A River Runs Through It

By: Norman Maclean

Narrated by: Ivan Doig

Life for the MacLean family in Missoula, Montana, in 1937 centers around family, fly fishing and the Big Blackfoot River. Fly fishing is the one activity where the family can bridge troubled relationships, where brother can connect with brother and father with son. And in the end, it is through the river that they realize how life continues and all things are related. This is a universal story of family love and a lyrical masterpiece, as beautiful as the great trout rivers of western Montana upon which it is set.©1976 by The University of Chicago (P)1992 HighBridge Company; 16 9; 2000 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

"Exquisite...this recording joins the ranks of the few near-perfect matches of reader and author." (Philadelphia Inquirer)

one of my favorite books

love every minute of it. I enjoy the author's style and the vivid imagery of the streams and Montana

Gorgeous

Prose and story are both gorgeous and a delight to listen to. For those who wrote about the overuse of fly-fishing, it's a metaphor for life. I've never fly-fished, nor will I, but I can appreciate the way the lessons of fly-fishing have informed the narrator's worldview. The narration, like the prose, is understated. Truly a treat.

Rings true

As a fly fisherman and someone who got started because of family, it makes me think and reflect on how important this past time is to me. My grandfather, my father, and my cousin are all responsible for my love of nature and wetting a line. This story does a really good job of making me reflect on that and I couldn’t be happier to have listened. I’ll have to get a hard copy to keep in my collection.

If you love a Fisherman

What you need to know is that this is mainly a book about fishing. And brothers. And the pain and deep love of Family. It is not the movie, although it is clearly the brothers of the movie and I think if I read more of these stories, I'll find the movie story. I've never been a fisherman. It doesn't work to read and fish, so that's out. But I do love fishermen, my grandad in particular. So I loved reading about fishing.

Horrible tragedy

Produced by alcoholism another family is destroyed just like mine. I empathized .
A good read a bit too much focus on fishing.