Fiction, and a winner of the 2021 Reading the West Award for Best Debut Novel. His fiction has appeared in various literary journals and magazines.
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6/8/21 |
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Jennie Reads 
Agreed that water is a character in the book — so much symbolism. Great review. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
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