The English Major: A Novel
by Jim Harrison
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jim HarrisonEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-10-01
ISBN: 0802144144
Number of pages: 272
Publisher: Grove Press
Book Reviews of The English Major: A Novel
Book Review: A Great Road Novel That's Not Too Heavy on "Meaning"
Summary: 5 Stars
Completely awesome book. It took me a while to get the hang of the loose semi-slang almost-run-on sentence breathlessness of the story telling, but once I did, the rhythm just clicked and made a certain kind of sense. The story is about a 60-year-old dude whose wife leaves him for another man, divorces him, sells his farm out from under him and the resultant "cross-country" drive the guy takes as a means to figure out his new life.
There are literally tons of little philosophical nuggets buried in the story, some phrased so well they're laugh-out-loud funny. It's a road novel for people who've lived enough life to know a thing or two about why you would go out on the road in the first place.
In a way, it's a perfectly ordinary journey for Cliff, the main character, as he drives his beat-up car across the mid-west, spending his time in motels and fishing in streams for catch-and-release trout. For part of his journey, he travels with a 40-something woman who's a bit of a flake, allowing Cliff to ruminate on the nature of sex, which is interesting. Indeed: much of the novel is concerned with the sexual relationship between man and woman, regardless of the woman in question. At 60, Cliff is nowhere close to giving up the ghost of getting a good lay. Which, reading the story, is more comforting and disconcerting than it sounds. That is: still a desirable activity while at the same time still a mind-boggling biologically-required pursuit.
While on the drive, Cliff chooses to pursue an "artistic goal" of renaming all of the states and official state birds of the nation, which I thought was a bit lame. But, then, Cliff is a bit lame, which he admits to frequently. You can pretty much understand why his wife would've finally had enough of him, her college love turned boring farmer husband. No doubt, many a marriage goes this route, which, perhaps, makes the entire story more believable.
Eh. Not up for much more of a review than that.
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