To me, Norman Maclean’s book, more poetry than narrative, is a triumph of American literature ... His storytelling — from the fishing with his dad to the life and death of his Uncle Paul — is reliable, elegant and charming ... Home Waters is about geology and glaciers and the forming of a river. It’s about history and Meriwether Lewis and how larch trees grew to be giants. It’s about nostalgia and cross-country car rides to a family cabin by Seeley Lake in Montana and how generations of Macleans became tied to a place. There’s also a fair bit about trout and his famous father’s book ... Maclean’s writing is often intimate. Family lore, told and retold, can be a fuzzy thing, but some memories about his father, like their first time fishing together, remained spectacularly vivid and personal.
In this hybrid memoir, ecological history, and love letter to the meditative wonders of fishing, Maclean charts his Scottish ancestors’ arrival in Montana, his minister grandfather’s building of the still-standing lake cabin, and the tragic death of his charismatic uncle Paul, whose brief life was so poignantly memorialized by John’s father ... His Hemingway-esque prose is as clear as a mountain stream, flowing with a poetic cadence and lyrically describing the many splendid natural treasures to be found under the Big Sky. A sure bet for readers who enjoy American and natural history and a must-read for fishing enthusiasts.
A lyrical love letter to Montana’s Blackfoot River, fishing, and his storied family in this captivating memoir ... Fans of his father’s novella will relish the details that served as its inspiration and are here rendered in Maclean’s sharp yet poetic prose as tribute to a 'pantheon of notable family fishers.' This richly observed narrative is sure to reel readers in.
A moving memoir of a family’s love affair with the Blackfoot River in Montana ... Maclean passionately explores the history of his family’s life in the region as they became well-respected members of the community and developed an abiding love for the land ... In addition to patient nature writing and an introspective approach to the literary inspiration he has received from the land, Maclean discusses the genesis of Norman’s famous book and mystery surrounding the death of one of the characters. Lovers of literature and nature will be captivated by this heartfelt tribute to place and family.
