The River Why
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.
1101325910
The River Why
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.
28.79 In Stock
The River Why

The River Why

by David James Duncan

Narrated by Dick Hill

Unabridged — 15 hours, 18 minutes

The River Why

The River Why

by David James Duncan

Narrated by Dick Hill

Unabridged — 15 hours, 18 minutes

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Overview

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.

Editorial Reviews

Los Angeles Times

Irreverent, offbeat, and thoroughly likable.

Chicago Tribune

Entertaining . . . humorous . . . well worth reading.

Esquire

Wonderfully funny . . . imbued with a wisdom and a rather joyous ecology-minded spirit.

From the Publisher

Praise for The River Why:

"A whirlwind, madcap, humorous and sensitive novel"—New York Times

"A hymn to the waters of the earth and the wholeness of life. It is also funny."—Miami Herald

"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

OCT/NOV 06 - AudioFile

Dick Hill moves from yokel to philosopher with the agility of the steelhead, which features so prominently in Duncan’s whopper of a fish story. In narrating Gus Orviston’s tale of growing up in a fishing-obsessed family, Hill captures “Ma’s cowgirl crudity” and her family’s “overcooked Eastern Oregon drawl” as perfectly as he does the British ways of Gus’s father. At age 19 Orviston sets out on a journey--leaving home for a cabin on an Oregon River--where he finds love, fish, and social responsibility. Fishermen may find too much philosophy and philosophers too many fish tales, but Hill balances both with the skill of one who has told many tall tales. D.P.D. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID: 2940170003372
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Publication date: 06/06/2017
Edition description: Unabridged
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