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In the River Sweet
National Book Award finalist Patricia Henley captivates us with this engrossing novel of a woman whose long-held secret will transform her life and her marriage.
From all appearances, Ruth Anne Bond is enviably lucky. Her husband, Johnny, still treats her like a young lover. Her grown daughter is a staunch friend. Her steady work and devotion to the church have quietly made her a pillar of the community. Then one long Indiana summer brings some unexpected communiqués—including one she has both craved and feared for thirty years. As long-hidden truths threaten to emerge, for the first time in her marriage Ruth Anne is faced with memories she and Johnny never of a year spent in Saigon in 1968—and a past she has yet to acknowledge. Probing questions of family and faith, Patricia Henley offers us a tender, far-sighted novel about seeking answers and achieving grace.
From all appearances, Ruth Anne Bond is enviably lucky. Her husband, Johnny, still treats her like a young lover. Her grown daughter is a staunch friend. Her steady work and devotion to the church have quietly made her a pillar of the community. Then one long Indiana summer brings some unexpected communiqués—including one she has both craved and feared for thirty years. As long-hidden truths threaten to emerge, for the first time in her marriage Ruth Anne is faced with memories she and Johnny never of a year spent in Saigon in 1968—and a past she has yet to acknowledge. Probing questions of family and faith, Patricia Henley offers us a tender, far-sighted novel about seeking answers and achieving grace.
- GenresFictionLiterary Fiction
304 pages, Paperback
First published September 17, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
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March 5, 2013The relationships, the people, in this book felt absolutely and completely real.
May 24, 2022
A story of love and secrets and faith. I did enjoy the story line and the writing was good, but somehow....mushy. I found myself scrolling through page after page to get to the story to see what was happening. The way the author jumped from voice to voice and time to time was a little confusing and not particularly well done I guess.
February 14, 2019
The author skipped around more than I wanted.
April 13, 2021
Occasionally confusing as the author jumps around in the time line, it's a story about how we are all shaped by our past. Ruth Ann is middle aged and happily married with a single child. She was unable to have more, but then we find out that there was another in her past that no one in her immediate family knew of. Gradually we learn of the many years and experiences that molded her into the person she became.
December 31, 2018
Interesting stream-of-consciousness narrative.
April 21, 2025
we are reading this for a book group, and are trying to match places in the book with actual places--her descriptions are spot on. I can't wait for the discussion of the book--so much to talk about!
November 2, 2014
In the River Sweet takes place in present day, small town Indiana but swings back into the time of 30 years prior and the place of Saigon, Vietnam during what the Vietnamese call the American War. The novel is essentially about memory and loss and the ways in which the choices we make as individuals can generate pain for those we love, despite our best efforts to avoid doing exactly that.
Johnny and Ruth Anne have been married a long time and are still deeply in love. The novel begins as they are settled in middle age, happy with their quiet life in the Midwest, with Johnny running a restaurant and Ruth Anne working at the library. Their daughter, Laurel, is a young adult, full of youth's vigor and promise, and just in love for the first time, with a woman she met at her father's café. Laurel's sexuality shocks and worries Ruth Anne, whose devout Catholicism challenges her to be accepting. In addition, it stirs up deeply buried memories of a time in her own life when she made decisions not in keeping with the Church's doctrine. While the family is adjusting, Ruth Anne is also dealing with her cantankerous and often cruel aunt, who raised her and who is now dying. Ruth Anne must also confront her feelings about forgiveness. It is a confusing time, made bearable only by the steadfastness of her relationship with Johnny. As she grapples with the conflict between what the Church has taught her to believe and what she actually feels, she confronts her past in a way that compromises the security of all she has built with Johnny over the years.
There's a lot in the novel that I can't talk about in a review for fear of spoiling it for other readers. You'll have to pick it up yourself to find out what happens in small town Indiana when two young women fall in love, why Ruth Anne leaves her infant son behind when she returns from war torn Vietnam, and what happens when she finally tells Johnny after 30 years of silence.
Instead of focusing on plot, I'd like to take a moment to comment on Henley's style, specifically that she is minimalistic with her details and she doesn't use quotation marks. I've never liked reading books without quotation marks and usually avoid them, even Cormac McCarthy's novels. I find it distracting to be unsure of who is speaking and where a verbal comment is distinct from an unspoken thought. But now, with this book, I find that I appreciate the mood it creates for me while reading. This time I didn't try to pin down the narrative and instead, let it wash over me while I focused on absorbing the images and meanings the words evoked.
I found it to be rather like listening to a song on the radio, where you might not discern clearly all of the lyrics but it doesn't matter because the impact of the song comes a from more than just the words. There's the music, as a whole and from each individual instrument, differing between each verse and the refrain, perhaps featuring an instrumental solo, a soul-searing moment of harmony, or a bridge played in the minor key. And of course, with music there is also the listener's own story. What we bring to our experience of a song that informs how we feel as we listen and what we think about the music. The same can be said of books. What I bring to the table as I open to the first page will certainly inform what I take away as I close the book at the last page. In grad school, I studied this as reader response theory. In my current life, I recognize this as simply one of the beautiful things about literature ... or any other form of art, for that matter.
Johnny and Ruth Anne have been married a long time and are still deeply in love. The novel begins as they are settled in middle age, happy with their quiet life in the Midwest, with Johnny running a restaurant and Ruth Anne working at the library. Their daughter, Laurel, is a young adult, full of youth's vigor and promise, and just in love for the first time, with a woman she met at her father's café. Laurel's sexuality shocks and worries Ruth Anne, whose devout Catholicism challenges her to be accepting. In addition, it stirs up deeply buried memories of a time in her own life when she made decisions not in keeping with the Church's doctrine. While the family is adjusting, Ruth Anne is also dealing with her cantankerous and often cruel aunt, who raised her and who is now dying. Ruth Anne must also confront her feelings about forgiveness. It is a confusing time, made bearable only by the steadfastness of her relationship with Johnny. As she grapples with the conflict between what the Church has taught her to believe and what she actually feels, she confronts her past in a way that compromises the security of all she has built with Johnny over the years.
There's a lot in the novel that I can't talk about in a review for fear of spoiling it for other readers. You'll have to pick it up yourself to find out what happens in small town Indiana when two young women fall in love, why Ruth Anne leaves her infant son behind when she returns from war torn Vietnam, and what happens when she finally tells Johnny after 30 years of silence.
Instead of focusing on plot, I'd like to take a moment to comment on Henley's style, specifically that she is minimalistic with her details and she doesn't use quotation marks. I've never liked reading books without quotation marks and usually avoid them, even Cormac McCarthy's novels. I find it distracting to be unsure of who is speaking and where a verbal comment is distinct from an unspoken thought. But now, with this book, I find that I appreciate the mood it creates for me while reading. This time I didn't try to pin down the narrative and instead, let it wash over me while I focused on absorbing the images and meanings the words evoked.
I found it to be rather like listening to a song on the radio, where you might not discern clearly all of the lyrics but it doesn't matter because the impact of the song comes a from more than just the words. There's the music, as a whole and from each individual instrument, differing between each verse and the refrain, perhaps featuring an instrumental solo, a soul-searing moment of harmony, or a bridge played in the minor key. And of course, with music there is also the listener's own story. What we bring to our experience of a song that informs how we feel as we listen and what we think about the music. The same can be said of books. What I bring to the table as I open to the first page will certainly inform what I take away as I close the book at the last page. In grad school, I studied this as reader response theory. In my current life, I recognize this as simply one of the beautiful things about literature ... or any other form of art, for that matter.
December 1, 2016
So the story is about a middle aged woman named Ruth. She lives a pretty chill and happy life. She likes her job at the community library, her husband adores her, and she has a wonderful daughter. However, this idyllic world of hers is shattered And then the story flashes back to Ruth’s youth.
The story itself is okay. What really caught my attention, was the writing. It’s written in this very soft sort of way with no quotation marks. While I’m usually not a fan of that, I think it worked really well here. And I actually also enjoyed being inside Ruth’s mind and seeing her thought processes. I found her to be an engaging, albeit annoying at times, character. The emotional journey she goes through is really nice. I really found myself connected to her and into her story. However, I didn’t really like the small Johnny POV’s we got. I guess Ms. Henley thought they were necessary or unique and hence added them. Idk, they just showed how dependant Johnny was on Ruth. I didn’t particularly care for them. I actually wished we had access to Speaking of which, I was also pretty let down at the ending. I wanted the book to continue. I mean, the ending emotionally makes sense because Ruth did reach the semi-end of her emotional journey. But I just, I really wanted to read more. I found myself so invested in the story and characters that I was a bit sad and taken off guard when the story ended so soon. I really liked reading it.
***rest of the review at https://guptasaab.wordpress.com/
The story itself is okay. What really caught my attention, was the writing. It’s written in this very soft sort of way with no quotation marks. While I’m usually not a fan of that, I think it worked really well here. And I actually also enjoyed being inside Ruth’s mind and seeing her thought processes. I found her to be an engaging, albeit annoying at times, character. The emotional journey she goes through is really nice. I really found myself connected to her and into her story. However, I didn’t really like the small Johnny POV’s we got. I guess Ms. Henley thought they were necessary or unique and hence added them. Idk, they just showed how dependant Johnny was on Ruth. I didn’t particularly care for them. I actually wished we had access to Speaking of which, I was also pretty let down at the ending. I wanted the book to continue. I mean, the ending emotionally makes sense because Ruth did reach the semi-end of her emotional journey. But I just, I really wanted to read more. I found myself so invested in the story and characters that I was a bit sad and taken off guard when the story ended so soon. I really liked reading it.
***rest of the review at https://guptasaab.wordpress.com/
January 27, 2012
The book tackles a ton of issues - loss of a loved one, abusive/detached family members, locked away secrets, abandonment, the Vietname war, ethnic diversity, religion, homosexuality - all while walking through the rather ordinary life of Ruth Ann Bond. Without giving away too much about the book, the main character, Ruth Ann Bond, is married to her high school sweetheart. She's a devote Catholic and a librarian in Indiana. Her only child, a daughter, has recently proclaimed herself to be a lesbian. They are dealing with the community violence and church backlash from this when Ruth Ann receives an email from the child she had given up 30 years before and never told anyone about.
The book then periodically takes you back to her youth when her then fiance, Johnny, goes to Vietnam to fight. Orphaned in her childhood, she lives with a distant, resentful and abusive aunt. She decides to follow Johnny to Saigon and lives in a convent with French nuns while binding books for their library. Through this experience, she meets Vo, a blind Vietnamese boy, and begins reading to him from the library. Her plans to meet Johnny are twarted by his disappearance.
Ruth Ann and Vo's friendship grows over tiem and they spend much of their time exploring literary works. Vo is a Buddhist which leads to a spiritual struggle for Ruth Ann throughout the book. The fall of Saigon and the anit-Amrican sentiments make her continued presence in Vietnam a danger to not only her, but everone around her including the son she had with Vo.
Upon her return to the US, she is reunited with Johnny and they go on to lead a rather ordinary life, each harboring their own secrets about their time in Vietnam. Once Ruth Ann is contacted by her child, she embarks upon a spiritual and emotional journey to reconcile the people and parts of her life while also attempting to reconcile these events with her religious beliefs.
There were a few parts of the book that I wish had been developed further, but overall it was a good book.
The book then periodically takes you back to her youth when her then fiance, Johnny, goes to Vietnam to fight. Orphaned in her childhood, she lives with a distant, resentful and abusive aunt. She decides to follow Johnny to Saigon and lives in a convent with French nuns while binding books for their library. Through this experience, she meets Vo, a blind Vietnamese boy, and begins reading to him from the library. Her plans to meet Johnny are twarted by his disappearance.
Ruth Ann and Vo's friendship grows over tiem and they spend much of their time exploring literary works. Vo is a Buddhist which leads to a spiritual struggle for Ruth Ann throughout the book. The fall of Saigon and the anit-Amrican sentiments make her continued presence in Vietnam a danger to not only her, but everone around her including the son she had with Vo.
Upon her return to the US, she is reunited with Johnny and they go on to lead a rather ordinary life, each harboring their own secrets about their time in Vietnam. Once Ruth Ann is contacted by her child, she embarks upon a spiritual and emotional journey to reconcile the people and parts of her life while also attempting to reconcile these events with her religious beliefs.
There were a few parts of the book that I wish had been developed further, but overall it was a good book.
May 22, 2010
I just reread this book for my book group. All I remembered was the general tone of the book and where it took place. It takes place in a fictional town that is loosely based on West Lafayette and was written by a professor at Purdue. I enjoyed finding all the references and parallels to life in my hometown. The story itself was compelling and interesting enough for a second read. The main character is a woman in her early fifties. Some secrets she has kept from her time in Vietnam have returned to her. She grapples with her daughter coming out in a town where there is violence committed against gays. (This part represents just some small town, and I don't believe it to be representative of WL.)
The writing style of the book is a bit challenging. It is written without quotation marks and some other punctuation, and sometimes is a character's stream of consciousness. However, if one takes the time to read carefully and think, this book is a worthwhile read.
The writing style of the book is a bit challenging. It is written without quotation marks and some other punctuation, and sometimes is a character's stream of consciousness. However, if one takes the time to read carefully and think, this book is a worthwhile read.
October 18, 2011
I really like Patricia Hensley. I searched for her books after reading the Hummingbird House. In the River Sweet started slowly but was just as captivating to me as the first book I read of hers. I may even have to break my rule of not reading books of short stories, I just never read them, but I think that is all I have left to read from her.
The novel follows Ruth Anne and her family including Johnny, her long time husband and Laurel-a daughter who is gay. You get the sense that Laurel has just begun to embrace this. Ruth Anne has a tough time accepting this and her girlfriend Oceana with whom she is starting to form a relationship.
But this novel is about much more than this-it really focuses on Ruth Anne and a secret she has been harboring for quite some time. It also has to do with the Vietnam war, her time in Saigon, her faith and Catholicism. It is about her journey through her guilt and her search for acceptance not only for her daughter but for herself.
The novel follows Ruth Anne and her family including Johnny, her long time husband and Laurel-a daughter who is gay. You get the sense that Laurel has just begun to embrace this. Ruth Anne has a tough time accepting this and her girlfriend Oceana with whom she is starting to form a relationship.
But this novel is about much more than this-it really focuses on Ruth Anne and a secret she has been harboring for quite some time. It also has to do with the Vietnam war, her time in Saigon, her faith and Catholicism. It is about her journey through her guilt and her search for acceptance not only for her daughter but for herself.
September 9, 2011
So much of its time (Clinton era) and place (Indiana) and I totally love that about it. There are two of what I'd consider adoption storylines, the reunion of a mother whose child was raised by the father's family with no contact with her and the experience of a child with unclear special needs who was adopted at an older age, with lots of other parental absence and abandonment too. There's a lot about Vietnam and it was interesting to me to read a story about the Vietnam war from the perspective of a white woman on the ground.
Having the main lesbian story so tied up in the threat of hate crimes and the disapproval of the Catholic church was a bit odd, but lesbians themselves all came through as rounded, interesting characters, as did everyone else in the story.
Having the main lesbian story so tied up in the threat of hate crimes and the disapproval of the Catholic church was a bit odd, but lesbians themselves all came through as rounded, interesting characters, as did everyone else in the story.
July 26, 2009
Another lucky find while looking over the shelves in the fiction room at Robbins. Henley is a poet and writes like one. You have to get used to the style, no quotation marks during conversation, short unconnected statements but once I did I was gripped by the story, the characters the imagery. It's really a story about the secrets we all keep to try and protect those we love. The setting is in the midwest with flashbacks to Vietnam. There is an underlying story about gay relationships and community intolerance also a theme of meditation and religion. A fantastic book and refreshing to read such an original style of writing.
January 2, 2010
on page 134, this book is cool because i had no idea it took place around here, where i live ... it mentions local places, towns, and stores by name. it's about a lady who had a baby long ago and never told anyone and now she is grown up, facing the fact that her daughter is a lesbian in a time when she will be persecuted for it, and knowing she will not have grandkids ... and her son contacts her ... but nobody knows about him ... so what's she going to do?
November 29, 2010
Ruthie has kept a secret for 25 years and now she is dealing with her choice and telling the secret.
I had a hard time getting into this book because the thoughts that the characters are thinking jump around a lot. This made it hard hard for me to focus on the book. But when I did sit down and committ to reading, I enjoyed the self discovery and the endurance of life. Each character struggles through something and endures.
I had a hard time getting into this book because the thoughts that the characters are thinking jump around a lot. This made it hard hard for me to focus on the book. But when I did sit down and committ to reading, I enjoyed the self discovery and the endurance of life. Each character struggles through something and endures.
July 23, 2013
"Enjoyed this novel. It had family dynamics, a bit of a mystery, but it also included looking back on the Vietnam war. Nice insights on a divided country and the young people coming of age during that time. I liked the way the husband was a good guy, so the main character's search into her past was hers alone and not tied to a response to hubby's actions. Faith was dealt with a study, fair discussion."
October 2, 2022
Weaving pretty seamlessly between past and present, this novel is about a relationship that is tested by buried secrets and the legacy of the Vietnam war. The people connected with this couple also have interesting stories that explore faith, values, multicultural experiences, the many sides of loving and more.
The narrative reads like poetry that often includes gorgeous stream of consciousness descriptions. The relationships feel very real.
The narrative reads like poetry that often includes gorgeous stream of consciousness descriptions. The relationships feel very real.
September 18, 2007
A librarians past comes back to haunt her when the son she gave up in Vietnam during the war, tries to forge a relationship wth her. At the same time her daughter is bruttally attacked because she is a lesbian and the Aunt who raised her is dying. Not as deep as I thought it would be but still worth reading.
November 7, 2015
I felt the story dragged on way too much in some places, but all in all, I like the story. What I like most about it is the characters. They are all wonderfully developed and I especially like the way they interact with one another. I did get a little bored with the story itself at times. It didn't move along at a fast enough pace for me, but still a good story.
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April 19, 2012This is probably a good book. I just couldn't get into it... It was too slow. Blame my super-busy life and the need to be pulled right into a book to sustain interest. I hope to have the time to revisit it in the future.
May 21, 2012
I was never gripped by the characters, never enticed to keep reading and reading by the plot. Still, the language was at times lyrical enough to make me smile at a passage here and there. But generally, not a terribly memorable story.
October 11, 2012
Wife and mother has kept the fact that she had an illegitimate child when she was a teen, which she gave up for adoption, a secret from her family. This child, now grown, has contacted her. Story sounded promising, but I didn’t particularly care for the writing style. I ended up skimming parts.
February 7, 2013
Been a long time since I've read this but i remember the writing was beautiful. First time I read something about gay person, and gave me some insight into their thinking. Not over the top . Seemed quite normal for this person. Changed my perspective. Would like to read more of this author.
August 5, 2013
I normally don't keep books unless I plan to read them again some day - this one is a keeper. I love that the story is set in Indiana (my home for 50+ years) and in Vietnam, so it's highly familiar but still allows for the experience of a vastly different culture.
October 25, 2016
This one just didn't grab me the way I had hoped. I had a hard time concentrating on the various characters. I would get interested in the story and then the point of view would shift and I'd lose focus.
April 7, 2007
• …music blurted from his car, country music, hard-done-by music…
February 8, 2012
Disappointing. Great premise. drags on & the voice is indistinct. Bored me to tears.
June 29, 2011
Proof that I love my book clubbers - the concept is so great and when I told others it sounded exciting but alas it put me to sleep... twice.
August 22, 2012
Couldn't finish it. I read about 60 pages, but it still hadn't grabbed my attention and I gave up.
March 10, 2012
Once you get into the groove of the author's writing style, the varied subject tackled will sweep you along...an especially good read for us baby-boomers.
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