The River Is Waiting

“I’m sure Emily is keeping track of my nighttime beer consumption, but I’m confident she’s unaware that I’ve started drinking the hard stuff during the day.”

This quote reveals Corby’s self-deception and contributes to his characterization as an unreliable narrator. He assumes he’s hiding his daytime drinking from Emily, yet the narrative later reveals that she was suspicious but chose to stay silent, hoping his behavior would resolve on its own. This early moment reflects the gap between appearance and reality, especially within relationships. It also foreshadows the unraveling of Corby’s carefully maintained façade and his eventual reckoning with the consequences of his substance dependency.

“‘What are you trying to get me to say? That my son is dead because I was drunk? Strung out on benzos? Because that’s bullshit.’ And I mean it, too. I was fully functional, despite whatever those blood tests are going to say.”

This remark exemplifies Corby’s initial refusal to take accountability, a central conflict in his character arc as he gradually confronts Overcoming Guilt and Finding Redemption. The structure—dialogue followed by internal monologue—demonstrates the depth of his denial. By insisting to himself that he was “fully functional,” Corby minimizes the role his substance abuse played in the tragedy. His defensiveness highlights the stigma and self-justification often involved in substance dependency, as well as his struggle to reconcile self-image with reality.

“Can I out-and-out lie like that? Why the hell not? Everyone lied to cover their asses. The cops who claimed self-defense when they shot that black guy in the back. The politicians: ‘We have credible intelligence that Sadam has stockpiled weapons of mass destruction.’ ‘I did not have sex with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.’ Trump lies every time he opens his mouth and we all just shake our heads and let him get away with it.”

Lamb employs satire and cultural allusion as Corby tries to rationalize his dishonesty. Corby’s internal