1 of 1 copy available
On the way to Gitche Gumee, they row through terrifying rapids, fend off a ferocious black bear, and catch some of the biggest trout they've ever seen in their lives. Encounters with a group of thieves, a few rambunctious girls from a local university, and intimidating businessmen also help them pass the time as they paddle down the Firesteel River.
Fifty years later, Ben and Harry decide to recreate their trip to Gitche Gumee. Once again, they pack their bags, ready their canoe, and set out for what they're sure will be another unforgettable adventure. This time, however, the two men experience a completely different trip. They fish, hunt, and explore as they did when they were younger, but soon realize that their friendship—and the river—is not as they remember it.
Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade, Yucca, and Good Books imprints, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction—novels, novellas, political and medical thrillers, comedy, satire, historical fiction, romance, erotic and love stories, mystery, classic literature, folklore and mythology, literary classics including Shakespeare, Dumas, Wilde, Cather, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
-
Creators
-
Publisher
-
Release date
February 18, 2014 -
Formats
-
Kindle Book
-
OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781628739398
-
EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781628739398
- File size: 633 KB
-
-
Languages
- English
-
Reviews
-
October 22, 2001
The nature-loving novelist's 12th book is a disjointed tale of fishing adventure and innocence lost. Opening in the fall of 1950, the novel tracks best friends Harry Taggart and Ben Slater as they set out on their last fishing trip together before Ben ships out to Korea with the Marines and Harry goes premed. Both devoted outdoorsmen, the boys make a run down the Firesteel River to Gitche Gumee ("Big-Sea-Water") in Lake Superior, to hunt steelhead salmon, cannibal brown trout and muskellunge deep in Chippewa country. Following Jones's signature style (in novels like Blood Sport; Blood Root; Blood Tide), the boys get roped into an almost farcical adventure movie plot complete with bootleggers, squaws, rich flyboys and a soundtrack of Charlie Parker and Lester Young tunes, courtesy of Harry's saxophone. But the dangers they face pale in comparison to the carnage Ben witnesses in Korea. In the book's second half, where the narrative voice switches from Ben to Harry, a full 50 years have gone by. Brooding over the recent loss of his wife, Harry is diagnosed with prostate cancer. Desperate to feel sweetness for one last time in his life, he tracks down Ben, now a bitter alcoholic recluse, and the two set off to recreate their fishing trip of half a century before, this time armed with bladder-control pills and disdain for a world they no longer understand: "This is a consumer society, pal. And it's consuming us big time, guts and balls and brains, every fucking minute of the livelong day." The novel is more a series of snapshots than a cohesive story, but Jones provides lavish descriptions of the natural world and pays witness to man's ever-growing distance from it.
-