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The River Why

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The River Why

Written by: David James Duncan
Narrated by: Dick Hill
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About this listen

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 roller coaster. Like Gus, the listener emerges utterly changed, stripped bare by the journey Duncan so expertly navigates.

©1983 David James Duncan (P)2016 Blackstone Audio Coming of Age Literary Fiction Fiction Outdoor Fishing Classics
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What the critics say

"A veritable epic of flyfishing...done in a high-velocity, exuberant style, sprawling in scale, heedless of form.... The feeling for and evocation of the imperiled natural world is rhapsodic in its intensity; the writing energetic, literary in a distinctly American way.... So amiable is the prevailing tone that the flowing narrative is able to absorb Koranic and Eastern mysticisms, Tao, Sufism, Zen-the religions of oneness and gospel of love-without turning into the kind of maudlin choral chanting that so often disfigures treatments of fusion of self and the world." ( Publishers Weekly)
"This is a modern-repeat, modern -tale of maturity and redemption." ( Christian Science Monitor)
"A whirlwind, madcap, humorous and sensitive novel." ( New York Times)

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Listened for class

I had to read this book for class. I didn’t like it. I find the story to be exceptionally bland and there is no real closure. Things are just kind of forced and all the “high” points in the story are boring. It would be great for a god fearing fisher person, or someone who is questioning faith and needs a very “it sorta happens” approach. However, the faith element is more of Gus being thrust into it because the authors plan was to make Gus believe in God rather than Gus wanted to. However, listening to the book was better than reading it.

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