Narrated by Will Watt
This new recording of Waiting for the Flood is over twice as long as the original mainly due to the addition of a second novella. Taken together the two novellas tell one completely satisfying story. While Waiting for the Flood was originally written to stand alone, Chasing the Light will mean more if you’ve read WftF first, and reading CtL gives a satisfying look at the couple from WftF several years down the road.
Waiting for the Flood is about Edwin navigating the death of a vision and learning to hope again. Edwin and Marius were together for ten years and Edwin thought they were both happy, until one day Marius left with no real explanation as to why. Edwin is stuck in a sort of limbo, existing as “the person Marius left” and unable to move forward from his grief or the resulting insecurities. He has a speech impediment that makes him feel awkward and self-conscious, which is a further barrier to making new friends and moving on with a new life. When a potentially serious storm approaches the area Edwin meets Adam, a civil engineer working to help people on Edwin’s street prepare for an expected flood. As Adam shows interest in Edwin, Edwin has to decide whether to stay stuck or move on.
Marius is physically absent in WftF but is still an important character. Chasing the Light gives us Marius’s story, beginning a year or so after the events in WftF. Marius arrives at his parent’s Christmas Eve get-together only to find Edwin and Adam already there. Stung, Marius reacts with cutting remarks and promptly leaves the party, walking aimlessly in the cold and dark while thinking about his life. Here we begin to see that Marius isn’t as together as people seem to think. He seems as bound by the past as Edwin had been in WftF, only he’s reacted by building a wall around himself. On this night while walking in the near blackness of a riverside towpath deep in thought, Marius slips, loses his phone in the river and badly injures his ankle. A local narrowboat owner, Leo, hears his yells and comes to help.
Both novellas are quiet, introspective, and atmospheric. The language is absolutely beautiful and poignant, and vividly describes both the physical world (the house Edwin and Marius bought in WftF, and the narrowboat in CtL) and the internal conflicts of Edwin and Marius. Edwin loves his house, but it’s also become a sort of monument to what he lost. Hall opens each chapter in WftF with a description of part of the house and often relates it to life when Marius lived there. Edwin needs to move past being the one left behind and move forward to being the one that is cherished. Adam is a wonderful character who’s gentle attempts to get Edwin’s attention and his non judgmental understanding finally help Edwin realize he can move on.
Marius is angry and scared and unable to do the one thing he loves, his art. He dons sarcasm and indifference like armor, keeping everyone at arm’s length. He’s very difficult to like for a large part of CtL, being purposefully rude and aloof. His forced stay on Leo’s boat gives Marius some time to reflect about his life, and about his oddly growing attachment to Leo. Leo, like Adam in WftF, is a nonreactive person, taking most of Marius’s jabs without retaliating. But unlike Adam, Leo has his own difficult background and will only go so far to placate Marius. When he lays out what he has to offer, he doesn’t beg or compromise, willing to let Marius walk away.
My favorite part of both novellas is the scene where Edwin and Marius finally talk. It’s a little awkward, but incredibly beautiful and moving. It allows both men to truly move on from the past. I also love how Marius’s mother plays an important role in each novella by being a model of what unconditional love is: not perfect but always genuine.
I was eager to listen to the rereleased audiobook of Waiting for the Flood even though I already own the older version. A big part of the draw was Will Watt in the narrator’s chair. After his excellent narration of 10 Things That Never Happened, I’ve been hoping for more so I jumped at the chance to get to this audiobook. Both WftF and CtL are introspective, character stories, and Watt’s languid and gentle voice works so well. His delivery for both Edwin and Marius is a little sad at times, perfectly matching both Edwin and Marius’s feelings of resignation about how their lives are going. Adam and Leo have strong distinctive character voices that illuminate their personalities, and the secondary characters are all equally well voiced.
The genius in these novellas is Alexis Hall’s use of language. I can’t emphasize enough how perfect each word feels, how much those words are like brushes painting a picture of the physical surroundings and the inner thoughts of the main characters. Along with Will Watt’s almost understated delivery, each paragraph seems powerful and necessary. I highly recommend this audiobook and I know it will feature as one of my Best Audiobooks of 2024.
*The last hour of the audiobook contains two bonus recipes, one for Edwin’s elderberry wine and one for Marius’s mother’s pierogies, plus the short story, Aftermath.
Carrie
Buy Waiting for the Flood by Alexis Hall on Amazon
