The River Is Home

A Novel

By: Patrick D. Smith

Narrated by: Jim Seybert

Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

Award-winning Florida novelist Patrick Smith's first novel, The River Is Home, revolves around a Mississippi family's struggle to cope with changes in their rural environment. Poor in material possessions, Skeeter's kinfolk are rich in their appreciation of their beautiful natural surroundings. The river on which they live—with its food supply, steamboats, and floods—figures strongly in their lives as the source of life, change, and death. Though their life is a simple one, it's filled with friendship, loyalty, love, and compassion.

©2012 Patrick D. Smith (P)2023 Tantor

great story

just as good as the land remembered. Don't pay no mind to the negative reviews.

Patrick D. Smith’s first published book

As a fan of A Land Remembered, I have read other books that Smith wrote. I listened to this one because the tone and language is so important to telling the story that I couldn’t possibly capture that in my brain. The narrator did a great job speaking and telling the story the way it was written. How wonderful that we have a story teller like Smith to share the vivid scenes and stories of people who settled and loved our country and land way before we got here. ALR is one of my favorite books and I can tell the difference in his writing. The River is Home is not as thrilling or shocking as ALR but tells the story of river and swamp life. This is a beautiful story of how the world can change and how people survive through love and kindness to each other. And how it doesn’t have time for evil and hatefulness.

A Vivid Story of Life on the River

This novel is my go to book when I don’t know what I want to listen to next. This is my third time and each time I hear something new that I missed before. I actually think it is better than A Land Remembered and I LOVED it!

SLOW!

The story was directionless. It tell no story other than chronicling the daily lives of a family for a year. I didn’t find myself attached to any of the characters. I love a land remembered, but this book doesn’t even come close to that.

Outstanding story

Highly recommend, I thought I was right there with them. Authentic descriptions and very well told.

Entertaining

Love the storytelling of the old and nearly forgotten. We were sitting right there as if we were a part of the story

A fun tale of the old south

This is a pleasant and enjoyable story of South over 100 years ago. The characters are interesting, and it showed how people who lived off the land. It is the old South, and people did refer to Black people as the N-word. What I like about Patrick Smith books is African-American people, by the main characters, are treated with respect.

This book is a fun little escape. 

Much more than I expected.

A feel good story with a real good understanding nature and people. Enjoyed as much as A Land Remembered

Nostalgic

Reminds me a lot of my growing up in the south. I know it’s fiction but parts were hard to believe. Still It kept my attention to where I finished it in 3 days. Particularly liked descriptions of nature and the characters and there virtues.

enjoyed the history

I believed the story, i wanted to meat them all. and look around the well described area