A Song for the River

By: Philip Connors

Narrated by: Adam Verner

Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

From one of the last working fire lookouts comes this sequel to the award-winning Fire Season - a story of calamity and resilience in the world’s first wilderness.

A dozen years into his dream job keeping watch over the Gila National Forest of New Mexico, Philip Connors bore witness to the blaze he had always feared: a megafire that forced him off his mountain by helicopter and forever changed the forest and watershed he loved. It was one of many transformations that arrived in quick succession, not just fire and flood, but the death of a fellow lookout in a freak accident and a tragic plane crash that rocked the community he called home.

Beginning as an elegy for a friend he cherished like a brother, A Song for the River opens into a chorus of voices singing in celebration of a landscape redolent with meaning - and the river that runs through it, whose waters are threatened by a potential dam.

The ways of water and the ways of fire, the lines tragedy carves on a life, the persistent renewal of green shoots sprouting from ash: These are the subjects of A Song for the River. Its argument on behalf of things wild and free could not be more timely; the goal is nothing less than permanent protection for that rarest of things in the American West, a free-flowing river - the sinuous and gorgeous Gila.

It must not perish.

A Publishers Weekly pick of best reads for summer.

©2018 Philip Connors (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Tragic and Thoughtful

I moved to Silver City 2.5 years ago where I did a season as a Recreation Tech with the Forest Service. I heard about Connors' books through coworkers. Through his books, I enjoyed learning the history about the area and the people within the community. I preferred this book to Fire Season as it shares and celebrates the lives of some wonderful people that Connors' had the pleasure of knowing. Their spirit lives on through this book.

Looking into a mirror

In some regards I felt as though I was looking into a mirror when I listened to this book. It was not a pleasant journey but one that was needed. I have distracted myself for almost 30 years after my best friend's tragic death. There have been moments, like listening to this book, that allow me to pause long enough to confront the inner darkness and demons that have haunted me for years. This book forced me to a crossroads of either change or status quo. Damn!

I did not see this one coming

I thought this would be more of Fire Season, Connors’ earlier book. Definitely not, it’s so much more. A reflection on life, death, healing, friendship, and the river, this is a book worth reading or hearing. There is a lot said in a few hours of listening time.

If you're from New Mexico, read all 3 of his books

All the Wrong Places
Fire Season
A Song for the River

I suppose they can all stand alone. If you're looking for memoir, read All the Wrong Places. If you're looking for nature writing with not a lot of memoir, read Fire Season. And this third one...equal parts memoir and nature. I found this one the least cohesive of the three, but I still liked it.

There's little enough written about New Mexico (particularly the Gila Wilderness) so it's always a treat to find books about the state I live in and about places I've been.

A bittersweet call to the Wilds

In these pages are many thought provoking moments; ones that take you directly along the river and into the wilds. If by the end of this book you aren't lusting for the Wilds, were you even paying attention?

More of his eulogy than environment

While there were precious insights, I felt
It a cheap trick to quote the writing of others. Some personal details were simply too personal.
The book is similar to a diary with some interconnections but so many trips about those he lost and his illness.
I appreciate that he cared so much about these others but really didn’t need so much sadness in the times of COVID.