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Chris Offutt 1st edit/1 print The Same River Twice First Edition 1993 [Hardcover] Offutt, Chris [Hardcover] Offutt, Chris
This rare and vintage book is a perfect addition to any bibliophile's collection
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First published January 1, 1993
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January 16, 2023
“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man." -- Heraclitus
ON THE ROAD
Chris Offutt quit high school and decided to join the military. Even though he was underage his parents signed the necessary papers that would have allowed him to be inducted into the army. He failed the physical. He was then denied admittance into the Peace Corps and subsequently was turned down as a park ranger, fireman, and policeman.
Since his hometown in the Kentucky Appalachians was “a zip code with a creek,” there weren’t many employment prospects and his future was bleak. Now nineteen-years old, he decided to do what any red-blooded, small-town, All-American southern boy would do in his situation. He went to New York to become an actor.
He gave up acting without ever acting and decided to become a writer; then a playwright; then a poet. Unfortunately, he never got around to writing a play or a poem. He did, however, write. He religiously wrote most every day in a journal in which he described his wanderings and wonderings and the people that he encountered.
“I had freedom to write in my journal, a practice that slowly began to supersede every aspect of my life. As long as I was able to record events, my shoddy circumstances didn’t matter. I began making outlandish statements to passersby simply to provoke a response worthy of logging.”
That journal, no doubt, became important source material for this memoir.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
As one might imagine, things did not work out in New York and Offutt reacted by hitting the road.
For more than a decade he traveled, primarily by thumb, in a great circle beginning and ending on the east coast. His wanderings found him attempting to survive in the underbelly of America by taking whatever job was available, some of them lasting only a day. Most of the people he encountered seemed to be a half bubble off plumb, but he didn’t seem to mind and was totally at ease with most of them. After all, they were being entered into his journal.
There is much humor in the account of his travels, most of it at his own expense.
FATHERHOOD
Alternating with the chapters about his past wanderlust are more serious contemporary ones dealing with his wife’s pregnancy.
At his wife’s urging he had applied to a number of writing schools. The University of Iowa was the first to accept. He and his wife rented a cabin located on the Iowa River and it was there that Offutt was forced to face the prospect of becoming a father.
These chapters find Offutt seeking solitude in the woods, much as he had back home in Kentucky. It is here that he writes lyrical passages in which he describes the flora and fauna that he observes. But it is also here that he expresses doubts about whether he has what it takes to be a parent.
The coming of age narrative is at times laugh-out-loud funny. On the other hand, the chapters set in the present are the subdued meditations of a first time father contemplating the future and wondering if he is up to what it has in store for him.
ON THE ROAD
Chris Offutt quit high school and decided to join the military. Even though he was underage his parents signed the necessary papers that would have allowed him to be inducted into the army. He failed the physical. He was then denied admittance into the Peace Corps and subsequently was turned down as a park ranger, fireman, and policeman.
Since his hometown in the Kentucky Appalachians was “a zip code with a creek,” there weren’t many employment prospects and his future was bleak. Now nineteen-years old, he decided to do what any red-blooded, small-town, All-American southern boy would do in his situation. He went to New York to become an actor.
He gave up acting without ever acting and decided to become a writer; then a playwright; then a poet. Unfortunately, he never got around to writing a play or a poem. He did, however, write. He religiously wrote most every day in a journal in which he described his wanderings and wonderings and the people that he encountered.
“I had freedom to write in my journal, a practice that slowly began to supersede every aspect of my life. As long as I was able to record events, my shoddy circumstances didn’t matter. I began making outlandish statements to passersby simply to provoke a response worthy of logging.”
That journal, no doubt, became important source material for this memoir.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
As one might imagine, things did not work out in New York and Offutt reacted by hitting the road.
For more than a decade he traveled, primarily by thumb, in a great circle beginning and ending on the east coast. His wanderings found him attempting to survive in the underbelly of America by taking whatever job was available, some of them lasting only a day. Most of the people he encountered seemed to be a half bubble off plumb, but he didn’t seem to mind and was totally at ease with most of them. After all, they were being entered into his journal.
There is much humor in the account of his travels, most of it at his own expense.
FATHERHOOD
Alternating with the chapters about his past wanderlust are more serious contemporary ones dealing with his wife’s pregnancy.
At his wife’s urging he had applied to a number of writing schools. The University of Iowa was the first to accept. He and his wife rented a cabin located on the Iowa River and it was there that Offutt was forced to face the prospect of becoming a father.
These chapters find Offutt seeking solitude in the woods, much as he had back home in Kentucky. It is here that he writes lyrical passages in which he describes the flora and fauna that he observes. But it is also here that he expresses doubts about whether he has what it takes to be a parent.
The coming of age narrative is at times laugh-out-loud funny. On the other hand, the chapters set in the present are the subdued meditations of a first time father contemplating the future and wondering if he is up to what it has in store for him.
February 2, 2016
Each footstep alters the earth.
While waiting for the birth of his first child, Chris Offutt roams the Iowa countryside surrounding his home, reflecting on his past, musing about the present and nervously pondering the future. Admitting that he comes from a long line of bad fathers, the urge to flee is ever present in Offutt's mind. Since leaving his Eastern Kentucky home at age nineteen, he vowed always to own my time. But what may have begun as a journey of self-discovery turned into a decade of bumming around across the U.S. Hitchhiking from place to place, Offutt worked a variety of jobs, from dishwasher to Everglades tour guide, before settling down in one spot with one woman. The book's chapters alternate between the author's relating of sometimes shadowy tales of his past, to his wanderings in nature while waiting for the baby to arrive.
Many people are afraid of the woods but that's where I keep my fears. I visit them every day. The trees know me, the riverbank accepts my path. Alone in the woods, it is I who is gestating, preparing for life.
I honestly didn't like this book at first. I resented what I felt was his lack of responsibility toward his expectant wife. And then I remembered . . . I recalled how I felt when I learned I was pregnant with my second child - not the first one, the second one. I spent almost a year trying to get pregnant the first time around, so that pregnancy was very desired, a relief, almost. There were no problems and the baby, after the first few months, anyway, was a joy. But, I was ambivalent about another go-round, completely uncertain I even wanted another baby. After all, I had this great kid who slept through the night and didn't suck up every single moment of my life. Why would I want to go back to sleepless nights and days spent as a milk-machine for a helpless infant? So, like Offutt, I took to roaming the outdoors, hanging out near my neighbor's pond, contemplating my impending loss of freedom.
Nature can provide both consolation and guidance. Its beauty is filled with both life and death. It makes us take stock and face our fears. It offers proof that life goes on. To this day, I still head outside when I need to think.
When reading Offutt's short story collections - Kentucky Straight: Stories and Out of the Woods: Stories, I was struck by his stunning descriptions of nature. In one story, he described how heavy rain "chewed at" the road, an image I've never forgotten. And, there's an abundance of lovely imagery here, but Offutt turns his eyes inside his own mind, as well. I admired his honesty when writing about his somewhat checkered past and in recalling his strained relationship with his father:
Dad and I gulped our beer through a new gauze of respect. I'd stayed away, had never asked for money. His hair was white and he had a belly. He was losing his family to the outside world and there was no replacement. We drank another beer, discussing safe topics that neither of us cared about. He slowly realized that I would not rise to his bait, while I saw him as he was - a man unsure of how to face an adult son. He was stiffly cordial, treating me like an ambassador from an enemy country that had recently signed a treaty.
In the end, there is little we can do but accept our circumstances. Whether we look to nature or others for answers, in the end, we make our own decisions. We strive to improve upon the work our parents did, and vow we will do things differently. Children who were once undesired arrive, and turn out to be, at least in my case, more loved than anyone thought possible. As Offutt discovered after the birth of his own child:
Nothing had changed except everything.
While waiting for the birth of his first child, Chris Offutt roams the Iowa countryside surrounding his home, reflecting on his past, musing about the present and nervously pondering the future. Admitting that he comes from a long line of bad fathers, the urge to flee is ever present in Offutt's mind. Since leaving his Eastern Kentucky home at age nineteen, he vowed always to own my time. But what may have begun as a journey of self-discovery turned into a decade of bumming around across the U.S. Hitchhiking from place to place, Offutt worked a variety of jobs, from dishwasher to Everglades tour guide, before settling down in one spot with one woman. The book's chapters alternate between the author's relating of sometimes shadowy tales of his past, to his wanderings in nature while waiting for the baby to arrive.
Many people are afraid of the woods but that's where I keep my fears. I visit them every day. The trees know me, the riverbank accepts my path. Alone in the woods, it is I who is gestating, preparing for life.
I honestly didn't like this book at first. I resented what I felt was his lack of responsibility toward his expectant wife. And then I remembered . . . I recalled how I felt when I learned I was pregnant with my second child - not the first one, the second one. I spent almost a year trying to get pregnant the first time around, so that pregnancy was very desired, a relief, almost. There were no problems and the baby, after the first few months, anyway, was a joy. But, I was ambivalent about another go-round, completely uncertain I even wanted another baby. After all, I had this great kid who slept through the night and didn't suck up every single moment of my life. Why would I want to go back to sleepless nights and days spent as a milk-machine for a helpless infant? So, like Offutt, I took to roaming the outdoors, hanging out near my neighbor's pond, contemplating my impending loss of freedom.
Nature can provide both consolation and guidance. Its beauty is filled with both life and death. It makes us take stock and face our fears. It offers proof that life goes on. To this day, I still head outside when I need to think.
When reading Offutt's short story collections - Kentucky Straight: Stories and Out of the Woods: Stories, I was struck by his stunning descriptions of nature. In one story, he described how heavy rain "chewed at" the road, an image I've never forgotten. And, there's an abundance of lovely imagery here, but Offutt turns his eyes inside his own mind, as well. I admired his honesty when writing about his somewhat checkered past and in recalling his strained relationship with his father:
Dad and I gulped our beer through a new gauze of respect. I'd stayed away, had never asked for money. His hair was white and he had a belly. He was losing his family to the outside world and there was no replacement. We drank another beer, discussing safe topics that neither of us cared about. He slowly realized that I would not rise to his bait, while I saw him as he was - a man unsure of how to face an adult son. He was stiffly cordial, treating me like an ambassador from an enemy country that had recently signed a treaty.
In the end, there is little we can do but accept our circumstances. Whether we look to nature or others for answers, in the end, we make our own decisions. We strive to improve upon the work our parents did, and vow we will do things differently. Children who were once undesired arrive, and turn out to be, at least in my case, more loved than anyone thought possible. As Offutt discovered after the birth of his own child:
Nothing had changed except everything.
June 12, 2018
I didn't realize it when I picked this up, but it's a great read for Father 's Day. Chris Offutt wrote this memoir in 1993, after the birth of his first son. Chapters about his leaving home at 18 to travel the country by hitchhiking, working odd jobs, living hand to mouth, trying to find himself, are interspersed with chapters about the months of his wife's pregnancy and his feelings and fears of impending fatherhood. He finally "found himself" when his son was born, at which point, in his words, he entered adullthood.
I have read some of Offutt's short stories and magazine articles and enjoyed them. This was a great introduction to the real man and his quest to become a writer.
Important takeaway from this book: NEVER HITCHHIKE!
I have read some of Offutt's short stories and magazine articles and enjoyed them. This was a great introduction to the real man and his quest to become a writer.
Important takeaway from this book: NEVER HITCHHIKE!
February 13, 2025
Chris Offutt’s memoir focuses on the decade after he left his home in the Appalachians of Kentucky, when he was 18 to 30. He wandered aimlessly searching for who he was and trying to find a direction while attempting to figure out the writing thing before he settled down with his wife and they have their first child in Iowa (flatland that is not the hills of his youth).
My hometown is a zip code with a creek.
Chris writes the stories of his journey interspersed with the story of his wife’s pregnancy and up until she gives birth to a son. On his journey he keeps a journal close by, as one of his only possessions, at least the one that mattered to him most. His stories are filled with lots of irreverence which makes me think he was writing mostly to men who would certainly understand better than a woman (just my opinion) what reasons he had for wandering from place to place for such a long period of time. He didn’t like the idea of a real job and wasn’t sure what he was really good at and just really afraid of growing up and becoming an adult.
He was rejected by the army, the Peace Corps, the park rangers, and the police. Along the way, he meets some of the weirdest people and gets into some of the strangest circumstances that a person could not make up. The first place he sets foot is New York City and when I say he was a fish out of water, I am not exaggerating! This was one wild story!
I love Offutt’s fiction because he writes from an area of Kentucky that is near where I grew up. I will be the first to pick up his latest book and will eventually finish reading his memoirs.
My life’s progression had been a toxic voyage bringing me to the safety of the flatland, where I began each day by entering the woods along the river. I’ve become adept at tracking animals, finding the final footprint of skull and bone. Many people are afraid of the woods but that’s where I keep my fears. I visit them everyday. The trees know me, the riverbank accepts my path. Alone in the woods, it is I who is gestating, preparing for life.
My hometown is a zip code with a creek.
Chris writes the stories of his journey interspersed with the story of his wife’s pregnancy and up until she gives birth to a son. On his journey he keeps a journal close by, as one of his only possessions, at least the one that mattered to him most. His stories are filled with lots of irreverence which makes me think he was writing mostly to men who would certainly understand better than a woman (just my opinion) what reasons he had for wandering from place to place for such a long period of time. He didn’t like the idea of a real job and wasn’t sure what he was really good at and just really afraid of growing up and becoming an adult.
He was rejected by the army, the Peace Corps, the park rangers, and the police. Along the way, he meets some of the weirdest people and gets into some of the strangest circumstances that a person could not make up. The first place he sets foot is New York City and when I say he was a fish out of water, I am not exaggerating! This was one wild story!
I love Offutt’s fiction because he writes from an area of Kentucky that is near where I grew up. I will be the first to pick up his latest book and will eventually finish reading his memoirs.
My life’s progression had been a toxic voyage bringing me to the safety of the flatland, where I began each day by entering the woods along the river. I’ve become adept at tracking animals, finding the final footprint of skull and bone. Many people are afraid of the woods but that’s where I keep my fears. I visit them everyday. The trees know me, the riverbank accepts my path. Alone in the woods, it is I who is gestating, preparing for life.
September 8, 2021
I am on a Chris Offutt kick. It started with "Country Dark." The library here had NONE of his books and you know me, I don't buy books these days (minimalism and all that). Anyway, I caved and bought six of his books and am plowing through them. This one in particular made me laugh in one section harder than I've laughed in a long time . Note, it's NOT a funny book overall. Anyway, I was slapping my leg and howling and tears were running down my face and I had a coughing fit and had to get up and walk around. When he's funny, he's very funny.
I liked all the memoirs he wrote, some more than others. If I had more energy (which I don't) I'd properly rate and review them all. Chalk it up to work and my dislike of the hot and sunny months. I hope to be more active here now that the season is changing.
His ear for dialogue is incredibly sharp. That matters a lot to me. I get an eye twitch when dialogue sounds stilted and not authentic. He is probably the best eavesdropper in the free world. I would not want to sit in the diner booth behind him, uh, no.
I like the dispossessed. I relate to them given my own history. It's a comfort, you know? And I imagine it is that way for most people, the comfort of the familiar. Like if you grew up at tennis clubs and you're at a big party and you get to talk to someone who grew up at tennis clubs then y'all will have a certain sympatico thing going on. Or golf. Or Velveeta. You know, we all come with our own history and cultural bias. Whatever it is, thing guy rings true for me and I hear him with my mind and heart. Not to say it's easy, sometimes his writing makes me really sad. But I do hear him.
I will finish up his short stories soon. I hope autumn's arrival is kind to you and that you get to be outdoors a lot.
Over and out, be well,
Fishgirl
I liked all the memoirs he wrote, some more than others. If I had more energy (which I don't) I'd properly rate and review them all. Chalk it up to work and my dislike of the hot and sunny months. I hope to be more active here now that the season is changing.
His ear for dialogue is incredibly sharp. That matters a lot to me. I get an eye twitch when dialogue sounds stilted and not authentic. He is probably the best eavesdropper in the free world. I would not want to sit in the diner booth behind him, uh, no.
I like the dispossessed. I relate to them given my own history. It's a comfort, you know? And I imagine it is that way for most people, the comfort of the familiar. Like if you grew up at tennis clubs and you're at a big party and you get to talk to someone who grew up at tennis clubs then y'all will have a certain sympatico thing going on. Or golf. Or Velveeta. You know, we all come with our own history and cultural bias. Whatever it is, thing guy rings true for me and I hear him with my mind and heart. Not to say it's easy, sometimes his writing makes me really sad. But I do hear him.
I will finish up his short stories soon. I hope autumn's arrival is kind to you and that you get to be outdoors a lot.
Over and out, be well,
Fishgirl
August 6, 2017
Terrific little book. A pleasurable read of not quite 200 pages that I did not want to put down. I keep a little wire bound spiral in which I occasionally jot down passages from books I am reading. There is no criteria. The passages just have to strike me, to communicate with me in a way that most prose does not. While reading "The Same River Twice" I jotted down a number of passages, two of which I will share:
"She dressed with bold sensuality while obeying the confines of decorum. Cleavage was a reminder, not an invitation."
"The guts of America unfolded in every direction as I traveled the interstate bloodstream, dodging the white corpuscles of perverts, cops, and outlaws."
"She dressed with bold sensuality while obeying the confines of decorum. Cleavage was a reminder, not an invitation."
"The guts of America unfolded in every direction as I traveled the interstate bloodstream, dodging the white corpuscles of perverts, cops, and outlaws."
September 30, 2021
This early written memoir, part leaving rural Kentucky and bumming/hitchhiking around the country, part a mediation waiting for his first child to be born after he settles down (somewhat). There is a sweetness and self-effacement (look at me, I'm such a lunkhead!) to Offut's writing about himself, that really endears me to him. I finished the memoir (it's short) with a smile.
July 17, 2022
La capacidad que tiene de hacer autoficción con el ritmo de un thriller o una historia de detectives hace que quieras perdonarle hasta la misoginia noventera. Un libro que he disfrutado un montón, la verdad.
April 8, 2018
To Flow Through Change.
Chris Offutt's Memoir, The Same River Twice, flows through his life. Stopping on the bank of different points of his life, The Same River Twice becomes both a coming of age story and reflection on parenthood. Gorgeously written with a balance of tasteful humor and real-world lessons, The Same River Twice, is a fantastic story one can read at the point in life. As a young adult just figuring the world out or a lost adult on the cusp of change, The Same River Twice has lessons for everyone.
I was first introduced the memoir, The Same River Twice, as an excerpt in the anthology A Garden of Forking Paths, which presents me chapter six. After reading the short, I knew I had to read the entirety of the memoir. What convinced me to read the memoir was how Offutt plays with time and narrative.
The memoir begins with Offutt and his girlfriend, at the time, Rita moving to Iowa. Offutt decides to marry her and asks her three times before she says yes, well he tricks her into yes. Then the topic of children comes up, which Offutt is against writing; "A child struck me as the one ingredient that would ruin my hopes, forcing me into full-time employment. I told her this was the wrong time." (Kindle Locations 82-83). Eventually, Offutt decides that he loves Rita more than he hates the idea of having a child. This becomes the central conflict of the memoir, Offutt's acceptance of fatherhood.
Just as Offutt is finding refuge in the woods from the thought of having a kid the next chapter starts us off reminiscing about his hometown and his childhood. The reminiscing of his youth is, personally, the best half of the book; perhaps because I am still young and haven't started the build a family half of my life. Offutt keeps a consistent one chapter per storyline. We have one section with Offutt as a soon to be father and one chapter as a young man. However, in his chapters as a young man is where I fell in love with The Same River Twice.
Offutt is as a white man from a tiny town in Kentucky, so small that they share their zip code with the creek. Offutt wants to work; in fact, he is told by his parents after dropping out of high school to find work. After being rejected by the Army due to Albumin in his urine, he forced himself to go to University, after two years he dropped out and looked to New York. He was going to be an actor. In the city, he learns a lot about the world. He meets a Hispanic woman for the first time, has sex for the first time, meets a Trans Woman.
In chapter two, right when he meets a Hispanic woman for the first time, he comes to a beautiful realization: "My culture had much in common with the Latin—loyalty to a family that was often large, respect for the elderly and for children, a sharp delineation between genders. The men were governed by a sense of machismo similar to that which ruled in the hills. There was one quite obvious drawback—to them I was just another white man."(Kindle Locations 256-259). This line work is one of my favorites. The connection between two cultures we consider to be from opposite worlds. The sentence structure mirroring the connection, the way he writes machismo as if it is both something to achieve and something to be wary of. There is something startlingly beautiful about this passage. About how Offutt learns his prejudices and his privileges. In the passages where he is a young man re-learning old biases, there is a quiet whisper that seems to be saying it’s okay, you're learning. The story seems to be so forgiving of his childish mistakes in a way that makes for a pleasant read. He makes mistakes, he insults people, and he learns better. It is as if Offutt is saying, it’s okay, go, learn, live. Make mistakes but by god learn to be better.
In chapter six, my first introduction, Offutt has been wandering through the world as a homeless man. Finding work in cities then running away when someone got too close. The chapter is definitely my favorite, chapter two a close contender, the way he expresses this desire for something that seems so untenable, for something to happen so that he may feel accomplished touches intensely on how so many of us think about ourselves.
The Chapters in which he is a soon to be father are no less compelling. Offutt struggles with understanding his place as the father. Being fiercely jealous of Ritas, his wife, attention to their unborn child, being unsure if he could be a good father. Wondering where he stands as a father. Offut writes in chapter five about a DNA test for the baby: "I was against the test, afraid that if our child turned out damaged, it would mean that I was too." (Kindle Locations 687-688). The book primarily seems to be Offutt almost arguing that he isn't a suitable candidate for being a father, while also forging a newfound understanding with his father as he begins this journey into fatherhood. Yet, as he is arguing this lack of abilities, he also seems to be acknowledging that no one is ready to be a parent. That parenthood is their own test, one that he had been looking for and unconsciously found.
The entirety of the memoir is a nod to what we can change. To how our actions affect the world around us. The Same River Twice is a soft acknowledgment that our lives have meaning. When Offutt steps into the river behind his house, he reflects on how his footsteps have changed the bank, making it impossible to step into the same river twice. Our actions even change the world, for better or worst. The river becomes his place of refuge, one in which he uses to ponder of all the other rivers he visited, even those that are a methodical connection of two things. Two people. Him and the woman he first had sex with. Him and a father figure who killed himself, him and the first friend he made in a long time.
Overall the memoir is a powerful piece of work in where everyone, regardless of where you are on your journey can pick up this novel and find something to connect with. The story of fatherhood and becoming a man have many parallels that Offutt brilliantly explores in a simple question of how long you fight the flow of change.
Offutt, Chris. The Same River Twice: A Memoir. Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.
Chris Offutt's Memoir, The Same River Twice, flows through his life. Stopping on the bank of different points of his life, The Same River Twice becomes both a coming of age story and reflection on parenthood. Gorgeously written with a balance of tasteful humor and real-world lessons, The Same River Twice, is a fantastic story one can read at the point in life. As a young adult just figuring the world out or a lost adult on the cusp of change, The Same River Twice has lessons for everyone.
I was first introduced the memoir, The Same River Twice, as an excerpt in the anthology A Garden of Forking Paths, which presents me chapter six. After reading the short, I knew I had to read the entirety of the memoir. What convinced me to read the memoir was how Offutt plays with time and narrative.
The memoir begins with Offutt and his girlfriend, at the time, Rita moving to Iowa. Offutt decides to marry her and asks her three times before she says yes, well he tricks her into yes. Then the topic of children comes up, which Offutt is against writing; "A child struck me as the one ingredient that would ruin my hopes, forcing me into full-time employment. I told her this was the wrong time." (Kindle Locations 82-83). Eventually, Offutt decides that he loves Rita more than he hates the idea of having a child. This becomes the central conflict of the memoir, Offutt's acceptance of fatherhood.
Just as Offutt is finding refuge in the woods from the thought of having a kid the next chapter starts us off reminiscing about his hometown and his childhood. The reminiscing of his youth is, personally, the best half of the book; perhaps because I am still young and haven't started the build a family half of my life. Offutt keeps a consistent one chapter per storyline. We have one section with Offutt as a soon to be father and one chapter as a young man. However, in his chapters as a young man is where I fell in love with The Same River Twice.
Offutt is as a white man from a tiny town in Kentucky, so small that they share their zip code with the creek. Offutt wants to work; in fact, he is told by his parents after dropping out of high school to find work. After being rejected by the Army due to Albumin in his urine, he forced himself to go to University, after two years he dropped out and looked to New York. He was going to be an actor. In the city, he learns a lot about the world. He meets a Hispanic woman for the first time, has sex for the first time, meets a Trans Woman.
In chapter two, right when he meets a Hispanic woman for the first time, he comes to a beautiful realization: "My culture had much in common with the Latin—loyalty to a family that was often large, respect for the elderly and for children, a sharp delineation between genders. The men were governed by a sense of machismo similar to that which ruled in the hills. There was one quite obvious drawback—to them I was just another white man."(Kindle Locations 256-259). This line work is one of my favorites. The connection between two cultures we consider to be from opposite worlds. The sentence structure mirroring the connection, the way he writes machismo as if it is both something to achieve and something to be wary of. There is something startlingly beautiful about this passage. About how Offutt learns his prejudices and his privileges. In the passages where he is a young man re-learning old biases, there is a quiet whisper that seems to be saying it’s okay, you're learning. The story seems to be so forgiving of his childish mistakes in a way that makes for a pleasant read. He makes mistakes, he insults people, and he learns better. It is as if Offutt is saying, it’s okay, go, learn, live. Make mistakes but by god learn to be better.
In chapter six, my first introduction, Offutt has been wandering through the world as a homeless man. Finding work in cities then running away when someone got too close. The chapter is definitely my favorite, chapter two a close contender, the way he expresses this desire for something that seems so untenable, for something to happen so that he may feel accomplished touches intensely on how so many of us think about ourselves.
The Chapters in which he is a soon to be father are no less compelling. Offutt struggles with understanding his place as the father. Being fiercely jealous of Ritas, his wife, attention to their unborn child, being unsure if he could be a good father. Wondering where he stands as a father. Offut writes in chapter five about a DNA test for the baby: "I was against the test, afraid that if our child turned out damaged, it would mean that I was too." (Kindle Locations 687-688). The book primarily seems to be Offutt almost arguing that he isn't a suitable candidate for being a father, while also forging a newfound understanding with his father as he begins this journey into fatherhood. Yet, as he is arguing this lack of abilities, he also seems to be acknowledging that no one is ready to be a parent. That parenthood is their own test, one that he had been looking for and unconsciously found.
The entirety of the memoir is a nod to what we can change. To how our actions affect the world around us. The Same River Twice is a soft acknowledgment that our lives have meaning. When Offutt steps into the river behind his house, he reflects on how his footsteps have changed the bank, making it impossible to step into the same river twice. Our actions even change the world, for better or worst. The river becomes his place of refuge, one in which he uses to ponder of all the other rivers he visited, even those that are a methodical connection of two things. Two people. Him and the woman he first had sex with. Him and a father figure who killed himself, him and the first friend he made in a long time.
Overall the memoir is a powerful piece of work in where everyone, regardless of where you are on your journey can pick up this novel and find something to connect with. The story of fatherhood and becoming a man have many parallels that Offutt brilliantly explores in a simple question of how long you fight the flow of change.
Offutt, Chris. The Same River Twice: A Memoir. Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.
May 17, 2007
In his memoir The Same River Twice, Chris Offut takes us on parallel journeys of both mind and body. In two interweaving storylines, we follow young Offut, as he travels the United States hoping to find a calling, and older Offut, a seasoned, settled, soon-to-be father. Each Offut thinks a lot, about a great many things, from the mundane—where am I going to sleep tonight?—to the profound—why am I here? Using present and past tense shifts to distinguish between narrative threads, Offut weaves a literary tapestry of descriptive prose, balancing his contemplative contemporary self with the naïve, questing, and reckless personality of his youth. This is honest writing, rife with startling metaphors and lyric intensity. We may not entirely feel comfortable with where Offut takes us emotionally, as some of his thoughts are downright distasteful in their human-frailty nakedness, but his willingness to write uncompromisingly about his life, feelings, fears, etc. earns our trust and, ultimately, admiration.
April 8, 2018
When Past and Present Collide
Through The Same River Twice: A Memoir, Chris Offutt offers a dynamic work that employs a refreshing blend of past narrative and present reflection. Mastering voice, experimenting with form, and building memorable passages, he has created a work worthy of a gushing review.
Before moving to the gush, I offer a word of caution to parents and the young: Offutt’s work is not only about fatherhood, but also about sexuality. Readers who disdain explicit depictions of sexual themes will remain outside of their comfort zones throughout the work. Those who enjoy such discussions will find The Same River Twice pleasurable. I reside in the middle of that spectrum, blushing at the exposition, but tolerating it. I find the discourse so well-crafted that it is worthy of the rating and review, blush or no.
As mentioned, what makes the work powerful is the voice. The words hold an ironic flair throughout that pushes the humor of the situations, especially of the dark and unsavory ones. For example, in one scene the speaker feels “an absolute revulsion for work.” In an attempt to get fired from his job, he decides to wear “a plastic nose-and-glasses” while performing his duties as a waiter. “During the rush,” he says, “I removed my shirt and pants, wearing only undershorts, a white apron, and the giant nose. People left enormous tips.” Instead of losing his job, he’s forced to quit, which, as he discovers, “was the last way I had to prove the existence of my own free will” (136). Instead of offering a flat description about despising work and quitting, Offutt gives humor, chaos, and a failure to fail that makes the moment existential and memorable. Such moments are plentiful, the narrative rarely, if ever, slipping in its tone.
The driving force of Offutt’s memoir is his use of a shifting perspective from present to past tense. When Offutt uses the present tense, he offers a sense of reflection. Beginning the work in the present, the speaker sets the scene by saying how he is “as alien” in the Midwest as he is “in a city” (9). This lack of belonging is a main theme of the work, the speaker searching for answers, a place in the world, a feeling of acceptance. As he is dealing with the prospect of having a child in the present, his fear of fatherhood is also a prominent theme. The speaker details his daily life, the progression of his wife’s pregnancy, his fears of failing his wife and offspring, and his solace in pondering existential quandaries while traipsing through the woods. Things happen in the present, but the focus is far less on the events and more about the pondering. In these sections, the speaker takes what’s occurring around him and uses it as a metaphor for his fears. For example, in one woodland walk, he finds discarded “freezer bags containing the skinned carcasses of small game,” which compare well in his mind to “an amnion holding a fetus” (87-88). This sets his mind on miscarriage. Reflecting on that fear and thinking through it, he eventually converts what he sees, which is carcasses being used as food for “Live game,” into an image of the “cycle” of life, similar to how “Rita and I are … giving ourselves to the world” by sacrificing their own comfort and safety to produce offspring (89). Such philosophical pondering drives the story forward towards the climax of the work, .
At the same time as moving forward, the story also continually flies backwards, interspersing chapters that work in the past between the present tense chapters. While maintaining a first person point of view, these chapters work much more like a novel than their reflective parallels. In this tense, Offutt offers a “coming of age” journey that uses the search for belonging as the overarching conflict, odd encounters throughout the speaker’s life driving him towards growth. The early years of the speaker’s life show him trying to find meaning through “the Peace Corps, park rangers, the ranks of firemen and police,” organizations that might offer “camaraderie” or a chance, he hopes, to “test myself in sanctioned ways against other men” (21). When these organizations deny him, he moves on to becoming a drifting hitchhiker, moving from city to city, job to job, roommate or lover to another. Finally, the narrative catches up to and surpasses its present parallels: The climax, that is, , which is anticipated in the reflective passages, occurs in the past tense. From the novel perspective, this works to fulfill the journey, for it isn’t until the fears detailed in the reflections finally “spiraled away” that the speaker realizes his search for meaning is over (185). The epilogue, a final piece of present-moment significance, shows the speaker discovering that the search for belonging has been a search for maturity.
The intertwining of reflection and narrative is an especially powerful part of Offutt’s work, adding a depth and poignancy to the already deep situation of impending fatherhood. It’s a jarring approach, a dangerous one that, I believe, risks overwhelming the searching narrative with the reflective fears. Yet the masterful voice of irony applies a wry wit that balances the terror, lightening the darkness with genuine laughter. Because of this, the work comes out memorable, entertaining, and, for those who like reading the same book twice, a good candidate for rereading.
~Luke
Through The Same River Twice: A Memoir, Chris Offutt offers a dynamic work that employs a refreshing blend of past narrative and present reflection. Mastering voice, experimenting with form, and building memorable passages, he has created a work worthy of a gushing review.
Before moving to the gush, I offer a word of caution to parents and the young: Offutt’s work is not only about fatherhood, but also about sexuality. Readers who disdain explicit depictions of sexual themes will remain outside of their comfort zones throughout the work. Those who enjoy such discussions will find The Same River Twice pleasurable. I reside in the middle of that spectrum, blushing at the exposition, but tolerating it. I find the discourse so well-crafted that it is worthy of the rating and review, blush or no.
As mentioned, what makes the work powerful is the voice. The words hold an ironic flair throughout that pushes the humor of the situations, especially of the dark and unsavory ones. For example, in one scene the speaker feels “an absolute revulsion for work.” In an attempt to get fired from his job, he decides to wear “a plastic nose-and-glasses” while performing his duties as a waiter. “During the rush,” he says, “I removed my shirt and pants, wearing only undershorts, a white apron, and the giant nose. People left enormous tips.” Instead of losing his job, he’s forced to quit, which, as he discovers, “was the last way I had to prove the existence of my own free will” (136). Instead of offering a flat description about despising work and quitting, Offutt gives humor, chaos, and a failure to fail that makes the moment existential and memorable. Such moments are plentiful, the narrative rarely, if ever, slipping in its tone.
The driving force of Offutt’s memoir is his use of a shifting perspective from present to past tense. When Offutt uses the present tense, he offers a sense of reflection. Beginning the work in the present, the speaker sets the scene by saying how he is “as alien” in the Midwest as he is “in a city” (9). This lack of belonging is a main theme of the work, the speaker searching for answers, a place in the world, a feeling of acceptance. As he is dealing with the prospect of having a child in the present, his fear of fatherhood is also a prominent theme. The speaker details his daily life, the progression of his wife’s pregnancy, his fears of failing his wife and offspring, and his solace in pondering existential quandaries while traipsing through the woods. Things happen in the present, but the focus is far less on the events and more about the pondering. In these sections, the speaker takes what’s occurring around him and uses it as a metaphor for his fears. For example, in one woodland walk, he finds discarded “freezer bags containing the skinned carcasses of small game,” which compare well in his mind to “an amnion holding a fetus” (87-88). This sets his mind on miscarriage. Reflecting on that fear and thinking through it, he eventually converts what he sees, which is carcasses being used as food for “Live game,” into an image of the “cycle” of life, similar to how “Rita and I are … giving ourselves to the world” by sacrificing their own comfort and safety to produce offspring (89). Such philosophical pondering drives the story forward towards the climax of the work, .
At the same time as moving forward, the story also continually flies backwards, interspersing chapters that work in the past between the present tense chapters. While maintaining a first person point of view, these chapters work much more like a novel than their reflective parallels. In this tense, Offutt offers a “coming of age” journey that uses the search for belonging as the overarching conflict, odd encounters throughout the speaker’s life driving him towards growth. The early years of the speaker’s life show him trying to find meaning through “the Peace Corps, park rangers, the ranks of firemen and police,” organizations that might offer “camaraderie” or a chance, he hopes, to “test myself in sanctioned ways against other men” (21). When these organizations deny him, he moves on to becoming a drifting hitchhiker, moving from city to city, job to job, roommate or lover to another. Finally, the narrative catches up to and surpasses its present parallels: The climax, that is, , which is anticipated in the reflective passages, occurs in the past tense. From the novel perspective, this works to fulfill the journey, for it isn’t until the fears detailed in the reflections finally “spiraled away” that the speaker realizes his search for meaning is over (185). The epilogue, a final piece of present-moment significance, shows the speaker discovering that the search for belonging has been a search for maturity.
The intertwining of reflection and narrative is an especially powerful part of Offutt’s work, adding a depth and poignancy to the already deep situation of impending fatherhood. It’s a jarring approach, a dangerous one that, I believe, risks overwhelming the searching narrative with the reflective fears. Yet the masterful voice of irony applies a wry wit that balances the terror, lightening the darkness with genuine laughter. Because of this, the work comes out memorable, entertaining, and, for those who like reading the same book twice, a good candidate for rereading.
~Luke
September 28, 2021
Ahh Trepidation. It would seem fatherhood is enmeshed with doubt, possibly perilous. And might account for the travesties we all have had to hear, as women, about cold fathers and dangerous fathers. Pay heed. I would recommend that mothers read this, if they want to learn their men. Offutt peels his every thought, like a striptease, and hands it to us as a gift. I’ve never read such a treasure of burgeoning father thought. Offutt eventually climbs through doubt, indifference and fear, to seize his first newborn son with a sweeping, barn-burning love that made me weep. ‘Bought knocked me unconscious.
October 23, 2007
this book is the only book that i can read over and over and over again and still keep loving it more and more.
it's about chirs and his family moving from kentucky to iowa city. he talks about nature and life and inner twines the two. his writing is simple and beautiful. he makes you want to live in a cabin out in the middle of nowhere and watch how the world really is away from cars and neon and people. to be with the seasons, the animals and your thoughts.
it's about chirs and his family moving from kentucky to iowa city. he talks about nature and life and inner twines the two. his writing is simple and beautiful. he makes you want to live in a cabin out in the middle of nowhere and watch how the world really is away from cars and neon and people. to be with the seasons, the animals and your thoughts.
February 23, 2009
I stumbled on Chris Offutt on Myspace. I'm glad I did. I love his writing style. I love the way he tells his own story...I felt like we may have passed each other on the road...or been at the same party somewhere along the way. I really enjoyed his perspective on impending fatherhood, hopes and fears...I loved just reading about him walking through the woods.
February 3, 2008
Lovely book. Chris was at Tin House the same year and I got to meet him and hear him read. Wonderful author and book.
September 28, 2008
Author's wife/girlfriend is pregnant with their first child. He feels panicky and reminisces about his glory days as a drifter while mentally bracing himself to lose his freedom to parenthood.
February 5, 2015
Best memoir I've ever read.
February 10, 2016
Read this years ago. One of my favorites.
June 23, 2024
No sé qué pensaría un autor de que sus memorias susciten más interés que sus obras de ficción, pero eso es lo que me pasa con Offutt y no necesariamente porque tengan más sustancia unas que otras, sino por la manera que tiene de abordarlas: todo el laconismo de sus novelas, el distanciamiento hacia sus personajes -siempre fríos y reservados-, la ausencia de aparato retórico, se torna aquí en vehemencia y apasionamiento, se vuelve por necesidad autobiográfica en cercanía y hasta intimidad, da paso a recursos imaginativos, plásticos e inspirados. Offutt se expone, se deja ir, y muestra sus vulnerabilidades con honestidad. Es otro rollo, que me llega mucho más.
78 «El cuarto entero tiene un aire etéreo, expectante, como el de una catedral en la que se rumorea que acontecen milagros»
Con elementos de road-movie que me recuerdan a “On the road” y “Viajes con Charley” , esta autoficción (el término autobiografía me parece mejor reservarlo para obras más solemnes) recorre en capítulos alternos dos momentos temporales: la juventud itinerante del autor, cuando durante diez años viajó a lo loco por los EEUU, trabando amistades de lo más extravagantes mientras iba abandonando un sinfín de trabajos precarios, y el presente desde el que escribe el libro, en el que se ha establecido en Iowa con su mujer y espera a su primer hijo, más asustado que ilusionado.
El tema central que sustenta el relato sería la rebeldía ante las convenciones, la voluntad juvenil de no dejarse atrapar por la vida adulta, por las responsabilidades y compromisos que tanto se ha esforzado por rehuir hasta entonces, pero que son las que tendrá que asumir ahora con la llegada del nene. Por eso está asustado.
16 «Mi juventud había quedado atrás, no exactamente malgastada, pero sí, hasta cierto punto, despilfarrada»
Otro tema muy presente es el elogio de la naturaleza, de los bosques y las montañas tan queridos por el autor, una constante en su obra que toma aquí un tono de égloga, de canto de comunión con las plantas, animales y accidentes geográficos logrando, una vez más, una ambientación sugerente y especialmente orgánica.
77 «El pasto siempre es más verde donde la gente muere joven»
Me es inevitable referirme a “Mi padre el pornógrafo” , la obra de Offutt que más me ha impactado hasta el momento y que relata un descubrimiento posterior del autor sobre las ocupaciones y circunstancias de sus progenitores; nada hace presagiar tras la lectura de “Dos veces…” la deriva familiar y los secretos que revelará más tarde, que esos padres que aquí describe someramente tuvieran una doble vida tan jugosa. Creo que quien los lea en orden cronológico puede sorprenderse mucho. “Dos veces en el mismo río” no tiene el hilo conductor, reclamo morboso y gancho argumental casi perfecto de “Mi padre el pornógrafo” . Son dos obras que realmente tienen poco que ver entre ellas y ponen el acento en temas diferentes, aunque entre los dos conforman el curioso retrato de un tipo que empieza a resultarme entrañable.
78 «El cuarto entero tiene un aire etéreo, expectante, como el de una catedral en la que se rumorea que acontecen milagros»
Con elementos de road-movie que me recuerdan a “On the road” y “Viajes con Charley” , esta autoficción (el término autobiografía me parece mejor reservarlo para obras más solemnes) recorre en capítulos alternos dos momentos temporales: la juventud itinerante del autor, cuando durante diez años viajó a lo loco por los EEUU, trabando amistades de lo más extravagantes mientras iba abandonando un sinfín de trabajos precarios, y el presente desde el que escribe el libro, en el que se ha establecido en Iowa con su mujer y espera a su primer hijo, más asustado que ilusionado.
El tema central que sustenta el relato sería la rebeldía ante las convenciones, la voluntad juvenil de no dejarse atrapar por la vida adulta, por las responsabilidades y compromisos que tanto se ha esforzado por rehuir hasta entonces, pero que son las que tendrá que asumir ahora con la llegada del nene. Por eso está asustado.
16 «Mi juventud había quedado atrás, no exactamente malgastada, pero sí, hasta cierto punto, despilfarrada»
Otro tema muy presente es el elogio de la naturaleza, de los bosques y las montañas tan queridos por el autor, una constante en su obra que toma aquí un tono de égloga, de canto de comunión con las plantas, animales y accidentes geográficos logrando, una vez más, una ambientación sugerente y especialmente orgánica.
77 «El pasto siempre es más verde donde la gente muere joven»
Me es inevitable referirme a “Mi padre el pornógrafo” , la obra de Offutt que más me ha impactado hasta el momento y que relata un descubrimiento posterior del autor sobre las ocupaciones y circunstancias de sus progenitores; nada hace presagiar tras la lectura de “Dos veces…” la deriva familiar y los secretos que revelará más tarde, que esos padres que aquí describe someramente tuvieran una doble vida tan jugosa. Creo que quien los lea en orden cronológico puede sorprenderse mucho. “Dos veces en el mismo río” no tiene el hilo conductor, reclamo morboso y gancho argumental casi perfecto de “Mi padre el pornógrafo” . Son dos obras que realmente tienen poco que ver entre ellas y ponen el acento en temas diferentes, aunque entre los dos conforman el curioso retrato de un tipo que empieza a resultarme entrañable.
October 17, 2021
Heartwarming and personal coming of age story filled with great anecdotes and lots of soul searching.
This memoir meanders like a swollen river surrounding two central stories routed in growing up. The first, and more traditional, is a collection of tales centered on a life’s worth of experiences. Circus life, big cities, hitchhiking, and a restless serve as the central themes as Chris, the author, wrestles with the task of growing up and finding his identity. This more traditional memoir runs parallel to second and more intimate account of his path to fatherhood through his wife’s 9 month pregnancy. Central to both accounts are the themes of nature, place, and interpersonal relationships in the building of a man who’s finally ready to become a father.
Fun read!
This memoir meanders like a swollen river surrounding two central stories routed in growing up. The first, and more traditional, is a collection of tales centered on a life’s worth of experiences. Circus life, big cities, hitchhiking, and a restless serve as the central themes as Chris, the author, wrestles with the task of growing up and finding his identity. This more traditional memoir runs parallel to second and more intimate account of his path to fatherhood through his wife’s 9 month pregnancy. Central to both accounts are the themes of nature, place, and interpersonal relationships in the building of a man who’s finally ready to become a father.
Fun read!
June 12, 2019
A split memoir: one part I liked, the other not as much. While the telling about his wife's pregnancy and the birth of his child had some good points, I much preferred the other half, that of his wandering days on the road, especially his time with a circus, in the Everglades, and as a bagman in Minneapolis. I could never had enjoyed living on the edge as he did, even back then, yet I find it interesting to hear these stories, best when well told. I wouldn't include Offutt in my most-favored authors list, yet I do like and have enjoyed his stories.
March 11, 2025
Between Offutt's nature-inspired reflections on impending fatherhood, reflections in which I often felt the stab of recognition, and his accounting of his cross-country escapades after leaving his Kentucky home--including stints in the circus and a job in the mosquito-infested, hurricane-endangered swamps of the Everglades--I could not put this book down. It is at turns hilarious, shocking, absurd, emotionally resonant, and profound. An excellent memoir.
January 9, 2018
Simply could not put this book down. Every sentence is beautiful, intentional, and serves a purpose. Offutt has had an incredibly interesting and unique young adult life, but an even greater talent for writing and sharing it with the world. Really glad I stumbled across this hidden gem at a library sale, I wish to share it with many.
February 2, 2018
I've b ecome a fan of Offutt since I first read him a year ago. He's a prize-winning memoirist, my genre, and he has a unique voice and perspective. This book alternated between his gypsy-like 20s and 30s, with his present day (at time of publication) waiting for his first son to be born. It's a great juxtaposition between the man-child and the man-in-waiting. Lovely, lyrically written story.
April 6, 2019
This is a personal and unvarnished memoir alternating between the author’s vagabond youth and as a married man awaiting the birth of his first child. Funny and poignant with beautifully descriptive passages.
May 23, 2017
Wanderlust and fatherhood, what two better concepts to be examining at once...
October 9, 2017
Plenty of color and humor - may be over the top or crude for some but I enjoyed the mix of past adventures juxtaposed by the preparation and anxiety of the arrival of first child.
November 12, 2017
Great Read.
First I have read by this author. Fun adventure and interesting insights into fatherhood and growing up. I will read his others.
First I have read by this author. Fun adventure and interesting insights into fatherhood and growing up. I will read his others.
May 4, 2020
3.5 stars. Crazy story. The parts about his wife's pregnancy I glided through; the rest was riveting and hilarious.
July 14, 2020
4.5 stars.
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