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As a River Paperback – September 3, 2019

by Sion Dayson (Author)

4.8 29 ratings

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It’s 1977. Bannen, Georgia, nestled amid pine forests, is rife with contrasts: natural beauty and racial tension, small-town charm and long-term poverty. An unsettling place for a Black man who fled it years ago and has since traveled the world.

But Greer Michaels has to come home, to care for his dying mother.

And that means he’ll have to reckon with the devastating secret that drove him out in the first place.

Greer’s story is intertwined with those of the people around him: His mother, Elizabeth, who once had a dazzling singing voice but fell silent years ago. Their neighbor Esse, who has turned to religion after her own traumatic past. Esse’s teenaged daughter, Ceiley, an insatiable reader with a burning curiosity about life beyond Bannen’s town limits.

Written in spare and lyrical prose, As a River moves back and forth across decades, evoking the mysterious play of memory as it touches upon shame and redemption, despair and connection. An exploration of family secrets rooted in the turbulent history of the segregated South, As a River is ultimately about our struggles to understand each other, and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive.

Print length

218 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Jaded Ibis Press, LLC
Publication date

September 3, 2019
Dimensions

5.51 x 0.5 x 8.5 inches
ISBN-10

1938841107
ISBN-13

978-1938841101
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Insightful, observant, and poetic." -Foreword Reviews "Signals the arrival of a significant new voice in literary fiction. Shades of...Morrison's lyricism, Baldwin's social consciousness, and Adichie's ear for dialogue." -The Rupture "Dayson has put readers in touch with a brilliant perception into the human spirit." -North Carolina Literary Review "Expertly crafted plot, lyrical prose, and an ending that brings us to the depths of life and death," -Independent Book Review "A heartfelt meditation on what divides us from each other and from love." -The Arts Fuse"Astonishing. Sion Dayson is a bright new talent, full of verve, bravery and poetry. Read this incandescent novel and prepare to be mesmerized." -Rene Denfeld, bestselling author of The Child Finder and The Butterfly Girl "A masterful debut...Read it for the questions it raises, the struggle it evokes, the connections it makes, and the compassion it incites."-The Museum of Americana "Reflective and lyrical...The river feels as fully realized as the novel's richly drawn characters, and at certain moments it transcends them-like time itself." -Small Press Picks

About the Author

Sion Dayson is an American writer and EFL teacher. Born in New York, raised in North Carolina, and a decade spent in Paris where she acquired French nationality, she now makes her home in Valencia, Spain. Her work has appeared in numerous venues including The Writer, The Rumpus, Electric Literature, Hunger Mountain, Utne Reader, The Wall Street Journal, and several anthologies, including Strangers in Paris and Ms Aligned: Women Writing About Men. Sion has won grants and residencies from the Kerouac House and the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, among others. She holds an MFA in fiction from Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Jaded Ibis Press, LLC (September 3, 2019)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 218 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1938841107
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1938841101
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.9 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.51 x 0.5 x 8.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,562,642 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #9,784 in Discrimination & Racism
- #104,934 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- #107,953 in American Literature (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.8 29 ratings

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4.8 out of 5

29 global ratings

5 star		85%
4 star		8%
3 star		7%
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Top reviews from the United States

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ThriftyGal

Gorgeously written and a real page-turner

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 16, 2020

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I echo the other reviews and really can’t say it any better than others already have: “fresh and richly imagined prose,” well-crafted,” “masterful and poetic,” “hauntingly beautiful,” “beautifully rendered.” A resounding yes!

As a River was a real page-turner for me. The depth and breadth of every aspect of this debut novel thoroughly amazed me—the landscape so vividly depicted and the characters so engaging, the story lines and themes so intriguing—that I found myself not wanting to put this book down. I was absolutely riveted. And it’s been a long time since I’ve become so emotionally invested in the characters in a novel that I’ve thought about them in between reads and even after finishing the book, that I’ve felt a vast array of emotions, and that I’ve not only welled up or shed a few tears but actually sobbed. This was a powerful, moving and gorgeously written story. I look forward to reading more of Sion Dayson’s writing and seeing what’s around the next bend!

Helpful

Kristin Bair O'Keeffe

A brave and beautiful story

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 10, 2020

Verified Purchase

I loved this book...the language, the dialogue, the pace, the characters (oh, Elizabeth!), the strong sense of place (Bannen, Georgia), the slow unfolding of the heartbreaking story of Greer Michaels and Caroline. As a River is as about the complexity of race in the United States as much as it is about poetry and love and humanity. It's an important read, especially right now. I'll be thinking about Greer and his story for a long time.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 5, 2019

Verified Purchase

I love a good book. It is always a gift to find well-crafted words that leave you smiling and crying as the pages fly by. Thank you, Sion.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Carolyn B.

Family, place and love

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 10, 2022

'As A River' drew me in and kept me reading (even as I normally prefer memoir to fiction), with its beautiful descriptions of a lush Georgia landscape, family complexities and especially the relationship between Greer and Caroline, precisely and heartbreakingly rendered. Sion Dayson writes movingly of the power of place and memory and the passing of time. 'As A River' has just won the 2022 First Novel Prize from the Writer's Center. Well-deserved!

Helpful

cynthia newberry martin

A Story of Leaving and Returning

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 28, 2019

"As a River" is Greer’s story, and we meet him first as he returns to take care of his dying mother, which raises the question for the reader of why he left. From there, the novel unfolds with chapters that alternate between the present of 1977 and a past that goes back thirty-two years and comes to us in layers, each one containing a secret that pushes the story forward. As we spend more and more time in the past, we become aware of the racial tension in this small southern town and can imagine how much relief might be found in walking along the river. "As a River" asks the reader to take a close look at the question of shame, the reach of family secrets, and the decisions we make, almost without consideration, that define our lives.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Michelle Webster-Hein

Reads like a river

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 30, 2020

Sion Dayson's debut novel As a River moves along much like a river – smoothly and compellingly, with fascinating twists and turns. The plight of Greer Michaels, the novel's protagonist, who returns to his small southern hometown sixteen years after he'd left it, becomes especially moving and immediate as he struggles to care for his dying mother and, in the process, grapple with the ghosts of his past. But Dayson demonstrates great compassion for all of her characters, and they each come fully alive, the major and minor alike. Masterfully, she excavates a story that spans decades, and she does so in fresh and richly imagined prose that brings new eyes to the age-old themes of family and belonging, of how much we can choose and how much we must leave behind.

Helpful

Jodi Paloni

Read Straight Through

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 11, 2019

A beautifully-rendered debut novel about the trials of star-crossed lovers, As a River reaches far beyond the story of one young couple and into the tumult of racial/class tensions in a time and place not far from here and now. This is both an on the edge of the seat read and a take your time over the lushness of the landscape and the sensuality of the south in summer. I read this book straight through!

One person found this helpful

Helpful

rita smythe

A Beautifully Written Novel

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 7, 2019

A hauntingly beautiful story of the complexities, personal and historical, that divide and unite human beings, set against an elaborately-drawn background of the south in the late 20th-century. This is a carefully-observed novel, by a writer who clearly cares deeply not only about her characters, but also about the language itself. Above all, this novel shows a deep understanding of humanity---what it is to be human, in all our complications and glories.

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Anonyme

Pure poetry! Amazing writing.

Reviewed in France 🇫🇷 on November 6, 2019

Verified Purchase

Loved it! Thank you for creating Greer: a good man who is strong and kind and emotional and awkward - a real human being. It's refreshing to have a positive male character. I love how meeting him changed the dynamic between Ceiley and Esse. Full of fascinating twists and delicious imagery. Can't wait to read it again!

User

Loved it!

Reviewed in France 🇫🇷 on November 6, 2019

Verified Purchase

Sion is a masterful and poetic writer. Highly recommended!

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