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Description edit
Just as Norman Maclean writes at the end of "A River Runs through It" that he is "haunted by waters," so have readers been haunted by his novella. A retired English professor who began writing fiction at the age of 70, Maclean produced what is now recognized as one of the classic American... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Characters/People edit
- Norman: The narrator of the story
- Paul: Norman's brother, a journalist and expert fly fisherman
- Bill Bell: A Ranger for the National Forest Service
- Neal: Norman's brother in law
- Jim: A lumberjack
- Mr. Smith: works for the National Forest Service
- Hamilton: A town in Montana
- Jessie: Norman's wife
- Mr. McBride: Works for National Forest Service on explosives
- George: Add a description of this character.
- Buster: what Rawhide calls all her men
- Stetson: a hat
- Dorothy: Norman's sister in law
- Rawhide: local whore in Norman's town
Quotes edit
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“Yet even in the loneliness of the canyon I knew there were others like me who had brothers they did not understand but wanted to help. We are probably those referred to as "our brothers' keepers," possessed of one of the oldest and possibly one of the most futile and certainly one of the most haunting of instincts. It will not let us go.”
Norman about Paul -
“No Scottish mother likes to be caught with a lazy son in bed, and no Scot going fishing likes to stand around waiting for a male relative with a hangover.”
Norman about his brother-in-law Neal -
“Although the Scots invented whiskey, they try not to acknowledge the existence of hangovers, especially within the family circle.”
Norman, referring to his brother-in-law overdoing it the night before -
“One of life's quiet excitements is to stand somewhat apart from yourself and watch yourself softly becoming the author of something beautiful, even if it is only a floating ash.”
Norman about casting his fly slightly suspended above the water on a branch -
“The light first picked up his brow, which was serene but pale, as mine would have been if my mother had spent her life making me sandwiches and protecting me from reality.”
Norman, about his brother-in-law Neal, whose mother is complaining that Neal was abandoned by Paul and left to suburn while fishing -
“"...and had no reference to the world outside, which my brother and I soon discovered was full of bastards, the number increasing rapidly the farther one gets from Missoula, Montana."”
Norman -
“"To them, Paul was the reporter, their chief contact with reality, the recorder of the world that was leaving them and that they had never known very well anyway."”
Norman, about his retired parents impression of their son Paul
- Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
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“Help,” he said, “is giving part of yourself to somebody who comes to accept it willingly and needs it badly.
Highlighted by 158 Kindle customers -
Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters.
Highlighted by 156 Kindle customers -
To him, all good things—trout as well as eternal salvation—come by grace and grace comes by art and art does not come easy.
Highlighted by 142 Kindle customers -
Many of us probably would be better fishermen if we did not spend so much time watching and waiting for the world to become perfect.
Highlighted by 125 Kindle customers -
One of life's quiet excitements is to stand somewhat apart from yourself and watch yourself softly becoming the author of something beautiful, even if it is only a floating ash.
Highlighted by 110 Kindle customers -
“All there is to thinking,” he said, “is seeing something noticeable which makes you see something you weren't noticing which makes you see something that isn't even visible.”
Highlighted by 100 Kindle customers -
Poets talk about “spots of time,” but it is really fishermen who experience eternity compressed into a moment. No one can tell what a spot of time is until suddenly the whole world is a fish and the fish is gone. I shall remember that son of a bitch forever.
Highlighted by 86 Kindle customers -
Sunrise is the time to feel that you will be able to find out how to help somebody close to you who you think needs help even if he doesn't think so. At sunrise everything is luminous but not clear.
Highlighted by 74 Kindle customers -
“It is those we live with and love and should know who elude us.”
Highlighted by 71 Kindle customers -
If our father had had his say, nobody who did not know how to fish would be allowed to disgrace a fish by catching him.
Highlighted by 66 Kindle customers
First Sentence edit
In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing.
Series & Lists edit
This is book 77 of 95 in The Art of Manliness' Essential Man’s Library. (authoritative list)
Authors & Contributors edit
- Norman MacLean (Author)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Add the publisher.
Country: USA
Publication Date: 1976
ISBN: Add the ISBN.
Page Count: 217
Publisher: Add the publisher.
Country: USA
Publication Date: 1976
ISBN: Add the ISBN.
Page Count: 217
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
- Dewey: 813.54
Subjects edit
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