About this title: "It used to be Cliff and Vivian and now it isn't." With these words, Jim Harrison begins a riotous, moving novel that sends a sixty-something man, divorced and robbed of his farm by a late-blooming real estate shark of an ex-wife, on a road trip across America. Cliff is armed with a childhood puzzle of the United States and a mission to rename all the states and state birds, the latter of which have been unjustly saddled with white men's banal monikers up until now. His adventures take him through a whirlwind affair with a former student from his high-school-teacher days twenty-some years ...
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Description: Very Good. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Grove Press
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780802144140ISBN:0802144144
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Audiobook CD
Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9781433246647ISBN:1433246643
Description: New in new dust jacket. 6 CDs in clamshell. Audience: General/trade. BAND NEW Direct to You! Flawless-Gift Giving Quality. Immediate Shipping. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: House of Anansi Pr
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780887842252ISBN:0887842259
Description: Very Good in vg jacket. Hardcover, Very Good, clean, tight, unmarked, dust jacket has a one inch tear at top front corner All orders are shipped by kbooks every business day. read more
Description: Very Good. Former Library book. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Center Point Large Print
Date Published: 2009-01
ISBN-13:9781602853690ISBN:160285369X
Description: Very Good. Unread. Crisp, clean, fresh pages. No tears or creases. Sharp edges and corners. No writing or highlighting. Book has very minor shelf wear. Guaranteed to be as described. read more
Description: ISBN 0-8021-1863-1 Octavo (8.5 in. by 5.75 in. ); 255pp.; fine hardcover; very good dust jacket; dust jacket torn, bent at extremities; crisp; clean; bright. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Grove Pr
Date Published: 2008-10-01
ISBN-13:9780802118639ISBN:0802118631
Description: NEW. Hardcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780802118639. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Grove Press
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780802118639ISBN:0802118631
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
"It took me a while to get into the way this guy writes--long narrative sentences without much punctuation-- but once I got into the groove, I started to love it. A smart, thoughtful man--but at the same time a simple midwestern country man--the protagonist, Cliff, is having a midlife crisis, though he would never call it that. This after his not-very-likable wife leaves him for another man, sells his farm out from under him and files for divorce. And oh yes, his dog has died. So he does what a man would do -- gets in the car and goes on a road trip, first picking up a hyper-sexed woman from his past to provide comfort that begins to chafe (in more ways than one). He eats, drinks, drives, smokes a little, fishes a bit, and has a lot of noncommittal sex. I guess that's what a man needs to heal. He also ponders his life, and by the end of the book, you are really rooting for this guy."
"I must admit that I checked this one out because of the title. Superficial, I know. But the description also appealed -- a road trip novel about an older man who suddenly finds himself divorced, homeless, and at loose ends. Interesting, yes? While I can't deny that the premise is interesting, the plot encompasses not much more than I've described here, and I simply could not connect with the characters.
The English Major is well-written, in a rambling, almost stream-of-consciousness style. Cliff, the main character, has a tendency to connect things that don't necessarily connect, which makes for some interesting reading. The book was frequently funny, and a good length -- I don't think I would want to spend more time with Cliff than strictly necessary, this being a character who more than once refers to his (60-year-old) penis as "my worm." Shudder.
And speaking of shuddering, the other main characters in the book -- Cliff's ex-wife Vivian, his son Robert, and his lover Marybelle -- were so unpleasant as to be grating, especially Marybelle.
This passage sort of sums up much of what I didn't like about the book: "I had taken out one of the books I had borrowed, Martha Foley's Best American Short Stories, but my hands felt too lame to open it when my own story seemed interminable."
I did, however, enjoy this passage: "...I heard myself talking aloud, 'I have no more time for self-doubt which is a profession of itself for English Majors. I must follow my star even if it turns out to be one of those squiggly motes floating through my eyeball.'""
"The story starts and ends on a farm in northwest Michigan. (I never thought of Michigan as being farm country; shows what I know.) In between, Cliff, the narrator, drives toward San Francisco to visit his gay son, having recently been divorced (which includes losing his farm). On this road trip, Cliff contemplates his marriage, gives a former student a ride to where her anthropology-professor husband is on a dig, has an affair with said student (without apparent consequence to anyone involved), ogles waitresses, and flushes a cell phone down a toilet. He enjoys lots of beautiful western scenery, too. On the way home to probably NOT reconcile with Vivian, he fishes. It's a guy fantasy--an older-guy fantasy. (Cliff is 60.) He drives, eats, drinks, has sex, and has his material needs taken care of by his prosperous son and real-estate-selling ex-wife. In the end, he's puttering on the property Vivian has helped him to buy--it's his grandfather's former place. It's all quite charmingly told, smacking at times of a Garrison Keillor knock-off. But mostly he incorporates Keillor's rhythms and self-deprecating tone, both of which I enjoy. Otherwise it strikes me as original enough. Oh, it's called "The English Major" because, after majoring in English, Cliff taught English and history to farm kids for ten years, then happily abandoned the classroom to take over his father-in-law's farm. There were decent insights into literature, etc. A pleasant experience, in the end."
"A manly book from a macho man, who from his author photo appears to have put the grizz in grizzled. This was such a refreshing change of pace and place (It starts in the Upper Midwest and meanders toward the left coast). Cliff, in his 60s, is divorced, homeless and dogless -- in the throes of a belated midlife crisis. He used to be a teacher, then a farmer. He used to be part of a couple. He used to have a dog that was always at his side. What to do? Hit the road in his trusty Taurus armed with a children's puzzle of the U.S., a lot of liquor, and a hot mama of a former student and ponder till things make sense. Is this every man's fantasy? Well, Jim Harrison issues some hilarious reality checks. This book is laugh-aloud funny at times, poignant at others. It moves along at a decent pace for a road trip. The states and birds project was a semi-interesting sidebar. The male characters had more depth than the women. Viv, the voracious real-estate agent who'd sell the condo out from under her granny, comes off as cartoonish, though she resembles some women I've known in that field. I'd rather Harrison use a few more commas -- the lack of them sent me on my own road trip a few times -- but it's his book. I'll look for more of them.
"This last day was especially hard because Viv was not a liberal democrat like myself and made no attempt at fairness while she was splitting up our mutual possessions. She even took a beautiful antique clock my mother's rich employers had given her and I had inherited. She said, "You'll never set this clock," which was true. During summer heat waves when we were sprinkling the yard so it wouldn't turn brown, Viv made no attempt when moving the sprinkler to make sure each patch of yard got its fair share of water. Liberal democrats, like me, are careful about such things."
"A professor had said that what saved writers is that they, like politicians, had the illusion of destiny, which allowed them to overcome obstacles no matter how nominal their work.""
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