About this title: Leaving behind a madcap, fishing-obsessed family, Gus embarks on an extraordinary voyage of self-discovery along his beloved Oregon rivers. What he unexpectedly finds is man's wanton destruction of nature and a burning desire to commit himself to its preservation. This is the funny, sensitive, very special story of one man's search for meaning, love, and a sane way to live.
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Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
"I have never been that interested in fishing, and this book makes me want to fish! It's so clever...funny, (the opening paragraph had me laughing) and enlightening. Gus, the main character grows up fishing, in this crazy, fishing-obsessed, little family, and then he strikes out on his own, comes to know himself and what's really, most important to him.
Towards the end of the book, I read this passage, and then re-read it and re-read at least ten times...
"Dawn came up behind the hills, extending her old fingertips of rose. I plodded on toward the outstretched fingers and the glimmering continued; fish-bites, birth pangs, I didn't know what they were. But the further I walked, the less I cared. It was enough to feel them. I trudged on, helpless to catch hold of things, but hopeful. And when the first sunlight lit upon the tallest ridge's highest vineleaf maple, when the rosy fingers faded into blue behind the mountain, when the vineleaf's leaves shone out in scarred and blazing scarlet atop that wave-like ridge of dull alder gold a chill shot from my thighs to the top of my head, surged up on my backbone, again and again--for in that moment I felt as though an oldest, greatest, longest-lost Friend had come to walk the road, unseen beside me...""
"Well, this is now my favorite book, bar none. In fact, I liked this book so much I feel half inclined to go back and deduct a star from all of my other 'read' books just so this 5 star one can stand out.
It had aspects of all of my favorite books combined. Comedy, fantastic writing that is at times beautifully simple, and intelectually dense. Every character stood out as an incredibly interesting indevidual, so much so that if the author had't of said this was a work of fiction himself I wouldn't have believed it. Deep philosophy blends beautifully next to all the other humdrums of life. And then, three quarters of the way through the book I'm surprised by a love story! One that didn't even need the whole book for me to get attached to.
My god... this book was genius. If you think you need to like fishing to appreciate this book, you're wrong. The only thing you really need is an appreciation for nature."
The River Why incorporates everything I could ever want in a book- it's hilarious, its spiritual, it involves fishing, and it's (again) hilarious.
The book is a fictional autobiography about a man who leaves his nutty family to discover himself as a sort of recluse-fisherman. He makes great friendships along the way, and eventually comes to appreciate his part in the bigger picture. It's a great book, nearly impossible to categorize, but trust me when I say that this is the best piece of writing I've ever laid eyes on (and one of only two books I have re-read)."
"This book was a little slow going for me at first. It was as witty and clever as Duncan's other writing, but it's just so focused on fishing, and I've never been much of a fisherwoman. But suddenly it's taken a turn toward brilliance, as Gus the Fisherman has become enamored by an elusive fishergirl named Eddy and is now under the tutelage of his friend Titus in an attempt to understand his soul. Or his soul-pole, as he calls it. If I could type the entirety of the last two chapters here without risking carpal tunnel or copyright infringement, I really would. They're that good.
The metaphors in this book astound me with their profundity. I also greatly enjoy Duncan's diction. It seems that every word I've taught my juniors appears here once. Even the most backwards Oregon fisherman engages in witty banter using words like "erudition" or observations like "the world is full of proctological-headed orcs who leer at and torment beauty."
The ending of this book is excellent. It actually made me believe in love for a moment or two. Maybe because a VW bus was involved. I'm exhilarated, yet devastated that it's over and that I've pretty much exhausted Duncan's oeuvre."
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