The river why

The writing is good, even great in parts, but in other parts it's terrible. I don't mind long paragraphs from a few great writers (GG Marquez) but I don't enjoy 3-page paragraphs about how to make a fishing fly. This book is like reading twenty issues of River & Stream cover to cover. You need to LOVE fishing to enjoy this book.

This is at least the second time I've read this book. It's still amazing. Much, much denser than Brothers K, which is my all-time favorite book, but heck, it's a book about why we're here and the answer has nothing to do with baseball (unlike Brothers K again). Why wouldn't it be dense.

Still, an all-in-all amazing read.

I feel disappointed. A better Ed might feel something different, but this one is sad that such a beautiful, vivid, promising book kept wandering into religion and a grand Search For Meaning. It was awkward, much like enjoying a rich conversation with a friend who then veers off to talk earnestly about magic pixie dust. Embarrassing.

That said, I still found much to love in this book. Yes, it nominally concerns itself with fishing -- about which I know and care nothing -- but that's really just a vessel for a tale of growth and transformation. Duncan may be hung up on mysticism, but his larger-than-life protagonist can (at times) surpass that to set an example we'd do well to learn from.

My rating is unfair: this is not a three-star book. But having just given [b:Empire Falls|187020|Empire Falls|Richard Russo|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172536990s/187020.jpg|826474] four stars, and lacking the ability to offer half-stars, I can't justify putting the two on equal terms.