A River Runs Through It

Norman Maclean wrote this work to preserve memories of his late brother, but it's not exactly a memoir or biography. The people are real, but the way the memories bend with the passage of years is evident, Maclean's son notes, since his father penned it after retirement. Ivan Doig reads this tale of male bonding on a Montana river with the personal touch that Maclean himself gave it. This edition includes "On the Big Blackfoot," a disc that includes writing fragments of Maclean, his son's memories of him, and an interview with the author. The bonus disc is well produced, but since it is fragments, it may disappoint those already familiar with the earlier work. J.A.S. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

Growing up near the Big Blackfoot River in Western Montana in the early part of this century, two brothers learn the ways of the waters, the fish, and fly casting from their minister father. As told through the eyes of the older brother, the river and fly-fishing become a way of looking at the world. Their lives ebb and flow, with pockets of beauty along the way. Ivan Doig's reading is light and even, contrasting effectively with the intimations that trouble is coming. The tension this creates keeps us wondering what's around the bend. The eventual climax carries no surprise, but drops us gently, and sadly, into calmer waters. J.J.F. (c) AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine

Norman Maclean's A River Runs Through It portrays two brothers' passion for the sport of fly fishing against the rugged wilderness of Montana in the thirties. While the prose of this evocative and lyrical memoir is simple and direct, Maclean's observations of man and nature are keen. At every turn, then, this seemingly simple story is charged with more sublime and universal implications. Joel Fabiani's reading of Maclean's text, while precise, is passionless and emotionally un-involving. While the simplicity of the text may be clearly rendered, the listener is forced to fight upstream against Fabiani's flat, narration in order to luxuriate in the novel's rich moments of transcendent splendor. R.W.B. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine