By Jim Harrison
Every now and then I have the good fortune to choose an outstanding book off the library shelves for no other reason than the appeal of its title. In the case of The English Major, I also noticed the author's name, and I had a faint remembrance of liking something he wrote, or something written about him.
A chapter away from finishing the book, I was so enthused by a description of the protagonist's trout fishing in a stream near Notch Bottom, Montana that I felt I had enough enjoyment of previous chapters to insist that it is a book not to be missed.
"It used to be Cliff and Vivian, now it isn't." From that first sentence, Jim Harrison moves us quickly from divorce through a modern 60 year old pilgrim's progress with raunchy humor, and sudden unexpected profound insights, to tell an American story that to me hits the nail on the head, again and again. Cliff is the English major, who quits teaching to become a farmer, tending sweet and sour cherry orchards in Upper Michigan inherited when his wife, Vivian's father dies from a heart attack while lugging a chest of iced perch.
At Cliff's fortieth high school reunion, Vivian disappears with Fred, a classmate who shows up in an Italian sports car. She returns to the "beered-up" reunion with grass stains on her knees. It was the first sign that Cliff was about to be dumped by his wife, now a successful real estate broker.
Vivian, a qualified real estate shark, takes Cliff to the cleaners, leaving him with a paltry share of the proceeds of selling the farm. But the real blow comes when Lola his beloved dog dies. It seems an unlikely decision when Cliff packs up and heads west, determined to dispose of each piece of a United States puzzle shared in childhood with a mongoloid brother. But it all eventually makes sense, as he finds, Marybelle, a sexy student of his teaching days, now disillusioned with her marriage to a Dakota anthropologist, and ready to join him in his Ford Taurus to head westward. By the time he reaches San Francisco to visit his gay movie producer son, Cliff has lived out the dreams and the nightmares of growing old in America, but there is still much more to come.
The English Major is a rare book, that skillfully blends an entertaining style with a a sneakily profound purpose. Opening the book, we encounter a James Cain quote, "I write for the wish that comes true, a terrifying concept". Jim Harrison is undaunted by the concept.
Reviewed by Don Mac Brown
A chapter away from finishing the book, I was so enthused by a description of the protagonist's trout fishing in a stream near Notch Bottom, Montana that I felt I had enough enjoyment of previous chapters to insist that it is a book not to be missed.
"It used to be Cliff and Vivian, now it isn't." From that first sentence, Jim Harrison moves us quickly from divorce through a modern 60 year old pilgrim's progress with raunchy humor, and sudden unexpected profound insights, to tell an American story that to me hits the nail on the head, again and again. Cliff is the English major, who quits teaching to become a farmer, tending sweet and sour cherry orchards in Upper Michigan inherited when his wife, Vivian's father dies from a heart attack while lugging a chest of iced perch.
At Cliff's fortieth high school reunion, Vivian disappears with Fred, a classmate who shows up in an Italian sports car. She returns to the "beered-up" reunion with grass stains on her knees. It was the first sign that Cliff was about to be dumped by his wife, now a successful real estate broker.
Vivian, a qualified real estate shark, takes Cliff to the cleaners, leaving him with a paltry share of the proceeds of selling the farm. But the real blow comes when Lola his beloved dog dies. It seems an unlikely decision when Cliff packs up and heads west, determined to dispose of each piece of a United States puzzle shared in childhood with a mongoloid brother. But it all eventually makes sense, as he finds, Marybelle, a sexy student of his teaching days, now disillusioned with her marriage to a Dakota anthropologist, and ready to join him in his Ford Taurus to head westward. By the time he reaches San Francisco to visit his gay movie producer son, Cliff has lived out the dreams and the nightmares of growing old in America, but there is still much more to come.
The English Major is a rare book, that skillfully blends an entertaining style with a a sneakily profound purpose. Opening the book, we encounter a James Cain quote, "I write for the wish that comes true, a terrifying concept". Jim Harrison is undaunted by the concept.
Reviewed by Don Mac Brown
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