Riven by Roan Parrish

Narrated by Chris Chambers and Iggy Toma

I picked up Riven mostly because I’d recently read and loved its follow up, Rend, but also because I’d so enjoyed Iggy Toma’s performance in Heart of the Steal, which Ms. Parrish co-authored with Avon Gale, and was keen to listen to more of his work. Riven is a poignant, beautifully written story about two men drawn together by their love of music; and the way the author writes about music and how it works and what it means to both characters is vividly descriptive. The prose is often lyrical – very appropriately so given the subject matter – and while on the surface this might seem like a fairly simple love story, the themes running through it are anything but, as one character battles addiction and the other must leave behind a past filled with indifference and rejection and learn to live for himself if he’s to find true happiness.

Theo Dekker is the lead singer with Riven, a band that’s really hitting the big time. He’s a hugely talented musician, singer and songwriter and music is his life – it’s who he IS – and he loves making music and loves seeing people reacting to and enjoying it. What he doesn’t love, however, is the fame that goes with it. He hates being recognised wherever he goes, he hates being hounded by the paparazzi and he hates touring, and he’s worried that the interest being shown in him by the media is driving a wedge between him and his bandmates. He was a late addition to Riven when the existing members realised they needed a dedicated singer (rather than one who already played another instrument who happened to be able to sing), so he feels something apart from them as it is – and all the attention he’s getting is only making it worse.

At the end of a gruelling tour, all Theo wants is to go home to rest, recharge and work on some new songs. He’s exhausted and his voice is on the verge of giving out, so when the band’s manager announces he’s got them three weeks’ worth of dates in Europe, culminating in appearances at a prestigious music festival, it’s the last thing Theo wants to do. But he knows the rest of the band badly want to go and given the way he’s already feeling like an outsider, he doesn’t feel he can say no.

Arrived back in New York with barely a day-and-a-half at home before he has to leave again, Theo takes a long walk through the city. He’s on the way back home, when he hears music coming from the open back door of a bar and stops to listen, drawn to the beauty of the song and the haunting voice of the singer. But more than that, Theo is suddenly and forcibly reminded of the joy he has always found in music, something he’d begun to lose sight of after months spent on an exhausting tour.

Caleb Blake Whitman’s successful musical career came crashing down about his ears after he became addicted to heroin. His first three of attempts at rehab didn’t go too well, but now, he’s been clean for a year and is determined to stay that way. He recognises Theo, of course, and is surprised to find the guy is not at all what he’d have expected of someone so famous – he’s not at all fake and is clearly very talented, genuinely interested in Caleb’s music and possessed of an unusual mixture of confidence and vulnerability that really draws Caleb in. After an intense, insightful conversation about the song Caleb had been playing, Theo invites him back to his apartment; the sex is hot, immensely satisfying and, for both men, a furtherance of the strong connection they’d felt back at the bar. But Caleb realises that he could easily develop an unhealthy craving for Theo, and unwilling to exchange one addiction for another, he leaves after Theo has fallen asleep.

He doesn’t leave his number, or expect to ever see Theo again.

Theo, however, has other ideas. He can’t forget Caleb or their incredible night together; not just the spectacular sex, but the way he’d felt as though Caleb had actually seen him, Theo Dekker, musician, and not just Theo the rock-star. So as soon as he’s back Stateside, Theo tracks Caleb down to his remote farmhouse and takes a chance, driving out to see him and hoping Caleb will be pleased to see him rather than otherwise. Caleb is certainly shocked to see Theo again, but once that wears off – and in spite of his concerns over being drawn back into the world Theo inhabits – Caleb is unable resist him. Theo’s everything he’s ever wanted – even though he’s something Caleb can’t allow himself to have.

This is an angsty, emotionally fraught tale as Theo and Caleb embark upon a push-pull relationship that sees Caleb pushing Theo away more than once because he believes the only way he can stay clean is to cut himself off completely from his former life and the music he so loves. He’s scared and desperately lonely; and Theo – loving, honest and endearingly vulnerable Theo – is like a bright burst of light in his almost monochrome existence. On stage, Theo is sex-on-legs, oozing charisma and confidence, but off it, he’s sweetly shy and just a little awkward. He’s never truly had a family – oh, he has parents, but nothing he ever did was good enough for them – and wants nothing more than to belong somewhere or to someone. He knows that Caleb could be that someone – if only Caleb can find the strength – and love Theo enough – to overcome his fears.

While both narrators are very well suited to the characters they portray – Iggy Toma narrates the chapters from Theo’s PoV and Chris Chambers those from Caleb’s – I preferred Mr. Toma’s portrayal of the two principals and found his performance to be the more emotionally engaged of the two. Theo is younger than Caleb and generally more upbeat in spite of his insecurities; he wears his heart on his sleeve and isn’t afraid to show emotion, and Mr. Toma captures the essense of the character really well, his lighter tone and pitch conveying Theo’s youth, and the degree of emotional nuance he injects into his voice perfectly communicating Theo’s yearning to belong and his generous heart. But I felt there was a detachment in Mr. Chambers’ performance that contrasted glaringly with Mr. Toma’s more animated reading. Apart from a superbly played highly emotional scene near the end, Mr. Chambers’ voice is almost monotonous, and in the love scenes he’s so matter of fact that I found myself thinking he sounded like Eeyore! Which is the last thing one wants in mind when listening to a sex scene! He also has a habit of snatching audible breaths; I don’t know if it’s some sort of acting choice, because he doesn’t do it all the time, but whatever it was, it’s the sort of thing that, once heard, is impossible to ‘unhear’, or to ignore.

I enjoyed Riven for the story and Iggy Toma’s excellent performance. Although Chris Chambers’ narration by no means ruined the listening experience, I can’t help wishing it had been a single-narrator effort.

Caz