A River Runs through It and Other Stories

I bought this book because I loved the movie. Normally I like to read the book first, then see the movie but in this case I don't think the book would have been as interesting without my mental pictures of the three key players.I know nothing about fly fishing and have no interest in it but I loved his descriptions of the technique and I can understand how being on the water and coming home with a bag full of exceptional fish would be relaxing and fulfilling all at the same time. I did find it strange that they felt so bonded to each other when every time they went fishing "together" they all went their separate ways. I get that you can't cast standing right next to someone else but it did seem strange; perhaps it's because I am female.The story was also very sad. Sad that the younger son with so much talent never found the peace he was looking for, and sad that a Presbyterian minister who had obviously dedicated his life to the work of God, could not pass his faith on to his sons. They loved each other and they loved fishing and that was it.

These are three short stories based on Norman MacLean 's experiences as a young man. The first, of course, is the fly fishing parable, and the other center around summer jobs with the U.S. Forest Service, post World War I. They are all beautifully-written, entertaining, and good-humored. I'll read them again.

Ok thought I had said what I felt about the authors writing style enjoyed the storyline nab may read another by this author to confirm my feeling

I had read this book before, and seen the movie several times. I noticed my book was lost, and wanted to replace it. That turned out to be a most fortuitous literary loss for the new book has two amendments that made gold of my decision to replace the lost treasure. First, it has a new forward by Robert Redford which is extremely interesting and informative. Everyone knows what a splendid actor Redford is, but I doubt many appreciate his writing skills. They are sterling and add brilliance to an already brilliant book. The publisher also saw fit to move the Acknowledgements to the front of the book, between Redford's Forward and Chapter 1. That was a canny move for I fear many skip this section if it's left till the end. I suspect most will find, as did I, that it is a touching piece of writing that shows off Mr. Maclean's extraordinary writing skills in sun-bright radiance. I challenge you to get through it with dry eyes. The story itself takes only 119 of the 246 page tri-story book and while both the "co stars" are well written and delightful, only "River" warrants "Masterpiece", at least in my opinion. I can't think of a story that has moved me more and I'm sure I'll laugh and cry, as astonished as my first read through, even if I read it another hundred times. Maclean had a gift and I envy any that were students in his classes at the University of Chicago. I wish I had been one.

I truly enjoyed the author’s poetic, sometimes comical and tragic memories of life as a young man after World War I and before the Great Depression started. Montana’s Big Sky country was a beautiful and rugged place. Norman Maclean’s description of it’s sparsely populated countryside filled with streams, mountains, logging and lumber jacks takes you back to a time in our Nation that is long gone.

Excellent

I loved this collection of stories of the west.. The words were strung together like a beautiful strand of pearls. I can see how Robert Redford went to great effort to bring The River Runs Through It to the screen. Norman MacLean is truly a amazing and gifted writer. I will enjoy reading this book again & again.

A River Runs Through It is based in my backyard of Missoula. So I've had the pleasure of watching the movie a dozen times over the years. I wanted to read the book but actually was disappointed. The author's writing style is hard to follow so I found myself at times getting lost and having to re-read some parts. The movie captures 80% of the book.The other short stories were ok too. Probably would never re read the book but I appreciate saying that I finally did.

ネイティブでない人には読みづらい。西洋人が、漱石の草枕を読むようなものではないか。映画から原作へと進んだが甘かった。独自の倒置?がよくあり、文学の香りがするが、理解が困難。なまなかな英語は通用しない。

These three short stories carry the firm imprint of golden era Hollywood: portraits of single-minded, outback-men, conveyed with wide-eyed admiration by a narrator who is considerably more sophisticated than his subjects. Yet he measures himself against the tough guys, and we with him (at least, while the story lasts). This creates an endearing sense of youthfulness, enhanced by the occasional lyric description of mountain woods and pre-mechanical skills - such as fly-fishing or packing loads onto a mule.The title piece (published in 1976) is famous amongst a wide circle of literary afionionados, and was given a major popular boost when it was turned into a sensitive and visually beautiful film by Robert Redford in 1992.Redford wrote a Foreword to the University of Chicago 2017 edition of the three stories, which is impressively intelligent and low-key, focused on what it was like to court and work with Maclean, which is just what one wants to know. (Incidentally, Redford has always seemed to me to be rather a fey hero in his conventional movies, slightly uncertain and uncommitted - handicapped by his thoughtfulness? - never fully in the part, in contrast, for example, to Paul Newman and Brad Pitt.)Contrary to what Maclean said about his three tales - that they express 'a little of the love I have for the earth as it goes by' - they seem to me to be overwhelmingly focused on American, male machismo: extolling the 'devil may care' disdain for anything except the hero's old-fashioned sense of personal honour, self-sufficiency and the landscape (in this case, Montana). This is the classic material of Westerns, but with forestry work as the context, instead of confrontations with desperados.The three stories are closely based on the author's early life in Montana in the 1920s. It says something about the enduring patriotism of American critics that Maclean is still acclaimed by many as a great writer on the basis of these slim offerings (he published no other fiction). They are redolent in style and purpose of a homespun Hemmingway, but with less emotional range and little complexity of relationship.Not that the tales are not very good. They are deftly told, and the terse and short dialogues are brilliantly evocative of character. All three stories are about 'strong' men, who may appear slightly simple-minded to our more nuanced and progressive 21st century sensibilities. Above all, it is Maclean's singular and laconic style which attracts, as well as the vision of a simpler, more heroic world. There is also the occasional sighting of an underlying tenderness - close to nostalgia - in the author's relations with his family and, equally, with the straight-forward mountain-lad which he once was.At one point, the author speaks to us more or less directly, in the voice of his father, near the end of A River Runs Through It: 'we can seldom help anybody. Either we don't know what part to give or maybe we don't like to give any part of ourselves. Then, more often than not, the part that is needed is not wanted. And even more often, we do not have the part that is needed.' This opens up a necessary strain of compassion, which redeems the ultimately unattractive self-sufficiency of the main characters.The last story, USFS 1929, is the most dramatic. It's about a mountain-lad of 17 working for 'the finest the early Forest Service had to offer', in the person of the ultra-taciturn, heroically direct Bill Bell. Man and story both exhibit great economy of style. With masterly dexterity, Maclean builds a kind of laid-back tension, leading to a climactic poker game in a mountain town. As everyone expects - and wants - it ends in a sprawling back-room fight which is over minutes after it starts, but not before the lad socks the one member of his own crew whom he can't stand, and gets clobbered by the other side.

A great read. Stories of the wild Montana rivers and forests. The River Runs Through It was especially good, fly fishing explained in detail but with scenes of water and trees brought to life with pictures painted by words. A time gone but still desired by all who wish to alone, quite and one with nature with the strength of the wild all around

This is is a literary gem, very approachable and extremely poingnant. It is the true story in the form of a Novella, told through the eyes of a much older man, about growing up as a young boy in Montana and his relationship with his strict Presbyterian minister father and wayward brother. As the brothers evolve into young adults all three men's lives diverge; but they remain united by a common passion for flyfishing and the beauty of the virgin Montana countryside of that era - the film of the same name, directed and narrated by Robert Redford is well worth seeing.

If I had to only read one book about Zen and fly fishing this would be it.The reflections of Old Norman on his youth and what was lost by words not being said are so poeticThe last lines of the book as it all "I am haunted by waters"it's one of the books I go back to again and again unforgettable.