Riverman

An American Odyssey

By: Ben McGrath

Narrated by: Adam Verner

Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

“This quietly profound book belongs on the shelf next to Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild.” —The New York Times

The riveting true story of Dick Conant, an American folk hero who, over the course of more than twenty years, canoed solo thousands of miles of American rivers—and then disappeared near the Outer Banks of North Carolina. This book “contains everything: adventure, mystery, travelogue, and unforgettable characters” (David Grann, best-selling author of Killers of the Flower Moon).

For decades, Dick Conant paddled the rivers of America, covering the Mississippi, Yellowstone, Ohio, Hudson, as well as innumerable smaller tributaries. These solo excursions were epic feats of planning, perseverance, and physical courage. At the same time, Conant collected people wherever he went, creating a vast network of friends and acquaintances who would forever remember this brilliant and charming man even after a single meeting.

Ben McGrath, a staff writer at The New Yorker, was one of those people. In 2014 he met Conant by chance just north of New York City as Conant paddled down the Hudson, headed for Florida. McGrath wrote a widely read article about their encounter, and when Conant's canoe washed up a few months later, without any sign of his body, McGrath set out to find the people whose lives Conant had touched--to capture a remarkable life lived far outside the staid confines of modern existence.

Riverman is a moving portrait of a complex and fascinating man who was as troubled as he was charismatic, who struggled with mental illness and self-doubt, and was ultimately unable to fashion a stable life for himself; who traveled alone and yet thrived on connection and brought countless people together in his wake. It is also a portrait of an America we rarely see: a nation of unconventional characters, small river towns, and long-forgotten waterways.

©2022 Ben McGrath (P)2022 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“This is a beautifully told and near-mythical tale of one man’s quest to find peace through communion with nature, and through perpetual motion. My heart was deeply stirred by Riverman, and by Ben McGrath’s brilliant, clear, and humane storytelling. This one will stay with me for a long time.” (Elizabeth Gilbert)

Incredible Story

Found out about this via NPR. Read half the book then picked up the rest here on audio for a couple road-trips. This is what you read or listen to while traveling. Inspiring. RIP Dick wherever you are!

Great book great story

Can’t wait to listen to this one again. Find myself waning to research the story even more.
More importantly. I’m getting my canoe ready for an extended voyage . This story was really a great find !

Pace moved slowly

The last couple chapters were excellent because they focused on Conants river trip. I felt much of the book focused on other people he met too much. I bought this book expecting to hear about several of his voyages but mostly just learn lessons about random people he met briefly. It moved very slowly and felt more like a documentary then an adventure story.

Interesting story, less than crazy about the narrator

This book is well-written, and the story is interesting but not epic. but the reader was too wistfully florid.

captivating book!

I was hooked and will listen to this again. Most likely going to buy the paperback also.

Intriguing

An interesting story of a riverman. One who lived his true love, traveling the rivers of North America. A good man just wanting to enjoy the shoreline away from the hustle of life.

Superb on every count

The book is a gentle, brilliant, incisive portrait of a vivid and memorable iconoclast, and of the many — almost equally colorful — people he encountered during his quixotic journeys. Adam Verner's narration is the best I've yet heard in any Audible book,

Interesting Story of a Wanderer

Ben McGrath profiles Dick Conant, a man he met along the Hudson. Conant made several long journeys by river. Despite starting life with great promise, Conant never quite seemed to fit in to ordinary society, although he was clearly an intelligent man. To many (perhaps most), he would have been dismissed as a homeless vagabond.

Something--it's hard to say what--drew the author to Conant and led him to profile his life, particularly his life on the river. The story meanders, much as a river flows, which seems appropriate. Along the way we meet many interesting characters who met Conant. Many were affected by Conant, even though he drifted in an out of their lives only briefly.

This is an interesting book that provided a nice diversion as I listened to it off and on over a week or so. The narration is quite good.

What a life!

It's too bad that more of us don't have the same courage as this man did.

Interesting but a bit tedious

This is an interesting story, told in great detail by a journalist very interested in this man. Maybe it is better to read than to listen to? The narrator does a fine job, if he over emphasizes some things, but I felt very bogged down in the middle by the details. Still a worthwhile study on an interesting personality!