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    The Banks of Certain Rivers
    The Banks of Certain Rivers
    The Banks of Certain Rivers
    Audiobook11 hours

    The Banks of Certain Rivers

    Written by Jon Harrison

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    In the lakeside resort town of Port Manitou, Michigan, dedicated teacher and running coach Neil Kazenzakis shoulders responsibilities that would break a lesser man: a tragic accident has left his wife seriously debilitated, he cares for his mother-in-law who suffers from dementia, and he’s raising his teenage son, Chris, on his own. On top of all that, he’s also secretly been seeing Lauren, his mother-in-law’s caregiver.

    When Neil breaks up a fight one day after school, he doesn’t give the altercation much thought. He’s got bigger issues on his mind, like the fact that Lauren is ready for a commitment and he has to figure out a way to tell Chris that he’s in a serious relationship with someone other than the boy’s mother. But when an anonymous person uploads a video of the fight to YouTube, the stunning footage suggests Neil assaulted a student. With his job, his family, and his reputation suddenly in jeopardy, Neil must prove his innocence and win back the trust of the entire community—including his son’s.

    Jon Harrison’s The Banks of Certain Rivers is a powerful tale of family, loss, and the meaning of love.

    Revised edition: This edition of The Banks of Certain Rivers includes editorial revisions.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateSep 23, 2014
    ISBN9781491536483
    The Banks of Certain Rivers
    Author

    Jon Harrison

    Born in Michigan, Jon Harrison studied English literature and geological sciences at Ohio University. A lover of the outdoors, he moved to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in 1994 and has lived there ever since.

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    Reviews for The Banks of Certain Rivers

    4/5

    35 ratings13 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I read this book with the One Group One Facebook online book club at Facebook. It was a 4 star book for me; I reserve 5 stars for books which I think are really outstanding. I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It was very well-written and a good story. It is written by a man and is from a man’s point of view, which is interesting to me, for this type of book. There are a number of issues that this book deals with: loss, love, being a single father, defending oneself against an accusations by high school students, trying to find happiness, and being loyal to a beloved wife who is in a nursing home after a devastating accident. Neil, the main character has a lot to deal with in the years after his wife’s accident. I cared about everyone in this book. Even though there were a lot of things happening in this book plot-wise (there were a lot of twists and turns), I think it is more of a character-driven book. I usually race through a book reading fast, but this one I savored and read more slowly. I don’t know if I would have discovered this book on my own, but it is on my favorites list now, and I will definitely look for other books by this author, Jon Harrison.
    • 5/5
      I really liked this book from the very beginning. I highly recommend it. The characters are all so relatable (not a word?) and likable. I loved Neil. I was rooting for him the whole time and I even felt really bad for him.The synopsis says: In the lakeside resort town of Port Manitou, Michigan, dedicated teacher and running coach Neil Kazenzakis shoulders responsibilities that would break a lesser man: a tragic accident has left his wife seriously debilitated, he cares for his mother-in-law who suffers from dementia, and he’s raising his teenage son, Chris, on his own. On top of all that, he’s also secretly been seeing Lauren, his mother-in-law’s caregiver.It goes on to say more but this says it perfectly without ruining any of the plot. I liked the suspense the story supplied. And the way it was told, made want to keep reading.Why not 5 stars? I didn't give it 5 stars because there was one part of the book that I felt went over-the-top, like it was being written for a screenplay all of a sudden. Blah.
    • 4/5
      Dynamic and exciting all at once. The tale of a "normal" family who deal with extraordinary things...and how they interact with each other whole coping. It's all about relationships, love and the things that happen to us in life. You won't be able to put it down. Take a nap because you're going to be up late reading!
    • 4/5
      Jon Harrison’s debut novel, The Banks of Certain Rivers is a mixture of family drama, tragedy, humor, love and loss. One man’s heartbreaking, moving and emotional story, as it spins out of control, and in the midst of extraordinary circumstances--life changing decisions in a fragile world.

      In the lakeside resort town of Port Manitou, Michigan, dedicated teacher and running coach Neil Kazenzakis is in the midst of a melt-down (he deserves it). While vacationing with his family, (Wendy –wife, Chris-son), an accident, leaving his wife seriously debilitated. He is left alone to care for his teenage son, Chris, his wife, he also has the burden of caring for his mother-in-law who suffers from dementia and to further complicate matters—he is secretly dating Lauren, his mother-in-law’s caregiver. (Some heavy stuff).

      So, now life must go on in the midst of tragedy. Time does not stand still. Years later, Wendy is in long term care, and is not responsive. Carol, Wendy's mother, isn't well and she lives next door to them. While the secret relationship heats up between him and Lauren, he knows he has to find a way to tell his son. When Lauren discovers she is pregnant – it is imperative he bring the relationship out in the open.

      Too add fuel to the fire, he is breaking up a fight at school, and someone videos it, making it appear as though he was involved, questioning his integrity as a teacher. It goes viral and now he is close to losing it all, as he has to prove his innocence.

      In combination, his secret love affair with Lauren, and his fear of telling his son; his guilt, betrayal, and loyalty. How much can one man handle? How will he cope? As Neil fights to keep his job, his relationship with Lauren, Chris’ feelings, and the pressure of perhaps having to sell his in-laws' land to cover the bills.

      With the emails, twists and turns, and slow building suspense, the novel’s voice told from Neil’s POV, allowing the reader to experience firsthand the hard choices, a caregiver, memories from the past, the turmoil of the present and the uncertainty of the future – there is much depth, and emotion from this flawed realistic character.

      I listened to the audio version, narrated by Mikael Naramore and while his voice was pleasant, he was reading it more like a script than most, which sometimes threw off the impact of the overall novel; however, Jon Harrison’s The Banks of Certain Rivers is a beautiful and funny debut novel, and look forward to reading more!
    • 4/5
      When I write a review like this, I do not talk about the particulars of the book. You can find them out by reading the dust jacket. I like to tell people how the book made me feel and about the reading experience itself.From the beginning this book drew me in. There were parts in the beginning where I actually heard the sounds as I was reading and felt the movements of the characters. I knew these people. I made friends with them. I got angry at them. But I couldn't wait to stay with them for another page or two or three.The writing is exemplary. The story is one that numerous people can relate to on many different levels. The book kept me hanging in spots, needing to know more. It surprised me in spots, needing that resolution if it was what I expected or not.I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a good solid read regarding family, friends, and life in all its glory.
    • 5/5
      THE BANKS OF CERTAIN RIVERS will draw you in immediately with its backstory where we meet Neil Kazenzakis (Mr. K), husband, father, friend, teacher, coach. It is here that we learn first of his wife Wendy and son Chris, and the terrible accident that Wendy has in a swimming pool that left her in a permanent comatose state. Their son Chris, an eighth grader, witnessed the accident. We move forward a few years and find that Neil has more to deal with than seems humanly possible. His wife Wendy remains in a nursing home, he and Chris both are still struggling to move on, and he is caring for his mother-in-law Carol, while at the same time, maintaining her home. On top of everything else, Neil has fallen in love with Lauren, the nurse taking care of Carol. Neil must tell Chris, but fears it is more than a young person can handle given the state of his mother’s health. Add to all this is a video that went viral showing Mr. K knocking a student to the ground. Can he prove his innocence and that the video is a fake? With his job and reputation on the line and Chris’ loss of respect for him after Neil tells him he has been in a relationship for two years, Neil feels his life is spiraling out of control. With the determination and help of understanding and caring friends, Neil is able to move forward.I don’t like spoilers, and this book is difficult to talk about without revealing too much. It is well written with a plot that will keep you turning the pages. It is about love and redemption, loyalty and trust. It is about putting what life throws at you into the proper perspective and getting on with one’s life. The characters were so well developed that I felt an immediate bond with each one. I wanted Wendy to recover, and at first didn’t like Lauren because I felt she stood in the way of that recovery. I wanted to hug Chris and help him through the murky waters of grief, sadness, distrust, and disappointment. It was so much to put upon a teenager. There is no doubt in my mind that this is a five star book. Once I started reading, I was unable to put it down. With so many layers to the story and personalities elaborated so beautifully, this is one book I wholeheartedly recommend.About the AuthorBorn in Michigan, Jon Harrison studied English literature and geological sciences at Ohio University. A lover of the outdoors, he moved to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in 1994 and has lived there ever since. When not writing, he enjoys skiing, running, and climbing.The Banks of Certain Rivers is his first novel.
    • 5/5
      I'm going to cut right to the chase, I loved everything about this book. The characters were all likeable and believable. The story slowly built in intensity, but was never boring. In fact, the more I got into the story the more trouble I had putting the book down. We all have times in our lives when we feel like everything is crashing down on us and I think the author really depicted that well with Neil's character. I found this story totally engrossing and I highly recommend it!
    • 4/5
      This book was my in-flight entertainment on a seven-hour plane trip. I put it down to watch The Book Thief (great movie adaptation!), then finished it. It's smartly-paced and as easy to consume as an open bag of chips. Neil, the main character, is an appealing hero, though I did half expect him to be darker than he appeared. His wife is in a persistent vegetative state and the loss of her, even years later, has left him on shaky ground despite a wealth of loving relationships, including that with his teenage son. As the story progresses, shaky ground becomes quicksand and Neil must find a way to embrace his future and get on with his life.

      For those interested in genre labeling, if Neil were a women, this book would be marketed as women's fiction.
    • 4/5
      I love when Indie authors come out and blow my socks off! It is so great that these authors are able to get their work out and we are able to enjoy it!!! I love books that take place around where I live, it makes me feel so connected! So with this book taking place in the Midwest, I knew it had my interest right way! This book is a page turner, heavy at times, with great characters and like I said before a great setting! You need to pick up this book and read something very original and compelling!! 4 stars!
    • 4/5
      This is the story of Neil Kazenzakis, who has a lot on his plate. He is the single father of a teenage boy, whose wife is in long term care after an accident that has left her comatose. His mother-in-law lives across the street and has home care. One of her nurses, Laura Downey, and he are having a secret relationship. On top of that, a video goes online that shows him beating up a student, when he recalls that he was trying to break up a fight. As the world starts to crumble around him, he fears for his job, his wife’s ongoing care, his son’s reaction to his relationship with Laura and just trying to cope. This debut novel is character driven and Harrison has created some strong characters; people that this reader cared about and want to help or even strangle. Seriously, this is an emotional story about relationships, family and love. I thoroughly enjoyed it and having the chapters end with e-mails written to his wife as Neil struggles had a heart-warming effect on me. Not a tear jerker, but certainly a book to read!
    • 4/5
      I was really caught off guard by how quickly I was drawn into Neil's story. While I'm not a man and have never come close to dealing with the crap that Neil deals with in this book, I still connected with him. And for me that's what great writing and story-telling is all about. I loved how honest this book was. And funny. And sad. It really had everything a great novel should. I look forward to more from writing from Jon.
    • 5/5
      A couple of years ago, a friend of mine mentioned that he had seen a "perfect" movie. I asked him what he meant, and he said that, for him, a perfect movie was one that couldn't have been any better than it was. This didn't mean it was the best movie he had ever seen, but that as he watched it and thought about it afterwards, he couldn't think of anything he wanted to change.That's how I feel about The Banks of Certain Rivers.The book is the story of one man's struggle to rebuild his life after tragedy. Several years earlier, a freak accident left Neil Kazenzakis' wife, Wendy, permanently comatose. Since then, Neil, a popular high school teacher, has been struggling to keep himself together and raise his teenaged son, Christopher. More recently, he's started dating Lauren, a sweet and patient woman who understands Neil's desire to keep their relationship secret so that his son's delicately balanced life doesn't tumble back into chaos.Then Neil breaks up a fight after school between some kids on the football team. Next thing he knows, footage of the incident has been posted to YouTube, but it's been manipulated so that it looks like Neil is abusing a student, not saving him. As the views of the YouTube video spiral out of control, Neil's placed on suspension from work while the school investigates. And when Lauren reveals some shocking news of her own, Neil slowly starts to unravel, leaving him no choice but to confront things he's long tried to avoid.So why do I call this book 'perfect'? First of all, there's the use of language. Harrison has a way with words and imagery that catches your attention. Take this passage from the prologue:"A moment after that the room filled with a loud thumping noise, and every head in the place turned to see a blue Medivac helicopter ease from the sky down to a spot on the grass as gently as a butterfly lights on a twig."Or this opening sentence from the first chapter:"One humid night at the beginning of the summer, while jetliners rumbled overhead and fireflies winked green along the far-off row of brambles, my best friend and I sat by the fire pit in the field behind my house."In both instances, Harrison has perfectly set the scene with one sentence. You can hear that thumping Medivac, smell the campfire smoke. Most writers (myself included) struggle to do what seems effortless to Harrison.Another element is the deep layering of the story. There are no under-developed, walk-on characters. From Neil's best-friend, Alan, who is one of the funnier characters I've encountered in fiction in a while, to his aging mother-in-law, to the head of the school board who cares more about appearances than the truth, every character has a role to play and a clear personality, again, often sketched with a few, simple, penetrating sentences.And finally there's the themes, not only of loss and renewal, grief and joy, but the idea of memory. How it shifts and twists to fit our own view of ourselves, our own view of life, and how this can ultimately be our undoing. Harrison writes:"What is a memory, anyway? Is it an indelible record, unimpeachable, frozen in some synaptic arrangement and stored away for some moment it might be needed in the future? Or is it subject to editing and revision, something plastic that our brains can shape into another form we can handle, something less toxic than the original, something less able to poison us?"It is the answer to that question that lies at the heart of this story, and kept me thinking about it for a long time after I finished reading.The best books also make you consider things outside the book, and for me, here, it's the title, which comes from a Czeslaw Milosz poem called "I Sleep A Lot" that is partially quoted in the epigraph:When I couldn't do without alcohol, I drove myself on alcohol,When I couldn't do without cigarettes and coffee, I drove myselfOn cigarettes and coffee.I was courageous. Industrious. Nearly a model of virtue.But that is good for nothing. (...)I have read many books but I don't believe them.When it hurts we return to the banks of certain rivers.I know I'll be returning to the banks of this book to seek solace, to learn how to be a better writer, and, most of all, to be entertained.As a final thought, Harrison's book is also proof of something that's becoming more and more evident: that quality books can succeed solely through reader--rather than traditional publisher--support, these days. I can't say why Harrison ended up self-publishing this novel, but I think it's lucky for all of us he did. Because you should read it, and hey, at $3.99 there's no excuse not to.
    • 5/5
      Neil's life is very complicated but he handles it with a bit of humor and an amazing amount of perseverance. An all around good guy that just seems to be dealt a bad hand in life. I was immersed into the story quickly and before I knew it I had become invested into the characters. The writing has a easy going flow with emotion and glimpses of humor. It's the kind of story that has a true to life impact which had me analyzing it as a wife, mother etc. Worth the read!