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Fiction. Literature. Humor (Fiction.) HTML:The classic novel of fly fishing and spirituality republished with a new Afterword by the author. Since its publication in 1983, The River Why has become a classic. David James Duncan's sweeping novel is a coming-of-age comedy about love, nature, and the quest for self-discovery, written in a voice as distinct and powerful as any in American letters. Gus Orviston is a young fly fisherman who leaves behind his comically schizoid family to find his own path. Taking refuge in a remote cabin, he sets out in pursuit of the Pacific Northwest's elusive steelhead. But what begins as a physical quarry becomes a spiritual one as his quest for self-knowledge batters him with unforeseeable experiences. Profoundly reflective about our connection to nature and to one another, The River Why is also a comedic rollercoaster. Like Gus, the reader emerges utterly changed, stripped bare by the journey Duncan so expertly navigates.… (more)
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The River Why might seem to be about fishing, or love, or
Gus wants to fish. That's about it. He's good at it, and it's certainly encouraged by his parents, and after suffering through the discipline of public schools (and the unique insanity of the Orviston household) until he turns 18, he decides that the answer to his discontent is fishing and nothing but fishing.
In a rustic cabin on the banks of a famous (but anonymous) steelhead and salmon river, Gus sets out to live his "ideal schedule," which includes a good part of every single day spent fishing. The rest of each day is spent tying flies, making rods, sleeping or eating. This doesn't turn out to be the panacea he expected.
Feeling more discontented, if not outright disturbed, than ever, Gus begins a transformation. The transformation is no pretty thing, but Gus is lucky to be accompanied by some of the brightest characters I've come across in fiction. A compassionate philosopher and his verbose canine companion, a woman that can only be described as a mermaid, the "what it is" hippie family down the road and the other earthy inhabitants of the river valley, and Gus's own younger brother who's disinterest in the aquatic life is plenty compensated for by his unique spirituality and clear-eyed faith in it.
These characters wake something up in Gus that had been long stricken comatose by his focus on piscine pursuits. But, the journey he embarks on he travels alone, taking only the reader along, though it seems he is eventually joined by another, unworldly, companion.
The River Why is about asking questions. It provides a few answers, but the spirituality that Duncan espouses is for the most part a very individualistic variety. The book isn't about leading you to a specific moral code or a parable by which to judge your decisions (or others'). Reading this book is an inspiration to open your own eyes, love the big questions of life and love and God, and to seek your own answers gleefully and passionately.
Gus is a fisherman to his core. His parents are both talented fishers and he was raised on a steady diet of hooks and lines. His father is a prim and proper Englishman and his mother is a redneck hot-tempered woman. Though their personalities clash, their loyalty to each other is unshakeable. The odd pairing, along with their eccentric son Bill Bob, were my favorite elements in the book, but the trio made far too few appearances to keep my interest. Gus’ parents are thrilled when he turns out to have a natural ability for the past time.
BOTTOM LINE: I definitely seem to be in the minority here, but I just couldn’t get into it. There were some beautifully written sections and a few really unique supporting characters, but in the end it wasn’t enough. The rest of it fell flat for me. It’s not good when your favorite part of the book is finishing it so you don’t ever have to pick it up again.
“… because of fishing I grew up osprey-silent and trout-shy and developed early on an ability to slide through the Public School System as river water slides by the logjams, rockslides and dams that bar its seaward journey.”
“Perhaps not to know him is to know him well. He has a height and weight, face, voice, hair, the usual number of limbs – all the accoutrements of a brother. Yet there is an impregnability about him that thwarts easy intimacy.”
Its central idea--that the search for self and the search for God are one and the same thing--is an idea as old as
Duncan's exuberant prose style delights the reader, as does his sense of wonder at the natural world, and his sadness at what harm humans can do to that world.
IF you like this book, I would suggest you read Duncan's recent nonfiction work God Laughs and Plays: Churchless Sermons in Response to the Preachments of the Fundamentalist Right
It’s hard for me to express just how much I love this book. One of the biggest reasons why is because it’s laugh-out-loud hysterical. There are just not very many books dealing with spiritual matters that are so fantastically funny. But this one probably makes up for the lack of many others. Go. Read it now. You’ll thank me, I swear.
I did not enjoy it as much as Duncan’s The Brothers K, but I admire its complex conceit and its plucky honesty. I especially enjoyed Duncan’s new afterward in this 20th Anniversary edition published in 2003 by Sierra Club books, which puts the book into an historical context that gives it more inspiring significance, to my mind.
huh? what the hell kind of ending is THAT? I mean I'm down to the last few pages and ... huh?
I HIGHLY recommend this book. Very very well done. He is a masterful writer. I just don't get the end. Just seemed like a right turn into a field when the finish line was right there....
The only book I've read as often over the years is Richard Llewellyn's How Green Was My Valley. I guess you could say it is on my top 10 books of all time list.
One of my Christmas traditions is to peruse my book shelves and find books I think my children will like to read and give them as gifts. It confirms my reputation as a skinflint and gives me a great deal of pleasure as I think about what they might like. When my oldest son announced he was thinking about reading some novels (what!?), this book became the obvious choice. In the end, though, I couldn't part with the battered thing and I wanted to read it again. I ended up buying him his own copy.
There have been a handful of books in my life that have been life-changing for me. This book is among them. Read it. I think you will love it.
This book encompassed everything I love in a novel, biting wit and charm, fantastically simple writing that is often beautiful, and intellectually dense concepts. Every character stood out as incredibly interesting individuals, each with their own strange little quirks that make them very human and readable. Deep spiritual and environmental values blend 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.
While I think that this is one of those books that I will return to again and again as one of my personal favorites and found to be really profound, I have to say that it’s one of those books you have to read at the right time and place in you life. Too late the philosophy and self discovery will seem simplistic, too early and the subtly insights will be lost.
But it was a very good book.