David James Duncan's first novel has gained an increasingly wide audience over the years--some might even call it a following. This coming-of-age tale of Gus Orviston's search for the Pacific Northwest's elusive steelhead, a metaphor for Gus's internal quest for self-knowledge, appeals to all who cherish a good yarn and memorable characters. Uncle Zeke's colorful rendition of Gus's conception on the banks of the Deschutes River is itself worth the price of purchase.

ANNOTATION

The story of a young flyfisherman - a novel "in the company of Catch-22 and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance." The Houston Post

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Since its Publication by Sierra Club Books two decades ago, The River Why has become a classic, standing with Norman Maclean's A River Runs through It as the most widely read fiction about fly fishing of our era. This captivating and exuberant tale is told by Gus Orviston, an irreverent young flyfisherman and one of the most appealing heroes in contemporary American fiction. Leaving behind a madcap, fishing-obsessed family, Gus decides to strike out on his own, taking refuge in a secluded cabin on a remote riverbank to pursue his own flyfishing passion with unrelenting zeal. But instead of finding fishing bliss, Gus becomes increasingly troubled by the degradation of the natural world around him and by the spiritual barrenness of his own life. His desolation drives him on a reluctant quest for self-discovery and meaning -- ultimately fruitful beyond his wildest dreams. Unexpected companions along the way include Gus's precocious, water-phobic brother, Bill Bob; a sage old Warm Springs Indian named Thomas Bigeater; a flamboyant, self-styled philosopher and his wise dog, Descartes; and, most important, a divinely beautiful and enigmatic fisher-woman who sets Gus the astonishing task of tracking a spawning salmon upriver in the dead of night.

Here, then, is a funny, sensitive, unforgettable story about the relationships among men, women, the environment, and the human soul -- about love of place, love of people, and the spiritual forces that firmly join them. Stylistically adept and ambitious in scope, The River Why is a touching and powerful novel by an important voice in American fiction. In a new Afterword, written for this twentieth-anniversary edition, David James Duncan reflects on the writing of the novel and on the surprising link between fishing and wisdom.

FROM THE CRITICS

Esquire

Wonderfully funny . . . imbued with a wisdom and a rather joyous ecology-minded spirit.

Los Angeles Times

Irreverent, offbeat, and thoroughly likable.

Chicago Tribune