A River Runs Through It

By: Norman Maclean

Narrated by: Ivan Doig

Length: 3 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

amazing writing

How the author manages to be plain, straight forward, honest, and eloquent all at the same time is incredible. I was sorry the book was finished when I was done. I wanted to hear more of any story the author had to tell.

A classic for every fisherman

This book is what made me decide to buy a fly rod.
I learned so much about life and fishing.

a bittersweet story of father and sons

rarely say this but I enjoyed the movie more than the book. A River Runs Through It is about a young man named Maclean, his brother and father, the open vistas they loved and the fly fishing that kept them bonded together. On the surface it is exactly the kind of book I would love -- a character portrait that takes place in a setting so beautifully described that it takes on the role of a character, and a heavy emotional impact.

Maclean is flawed. He is in pain. He needs help but nobody else seems able to do so. They are plagued by memories. The prose is spare and quiet, emphasizing the warmth, sentiment and remorse. The author wrote this one in his seventies and it shows. He is able to tell a story that is told as a reflection on and meditation of a life lived. The book is both sweet and bittersweet, reminiscent and melancholy.

An American Classic about America men.

Excellent American literature ; the simple beauty that makes men and how their fathers shape them or try to. The woven fabric of a family's lives and the thread of pain that runs through it.

Intriguing.

An amazing book that dives into the depths of humility and family with a switch kick in the ass to tie it all together.