Pages 1—62 Summary

The most disgusting, sewage-clogged, filthy, polluted and disrespected river is where Suttree casts his lines and pulls out carp and catfish, which he sells for a meager living. Everything about this area is congested with filth. Suttree sees a rescue boat pulling a rotting corpse out of the water, a suicide jumper, but he retrieves his fish and takes one to an old ragpicker who lives in a cavern. Back on his cot in the houseboat he bought after being released from jail, Suttree contemplates his heart, which he describes as being in the right place but "weathershrunk and loveless. The skin drawn and split like an overripe fruit." Suttree recalls his grandfather's death, and recalls enjoying his grandfather's company. Suttree's father warned him that real life takes place where people are taking responsibility, not in the streets. He seems to...