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The River Swimmer: Novellas
Jim Harrison is one of America’s most beloved and critically-acclaimed authors—on a par with American literary greats like Richard Ford, Anne Tyler, Robert Stone, Russell Banks, and Ann Beattie. His latest collection of novellas, The River Swimmer is Harrison at his most a brilliant rendering of two men striving to find their way in the world, written with freshness, abundant wit, and profound humanity.
In The Land of Unlikeness, sixty-year-old art history academic Clive—a failed artist, divorced and grappling with the vagaries of his declining years—reluctantly returns to his family’s Michigan farmhouse to visit his aging mother. The return to familiar territory triggers a jolt of renewal—of ardor for his high school love, of his relationship with his estranged daughter, and of his own lost love of painting. In Water Baby, Harrison ventures into the magical as an Upper Peninsula farm boy is irresistibly drawn to the water as an escape, and sees otherworldly creatures there. Faced with the injustice and pressure of coming of age, he takes to the river and follows its siren song all the way across Lake Michigan.
The River Swimmer is a striking portrait of two richly-drawn, profoundly human characters, and an exceptional reminder of why Jim Harrison is one of the most cherished and important writers at work today.
In The Land of Unlikeness, sixty-year-old art history academic Clive—a failed artist, divorced and grappling with the vagaries of his declining years—reluctantly returns to his family’s Michigan farmhouse to visit his aging mother. The return to familiar territory triggers a jolt of renewal—of ardor for his high school love, of his relationship with his estranged daughter, and of his own lost love of painting. In Water Baby, Harrison ventures into the magical as an Upper Peninsula farm boy is irresistibly drawn to the water as an escape, and sees otherworldly creatures there. Faced with the injustice and pressure of coming of age, he takes to the river and follows its siren song all the way across Lake Michigan.
The River Swimmer is a striking portrait of two richly-drawn, profoundly human characters, and an exceptional reminder of why Jim Harrison is one of the most cherished and important writers at work today.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
180 people are currently reading
1368 people want to read
About the author
Jim Harrison
185 books1,487 followersJim Harrison was born in Grayling, Michigan, to Winfield Sprague Harrison, a county agricultural agent, and Norma Olivia (Wahlgren) Harrison, both avid readers. He married Linda King in 1959 with whom he has two daughters.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
His awards include National Academy of Arts grants (1967, 68, 69), a Guggenheim Fellowship (1969-70), the Spirit of the West Award from the Mountain & Plains Booksellers Association, and election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2007).
Much of Harrison's writing depicts sparsely populated regions of North America with many stories set in places such as Nebraska's Sand Hills, Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Montana's mountains, and along the Arizona-Mexico border.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
His awards include National Academy of Arts grants (1967, 68, 69), a Guggenheim Fellowship (1969-70), the Spirit of the West Award from the Mountain & Plains Booksellers Association, and election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2007).
Much of Harrison's writing depicts sparsely populated regions of North America with many stories set in places such as Nebraska's Sand Hills, Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Montana's mountains, and along the Arizona-Mexico border.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 300 reviews
February 2, 2013
Some authors write like angels, some like wizards, Philip Roth and Jim Harrison (who are so similar, but seem to be at opposite ends of a class divide,) write like the devil himself. Then there's Cormac, THE Prince of Darkness, but that's a digression I won't get into.
In The River Swimmer, Mr. Harrison gives us two coming of age stories, from two points on the spectrum of age. In the first, "The Land of Unlikeness," we spend time with a 60 year old art critic/professor, not-failed but resigned artist, and bon vivant, as he returns home to spend some time caring for his partially blind mother. It's a story of rediscoveries that lead to discoveries and hope. A resurrection of sorts. It's beautifully handled. I don't know how Jim Harrison does it, but all his stories are a meander that go places they have no place going, and the places become exactly where we should be - and then he gets back to the main road. It's like a blessing to spend time in his creations. Mr. Harrison is a randy guy, and the story is full of the humorously risque. Like I said - he's a devil.
In the second, and possibly less successful, but hugely moving (as befits the current) The River Swimmer we're thrown into the life of a 17 year old boy whose medium is water, and whose talent is swimming. He's intent on swimming the rivers of the world, while supporting himself as a hydrologist. As can be expected, he's an odd duck (no pun intended). His girlfriend's abusive father incites the incidents that get him into the water, swimming from Michigan's Upper Peninsula (U.P.) to Chicago where his life turns in the arms and family of his new friend, Emily. Randy and risque from the perspective of a 17 year old - and as I recall, heat was an organizing principle in those years. Mr. Harrison takes a leap into magical realism, and though it's a bit off, it works ultimately, and the end of the novella literally took my breath away.
Five stars should go to Shakespeare, and etc., but I find Jim Harrison to be so lovable he gets the five cause there's no other way to express my affection, respect, and admiration for his work.
In The River Swimmer, Mr. Harrison gives us two coming of age stories, from two points on the spectrum of age. In the first, "The Land of Unlikeness," we spend time with a 60 year old art critic/professor, not-failed but resigned artist, and bon vivant, as he returns home to spend some time caring for his partially blind mother. It's a story of rediscoveries that lead to discoveries and hope. A resurrection of sorts. It's beautifully handled. I don't know how Jim Harrison does it, but all his stories are a meander that go places they have no place going, and the places become exactly where we should be - and then he gets back to the main road. It's like a blessing to spend time in his creations. Mr. Harrison is a randy guy, and the story is full of the humorously risque. Like I said - he's a devil.
In the second, and possibly less successful, but hugely moving (as befits the current) The River Swimmer we're thrown into the life of a 17 year old boy whose medium is water, and whose talent is swimming. He's intent on swimming the rivers of the world, while supporting himself as a hydrologist. As can be expected, he's an odd duck (no pun intended). His girlfriend's abusive father incites the incidents that get him into the water, swimming from Michigan's Upper Peninsula (U.P.) to Chicago where his life turns in the arms and family of his new friend, Emily. Randy and risque from the perspective of a 17 year old - and as I recall, heat was an organizing principle in those years. Mr. Harrison takes a leap into magical realism, and though it's a bit off, it works ultimately, and the end of the novella literally took my breath away.
Five stars should go to Shakespeare, and etc., but I find Jim Harrison to be so lovable he gets the five cause there's no other way to express my affection, respect, and admiration for his work.
January 16, 2014
Four months ago, I had not yet read anything by Jim Harrison. This, The River Swimmer, is now the eighth book of his I've read since then. So, yes, I'm obsessed. These are two novellas, published in 2013. As usual, the plots are not that important, serving only as vehicles for Harrison to expound on Art and Literature, Nature and the Human Soul.
The Land of Unlikeness:
The protagonist, Clive, is a 60 year-old art history professor, appraiser and one-time artist. He is divorced, estranged (stupidly) from his only daughter, and has agreed to spell his sister in the tending of their octogenarian, bird-watching mother in their Upper Michigan homestead. He paints again and re-lives his first love, Laurette.
She was ten and had just moved in down the road. They were riding their bikes toward each other on the gravel road. Clive had seen the moving van and was curious. Laurette had veered her bike toward his with a smile and he had gone over in the ditch scraping his arm. She hadn't stopped. He kept his wound hidden from his mother because he didn't want it doused with stinging methylate but his dad saw it when they went fishing. Clive explained and his dad had simply said, "The female can be a problem."
He takes his mother to the grocery store. She comes out holding a bag and hands it to him, telling him to smell it because "You loved it so as a child." He smelled the brown paper wrapper. It was Ralph's homemade pickled bologna, scarcely Proust's madeline but then he was scarcely Proust.
Food always plays an important role in Harrison's writing. At least he mentions it a lot. Not that I always agree. The night of modest indigestion led him to question why an ordinary mom-and-pop restaurant would put a big amount of rosemary, currently America's most overused herb, in their meat loaf. He obviously has never had my rosemary potatoes.
This story is a little schmaltzy, but I don't mind schmaltzy when it's this entertaining. It's also the first Harrison story I've read where he didn't use the word 'captious'. He's apparently moved on to 'capacious'.
The River Swimmer:
This story, about a boy growing up on an island in a river in Upper Michigan, is some attempt at allegory. The boy becomes an obsessive river swimmer, drawn by a cluster of 'water babies' who continually surround him. It's not Harrison's best work, certainly, but it still allows him to rhapsodize, much to my pleasure.
In school he had long thought that history, the study of it, was an instrument of terror. Reading about either American Indians or slaves can make you physically ill. He wanted a life as free as possible from other people, thus simply staying on the island was tempting. The possibility of stopping people from doing what they do to other people seemed out of the question. Congressmen die in bed.
And....
It seemed comic to him that people desire miracles but when they get them it adds an extremely confusing element to life. Maybe Lazarus didn't want to come back to life.
The Land of Unlikeness:
The protagonist, Clive, is a 60 year-old art history professor, appraiser and one-time artist. He is divorced, estranged (stupidly) from his only daughter, and has agreed to spell his sister in the tending of their octogenarian, bird-watching mother in their Upper Michigan homestead. He paints again and re-lives his first love, Laurette.
She was ten and had just moved in down the road. They were riding their bikes toward each other on the gravel road. Clive had seen the moving van and was curious. Laurette had veered her bike toward his with a smile and he had gone over in the ditch scraping his arm. She hadn't stopped. He kept his wound hidden from his mother because he didn't want it doused with stinging methylate but his dad saw it when they went fishing. Clive explained and his dad had simply said, "The female can be a problem."
He takes his mother to the grocery store. She comes out holding a bag and hands it to him, telling him to smell it because "You loved it so as a child." He smelled the brown paper wrapper. It was Ralph's homemade pickled bologna, scarcely Proust's madeline but then he was scarcely Proust.
Food always plays an important role in Harrison's writing. At least he mentions it a lot. Not that I always agree. The night of modest indigestion led him to question why an ordinary mom-and-pop restaurant would put a big amount of rosemary, currently America's most overused herb, in their meat loaf. He obviously has never had my rosemary potatoes.
This story is a little schmaltzy, but I don't mind schmaltzy when it's this entertaining. It's also the first Harrison story I've read where he didn't use the word 'captious'. He's apparently moved on to 'capacious'.
The River Swimmer:
This story, about a boy growing up on an island in a river in Upper Michigan, is some attempt at allegory. The boy becomes an obsessive river swimmer, drawn by a cluster of 'water babies' who continually surround him. It's not Harrison's best work, certainly, but it still allows him to rhapsodize, much to my pleasure.
In school he had long thought that history, the study of it, was an instrument of terror. Reading about either American Indians or slaves can make you physically ill. He wanted a life as free as possible from other people, thus simply staying on the island was tempting. The possibility of stopping people from doing what they do to other people seemed out of the question. Congressmen die in bed.
And....
It seemed comic to him that people desire miracles but when they get them it adds an extremely confusing element to life. Maybe Lazarus didn't want to come back to life.
January 30, 2013
The first story, The Land of Unkindness, may make you take up the pursuit of being an artist alongside the possible pursuit of various short periods of passion with woman of your liking.
You may even settle for a more less strenuous activity of seeking out a likewise story like that of Tropic of Capricorn by Henry Miller.
This story contains all of the above themes, stringed together with some great words in some nice sentences.
The second story, The River Swimmer, may make you take up the exercise of swimming, at great lengths and cross seas stopping on the way attracted to a woman or two in search of Water Babies.
You may also yet again take the less strenuous task of reading a similar but short story The Swimmer by John Cheever and maybe couple of other tales by other authors.
This story contains all I just mentioned, written with a wonderful writing style.
Both of these stories have the spotlight on men who are in the pursuit of something with a passion and obsession whether it be art, swimming or companionship with women with beauty, money or power.
The River Swimmer
"The young scholar from Michigan State said that poets and novelists were whores for language, that they would give anything for something good. Thad easily accepted the idea that he was a whore for swimming, the only activity that gave him total pleasure and a sense of absolutely belonging on Earth, especially swimming in rivers with the current carrying your water-enveloped body along at its own speed. It was a bliss to him so why shouldn't he be obsessed?"
http://more2read.com/review/the-river-swimmer-novellas-by-jim-harrison/
You may even settle for a more less strenuous activity of seeking out a likewise story like that of Tropic of Capricorn by Henry Miller.
This story contains all of the above themes, stringed together with some great words in some nice sentences.
The second story, The River Swimmer, may make you take up the exercise of swimming, at great lengths and cross seas stopping on the way attracted to a woman or two in search of Water Babies.
You may also yet again take the less strenuous task of reading a similar but short story The Swimmer by John Cheever and maybe couple of other tales by other authors.
This story contains all I just mentioned, written with a wonderful writing style.
Both of these stories have the spotlight on men who are in the pursuit of something with a passion and obsession whether it be art, swimming or companionship with women with beauty, money or power.
The River Swimmer
"The young scholar from Michigan State said that poets and novelists were whores for language, that they would give anything for something good. Thad easily accepted the idea that he was a whore for swimming, the only activity that gave him total pleasure and a sense of absolutely belonging on Earth, especially swimming in rivers with the current carrying your water-enveloped body along at its own speed. It was a bliss to him so why shouldn't he be obsessed?"
http://more2read.com/review/the-river-swimmer-novellas-by-jim-harrison/
April 10, 2018
Another, another. More JH character as JH's likes/dislike's and predominating latest bent descried as He/his character Clive make amends to past and nods to now's. His roots are in northern Michigan a place as roughed-up as he is and coven in its ways mythical. Art front/center woodsy familial tale left apace.
"TRS" a JH knock/off "The Incredible Mr. Limpet" but not really. Magic realism not his normal fare but here it serves his watery penchant to the gills, though Thad the eponymous river stroke'er is just a bug in water not a fish man of mixed taxonomy. He swims and screws and awakens to an expanding and generative, amphibious duality on tap. Sure, why not.
"TRS" a JH knock/off "The Incredible Mr. Limpet" but not really. Magic realism not his normal fare but here it serves his watery penchant to the gills, though Thad the eponymous river stroke'er is just a bug in water not a fish man of mixed taxonomy. He swims and screws and awakens to an expanding and generative, amphibious duality on tap. Sure, why not.
May 27, 2024
A beautiful writer a story about someone who loves and needs water and swimming as much as i do.very dream like ,not all works out but there are possibilities at least.
October 22, 2022
First I should say that I love Jim Harrison's writing and while these two novellas were not my favorites I still enjoyed them very much, specifically The River Swimmer, something really special about Thad! 🐟🐡
February 20, 2013
Harrison is a new writer to me, and although I know he has fervent followers, I can't understand the fuss. He was recommended to me as someone who writes well about the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where I grew up, so I was disappointed to find that the setting was actually in the Lower Peninsula, a whole different kettle of fish.
The main character in the first novella, The Land of Unlikeness, is complete snob, with his name-dropping, his Fed-exed in prosciutto and French cheeses and "real bagels", his cashmere sport coat and his beige linen shirt, and of course, his "big dick". Oh,spare me. Who could care about his old-age crisis? The second novella, The River Swimmer, is better, with the use of magical realism, although his geography is messed up. Find me a river in Michigan wide enough to have a farm-sized island. In short, I didn't even find the stories well-written, with his continual use of "daffy" and "goofy". Someone, enlighten me, please.
The main character in the first novella, The Land of Unlikeness, is complete snob, with his name-dropping, his Fed-exed in prosciutto and French cheeses and "real bagels", his cashmere sport coat and his beige linen shirt, and of course, his "big dick". Oh,spare me. Who could care about his old-age crisis? The second novella, The River Swimmer, is better, with the use of magical realism, although his geography is messed up. Find me a river in Michigan wide enough to have a farm-sized island. In short, I didn't even find the stories well-written, with his continual use of "daffy" and "goofy". Someone, enlighten me, please.
July 29, 2016
Didn't make it to the first novella, the second one was just awful. There were a few great paragraphs early on, with the mystical fish babies and all, and the obsession with swimming had promise. Otherwise I thought Harrison really embarrassed himself here. Felt like notes for a future story that he didn't bother to actually write.
"The River Swimmer" had the melodramatic plot line of a dime-novel Western, without about as much character development as you'd expect to get in a penny-dreadful. Might have been more convincing if it wasn't set in contemporary Michigan. Lots of braggadocio about muscles and trout. What wasn't just plain bad writing struck me as chauvinistic male fantasy porn -- chesty teenagers having stand-up quickies in the woods, flat characterless women, power-hungry males fighting like bucks with tire irons.... and, of course, a Chippewa nanny named Tooth, somewhere back there in the landscape, watching white people degenerate as the timeless river flows on. Same tired old themes. Had promise, but fell apart amazingly fast.
"The River Swimmer" had the melodramatic plot line of a dime-novel Western, without about as much character development as you'd expect to get in a penny-dreadful. Might have been more convincing if it wasn't set in contemporary Michigan. Lots of braggadocio about muscles and trout. What wasn't just plain bad writing struck me as chauvinistic male fantasy porn -- chesty teenagers having stand-up quickies in the woods, flat characterless women, power-hungry males fighting like bucks with tire irons.... and, of course, a Chippewa nanny named Tooth, somewhere back there in the landscape, watching white people degenerate as the timeless river flows on. Same tired old themes. Had promise, but fell apart amazingly fast.
October 8, 2017
Alla dessa vägar som leder fram till böcker. En sen kväll tryckte jag som vanligt på poddknappen för att lyssna på 'Tankar för dagen'. I klippningen hade en liten snutt av detta program http://sverigesradio.se/sida/avsnitt/... kommit med och jag noterade titeln 'The Land of Unlikeness', vilket är den första av två novellor i denna utgåva.
Ett exempel på en enastående förmåga att gestalta. Ibland blir det för mycket information, när varenda erektion ska redovisas i en positively philiproth:esque anda, men läsaren får ett fulländat porträtt av huvudpersonen, med goda och mindre goda sidor, inre och yttre liv:
"Above all else, including a list of neurotic disorders, marital and academic difficulties, Clive was a man of surpassing good humour [...] After a twelve-hour drive and a bitterly stupid late meal in Ypsilanti he was susceptible to his only two current anger items."
Ett exempel på en enastående förmåga att gestalta. Ibland blir det för mycket information, när varenda erektion ska redovisas i en positively philiproth:esque anda, men läsaren får ett fulländat porträtt av huvudpersonen, med goda och mindre goda sidor, inre och yttre liv:
"Above all else, including a list of neurotic disorders, marital and academic difficulties, Clive was a man of surpassing good humour [...] After a twelve-hour drive and a bitterly stupid late meal in Ypsilanti he was susceptible to his only two current anger items."
January 13, 2013
As always, reading a sentence, any sentence written by Jim Harrison is a treat... so, reading two full novellas is a tremendous pleasure.
Both are equally engrossing, but in totally different ways. The first story is that of a failed artist rediscovering his real self at 60, and the second one that of a young man embracing his destiny. Both are splendidly written of course, and they are also full of tenderness and compassion towards the frailty and awkwardness of the human heart and mind.
Both are equally engrossing, but in totally different ways. The first story is that of a failed artist rediscovering his real self at 60, and the second one that of a young man embracing his destiny. Both are splendidly written of course, and they are also full of tenderness and compassion towards the frailty and awkwardness of the human heart and mind.
July 15, 2020
This book is very different from others that I have read by Jim Harrison. The two Novelas included here we’re evidently written toward the end of his writing career. The publication date is given as 2013. The first story is about a 60-year-old man who is an academic and an artist. I enjoyed listening to that story. As a 73-year-old I think I could relate more to this character then I could to previous Harrison characters who were typically young. Also part of the story is about a man potentially re-capturing a love affair from 40 years ago. I had a somewhat similar event in my life with a long lost love and found reading this very reminiscent.
Contrary to the 60-year-old in the first story the second story is about a 17-year-old. It is somewhat of a Bizarre story about a boy who is obsessed with swimming. There is also some fantasy in this story which seems somewhat unusual for Harrison. But again I found it very enjoyable listening.
In both Novelas the setting is of course Michigan. But the location does not really provide a critical part of the story. In the second story water is probably the major character and Michigan provides plenty of water although it is not the only source. In both stories the University of Michigan plays a cameo role. And an Ann Arbor deli also makes a notable appearance. These are small delights for those of us who hail from Michigan and always appreciate the regular references.
Contrary to the 60-year-old in the first story the second story is about a 17-year-old. It is somewhat of a Bizarre story about a boy who is obsessed with swimming. There is also some fantasy in this story which seems somewhat unusual for Harrison. But again I found it very enjoyable listening.
In both Novelas the setting is of course Michigan. But the location does not really provide a critical part of the story. In the second story water is probably the major character and Michigan provides plenty of water although it is not the only source. In both stories the University of Michigan plays a cameo role. And an Ann Arbor deli also makes a notable appearance. These are small delights for those of us who hail from Michigan and always appreciate the regular references.
January 28, 2013
One novella introduces us to Clive, failed artist turned art historian and lecturer, 60ish, returning to the family's Michigan farmhouse so his sister can take a trip to Europe, while Clive watches over their semi-blind bird-watching mother. Clive is available for this duty because of an unfortunate event involving yellow paint, although a palette of artistic mishaps brings him home to Michigan. The River Swimmer drops us in the water with Thad, born on an island farm in Michigan's U.P. At 17, Thad has choices to make that all include dry land and real people; two elements that Thad has little experience of: his realm is the river, swimming the earth's rivers. The boy Thad grapples with choices minus the benefit of long experience. The man Clive struggles with coalescing those decades into life that remains for him. Wants and dreams wash over the rocks of reality and duty for both men. Clive reaches for shore- Thad strokes for open water. The two novellas are a brilliant duet, conducted with Harrison's granite prose and the channeled power of Michigan water. There is a paragraph in The Land of Unlikeness that took my breath away. And it is difficult to breathe through the entirety of The River Swimmer. Excellent work by a master storyteller.
February 25, 2013
This is one of those books that the literary reviewers love. It's been a few years since I read "Julip," another book of novellas by Jim Harrison. I reserved this at our local library after reading a review. The title is actually the second novella. The two characters are as different as they can be and yet similar. The elder, Clive, is an artist while the younger, Thad, is a farm boy drawn to the river.
The first one, The Land of Unlikeness, is one that I particularly enjoyed. Admittedly, it may be because the character is closer to my own age. It's the story of Clive, a farm boy from Michigan who makes it big in the art world until his pictures go out of fashion. He gives up painting and makes a living as an art appraiser and on and off professor. When the story opens he is back in Michigan taking care of his elderly mother while his sister takes her first ever European trip. While there he reconnects with an old love and starts to paint once again.
The second, Thad, finds the river irresistible and sees magical creatures in the water when he swims. Honestly, I didn't get that far. I just found the character uninteresting.
One thing I loved about the first story was discussion about art. Harrison, or at least his character, is very outspoken about who is a "good" artist and who is not. He named some names that intrigued me enough that I plan to look them up. One of the "good" artists was Edward Hopper, one of my personal favorites. I also enjoyed the process of creation described in the story. Clive finds himself in his hometown, a story that could be trite, but it isn't in this case. His painting of a whale on a piece of Masonite that he paints white, his portrait of his old love in an old car, the description of the painting of willows as almost abstract were so vivid in my mind, that I could almost feel like I could recreate them myself. (Except I can't!) Then there is the description of his small pictures of scenes through wavy old glass that were so intriguing that I've made a mental note to see if pictures like that really exist.
So, I loved the first one. The second one bored me completely. Still, it's worth reserving this book at your local library.
The first one, The Land of Unlikeness, is one that I particularly enjoyed. Admittedly, it may be because the character is closer to my own age. It's the story of Clive, a farm boy from Michigan who makes it big in the art world until his pictures go out of fashion. He gives up painting and makes a living as an art appraiser and on and off professor. When the story opens he is back in Michigan taking care of his elderly mother while his sister takes her first ever European trip. While there he reconnects with an old love and starts to paint once again.
The second, Thad, finds the river irresistible and sees magical creatures in the water when he swims. Honestly, I didn't get that far. I just found the character uninteresting.
One thing I loved about the first story was discussion about art. Harrison, or at least his character, is very outspoken about who is a "good" artist and who is not. He named some names that intrigued me enough that I plan to look them up. One of the "good" artists was Edward Hopper, one of my personal favorites. I also enjoyed the process of creation described in the story. Clive finds himself in his hometown, a story that could be trite, but it isn't in this case. His painting of a whale on a piece of Masonite that he paints white, his portrait of his old love in an old car, the description of the painting of willows as almost abstract were so vivid in my mind, that I could almost feel like I could recreate them myself. (Except I can't!) Then there is the description of his small pictures of scenes through wavy old glass that were so intriguing that I've made a mental note to see if pictures like that really exist.
So, I loved the first one. The second one bored me completely. Still, it's worth reserving this book at your local library.
January 30, 2013
Jim Harrison is one of my favorite writers and i would have like to give this a 4th star but only one of the two novellas contained in the collection rise to that level. Harrison is a truly interesting person and someone I would love to meet. He is a writer(obviously) but also an outdoorsman, gourmand andcocktail enthusiast with a tremendous bullshit detector.He writes about life from the perspective of somebody filled with great gusto. The first story in the collection is reall great in the Land of Unlikeness Harrison's protagonist is Clive a 60 year old former painter who returns to the Michigan peninsula to take care of his mother (who may or may not need her son's attention. Clive rediscovers himse;f and reignites his long lost love of painting. The story is fine but what really makes the story is all of the dry and intelligent observations that Clive makes about people, love, life food and art. In many ways Clive is probably channeling the author's own opinions but that does not makethestory any less enjoyable.
If you are not a completist and everyone on this site has the tendency to want to finish every book started you could skip the second story The River Swimmer. Thad a teenager living on a Michigan farm conducts epic feets of swimming while learning about life and love from a menagerie of intereseting human types. Harrison lost me by introducing these magical creatures that Thad encounters while plying the rivers. Harrison is a great realist writer but this dose of magic realism left me wishing that Harrison left this in the capable hands of Garcia Marquez. Not a bad story but not in the style of Jim Harrison that I have grown to enjoy. I plan on reading some more Harrison soon i have high hopes the next collection will be more like The Land of Unlikeness
If you are not a completist and everyone on this site has the tendency to want to finish every book started you could skip the second story The River Swimmer. Thad a teenager living on a Michigan farm conducts epic feets of swimming while learning about life and love from a menagerie of intereseting human types. Harrison lost me by introducing these magical creatures that Thad encounters while plying the rivers. Harrison is a great realist writer but this dose of magic realism left me wishing that Harrison left this in the capable hands of Garcia Marquez. Not a bad story but not in the style of Jim Harrison that I have grown to enjoy. I plan on reading some more Harrison soon i have high hopes the next collection will be more like The Land of Unlikeness
March 3, 2014
This book consists of 2 novellas. I give the first, The land of Unlikeliness" 5 stars. In it he writes, "He was suddenly quite tired of the mythology he had constructed for his life." What a marvelous sentence. And like that sentence, this novella reminds me why I love reading Jim Harrison's older work, before he became full of himself. Here he's not trying to be too clever by half and too dismissive of his readers. This is a wonderful novella, as good as anything as Harrison has written before.
But in the second novella, The River Swimmer, he's back to his newer self. Listen to this: "Out of the blue he said dramatically that he hoped to die alone in a small cabin on a river." I mean, really, "he said dramatically?" It goes on: "She broke into tears. It is a terrible thing when one's love far exceeds the other's. There was no way to comfort her. She was inconsolable. he had done violence to her fantasy life which clearly included him. He sat down at the window hearing her sniffling behind him. He viewed early marriage as banal as swimming the English Channel. He felt an absurd agitation. You go on vacation and end up sitting looking out the window. Her pillow actually became wet with tears. He finally couldn't resist her rump in its summer skirt and making love slowed but didn't abolish the tears." And the whole novella is like that! What narcissistic bullshit. One star.
So the book as a whole gets 3 stars.
But in the second novella, The River Swimmer, he's back to his newer self. Listen to this: "Out of the blue he said dramatically that he hoped to die alone in a small cabin on a river." I mean, really, "he said dramatically?" It goes on: "She broke into tears. It is a terrible thing when one's love far exceeds the other's. There was no way to comfort her. She was inconsolable. he had done violence to her fantasy life which clearly included him. He sat down at the window hearing her sniffling behind him. He viewed early marriage as banal as swimming the English Channel. He felt an absurd agitation. You go on vacation and end up sitting looking out the window. Her pillow actually became wet with tears. He finally couldn't resist her rump in its summer skirt and making love slowed but didn't abolish the tears." And the whole novella is like that! What narcissistic bullshit. One star.
So the book as a whole gets 3 stars.
January 28, 2013
A Michigan author, I am not sure why he calls Reed City and Big Rapids northern Michigan since that usually means at least Grayling and Traverse City, let alone the UP. His settings are familiar ground to me since I grew up mid-Michigan in the farm country he describes. I respond to his themes of nature grounding a person, his 62-year-old protagonist returning to his roots and what gives him pleasure after his chasing art history/appraisal/ lecturing as his career, and his depiction of the way loneliness is a gift. The second novella of the swimmer seemed like an interesting plot he suddenly lost interest in fleshing out and just told the reader how it would go were he to write a longer version.
April 7, 2014
Jim Harrison is one of those writers that I like without being quite willing to concede that he is a great writer. Something in his voice, however, very much appeals to me. Both of these stories strike close to home: I am a retired professor (the first story) and a compulsive swimmer (story two). But the personal attachment goes beyond that--in ways that derive, perhaps, from our similar age and similar interests. At any rate, these two novellas are well told, and each has a slightly different tone: the first a rather gritty realism, the second sliding into a type of magical realism I don't normally associate with Harrison. A pleasant and provocative way to spend two or three hours!
August 11, 2024
Every now and then I get a little self-conscious about how much of my reading is devoted to horror. I love it to death, it’s my genre and a big part of my life, but at the end of the day, I realize it can be a kind of junk food to satiate my arrested development. That nostalgia for monsters and ghosts makes me feel like a kid again, and it’s a wonderful escape from reality.
So when I get self-conscious about this, I usually try and pick up a general fiction (or “literary”) book I’ve been putting off for a while. I’ll be honest, I’m only familiar with Jim Harrison’s work because my sister was a rabid fan of The Legends of the Fall film adaptation when we were growing up. I came to find out later that he’s considered one of the greats. And when I visited Livingston, MT last summer, I found a ton of his books in a local bookstore. I was browsing and this collection of 2 novellas jumped out at me: “The River Swimmer”. Anyone who knows me knows that my favorite outdoor activity is swimming, and particularly in rivers. It’s another form of escape for me. Growing up a fat kid, swimming always felt magical; not only are you closer to nature, but you feel weightless! You felt like a great dancer. It’s wonderful.
While reading (well, listening, I’ll get to that later), I discovered this is just two slice of life tales. Both coming of age, one about an older man and one about a young man. They were okay, but the poignant realizations of a life wasted, the decisions to be made about charting a new course…I find those in writers like Stephen King and Charles Grant all the time. They’re no lesser just because there’s a boogeyman haunting the shadows. I didn’t find this particularly elevated in language or purpose, but that may have been effected by another factor.
I made the mistake of listening to the audio while preparing for the new school year since my free-time has been whittled down to barely anything. The guy who narrates the audiobook is really, really bad. One of the worst I’ve ever heard, and it made the writing feel flat, boring, and amateur. There’s no way this should’ve been boring. They were unbelievably horny like I couldn’t believe, and yet the teller made it sound so drab. I’ve told myself one day I’ll return, particularly to the title story, but I’ll make the time to read it with my own eyes.
So when I get self-conscious about this, I usually try and pick up a general fiction (or “literary”) book I’ve been putting off for a while. I’ll be honest, I’m only familiar with Jim Harrison’s work because my sister was a rabid fan of The Legends of the Fall film adaptation when we were growing up. I came to find out later that he’s considered one of the greats. And when I visited Livingston, MT last summer, I found a ton of his books in a local bookstore. I was browsing and this collection of 2 novellas jumped out at me: “The River Swimmer”. Anyone who knows me knows that my favorite outdoor activity is swimming, and particularly in rivers. It’s another form of escape for me. Growing up a fat kid, swimming always felt magical; not only are you closer to nature, but you feel weightless! You felt like a great dancer. It’s wonderful.
While reading (well, listening, I’ll get to that later), I discovered this is just two slice of life tales. Both coming of age, one about an older man and one about a young man. They were okay, but the poignant realizations of a life wasted, the decisions to be made about charting a new course…I find those in writers like Stephen King and Charles Grant all the time. They’re no lesser just because there’s a boogeyman haunting the shadows. I didn’t find this particularly elevated in language or purpose, but that may have been effected by another factor.
I made the mistake of listening to the audio while preparing for the new school year since my free-time has been whittled down to barely anything. The guy who narrates the audiobook is really, really bad. One of the worst I’ve ever heard, and it made the writing feel flat, boring, and amateur. There’s no way this should’ve been boring. They were unbelievably horny like I couldn’t believe, and yet the teller made it sound so drab. I’ve told myself one day I’ll return, particularly to the title story, but I’ll make the time to read it with my own eyes.
August 26, 2018
Two novellas - this collection landed on my "want to read" list based on a review from quite a few years ago. I wonder what the review said that made me think I wanted to read it? I did not really engage with either of the main characters, both so self-absorbed and Clive (first novella) terrifically off-putting. Thad (second tale) on the other hand, is a 17-year old prior to entering last year of high school but seems in many respects like he has the life of a 38 year old. A unifying thread from both novellas is that a man of any age can have sex with limitless women from teens to ???? On a certain level, both stories seemed caught up in the sexual fantasizing of an old(er) man. I did enjoy some of the writing about the natural world. The character of Clive's mother who is presented as such an unsympathetic and annoying curmudgeon is on to something with the bird watching. Clive even comes to an appreciation of that.
September 19, 2017
Novellas and short stories are not my favorites for reading. This book is two novellas in one book. I actually liked both stories for this one reason. I liked how the author described how outside pleasures become a part on who we are. When we lose sight of those things that bring us joy, we lose a piece of ourselves. I thought that was beautifully done in both of these stories. But the first one was my favorite.
I have another book by this author, which is collection of short stories. I'm hoping it will be a pleasant experience.
I have another book by this author, which is collection of short stories. I'm hoping it will be a pleasant experience.
June 7, 2022
First one was typical Harrison. Older guy going through existential crises, but more vulnerable than some of his other old man crises stories.
Second novella, The River Swimmer, has a nice tinge of magical realism that is not a common feature of Harrison's writing but really quite well done in this piece. It stands in stark relief against some of the brutal realism that is also depicted.
I might be too rough on the ole boy. Might should be a 3. There is beautiful writing there, some of the "older male character going through a sexual and life crisis" just doesn't hit home.
2.5
Second novella, The River Swimmer, has a nice tinge of magical realism that is not a common feature of Harrison's writing but really quite well done in this piece. It stands in stark relief against some of the brutal realism that is also depicted.
I might be too rough on the ole boy. Might should be a 3. There is beautiful writing there, some of the "older male character going through a sexual and life crisis" just doesn't hit home.
2.5
September 25, 2023
It was my sister Evie who first introduced me to Jim Harrison. He is her favorite author, and has read everything he published multiple times, particularly his novel Dalva.
Her love for Harrison has rubbed off of me. I’m a huge fan of his work as well, though not nearly at the level of my sister, whose obsession for him is borderline cultish.
Anyway, I love his novellas- he’s the king of the novella- because they tend to be leaner and funnier, though I prefer his novels for their depth.
These were good, though by no means his best work. He wrote better before and after this. I think diehard fans of Harrison like my sister will feel the same.
If you’re a lover of Harrison you will enjoy these, but if you are new to him I’d go for another one of his works instead. But don’t be confused; his magic is still in this work for sure.
Her love for Harrison has rubbed off of me. I’m a huge fan of his work as well, though not nearly at the level of my sister, whose obsession for him is borderline cultish.
Anyway, I love his novellas- he’s the king of the novella- because they tend to be leaner and funnier, though I prefer his novels for their depth.
These were good, though by no means his best work. He wrote better before and after this. I think diehard fans of Harrison like my sister will feel the same.
If you’re a lover of Harrison you will enjoy these, but if you are new to him I’d go for another one of his works instead. But don’t be confused; his magic is still in this work for sure.
November 5, 2025
I can see why this book was recommended to me. I'm a big fan of Steinbeck, and Harrison's prose is similar to Steinbeck's in a lot of ways, especially when he's describing the landscape and nature. But I really don't need to hear in detail about Laurette's vulva and Kara's ass, and there's way too much focus on the sex lives of teenagers. it's a shame because it had potential at the beginning.
December 7, 2018
I actually enjoyed the first novella more, the main male character was a total pig but I enjoyed all the female characters, especially his mother.
December 16, 2019
Two interesting and open ended stories.
May 12, 2022
While I truly enjoy reading Jim Harrison I realize his attitude toward women have not weathered the test of time well.
Read
October 28, 2024This was my first intro to Jim Harrison's fiction, and I did not love it.
July 28, 2013
I'm struggling for connections between the two novellas that make up this volume. The writing itself is uniformly good; Harrison is clearly a master of the English language, and some of his passages captivate. In fact, my response to these works is more about me, the reader, than the author. In this way, I can thank Harrison for helping me know more about myself than I did before.
In the first long story/short novel, titledThe Land of Unlikeness, we are made to follow the misadventures of a middle-aged painter of fading renown as he goes back to his childhood home in rural Michigan. I agree with Harrison that "memories reside in the landscape and arise when you revisit an area." However, there was nothing heroic or interesting enough about Clive, the protagonist in question, to make me particularly care about his memories or how they made him feel or think about his life. Late in the narrative, Harrison states of Clive, "He was a man of no importance so why not paint?"
I know that this is a story about how one examines the path his life has taken up to its apex and impending decline; in fact, I know it quite personally. Unfortunately, however, I agree with Harrison's narration in that I find Clive unimportant and therefore uninteresting.
Conversely, the second piece,The River Swimmer held my attention, mostly, I think, due to a kind of magic realism that was absent from the first story. Thad is a person who cannot stay away from the water and the wonder it offers him, the true meaning it gives his life when he is swimming. He is accompanied, time and again, by his "friends," amphibious creatures called "water babies," who, according to native lore are inhabited by the souls of dead infants. They guide and love him in the dark water, and he muses on whether or not to share his discovery with the rest of the world. The core of the book is this division between the real and the miraculous. In my favorite line in the book, Harrison writes, "It seemed comic to [Thad] that people desire miracles but when they get them it adds an extremely confusing element to life. Maybe Lazarus didn't want to come back to life."
The River Swimmer is all about this struggle we hold; on the one hand, we desire a quiet, comfortable life. As humans, however, it is in our nature to crave the transcendent, the magical, the divine. Again, my thanks to Jim Harrison for reminding me that I, too, crave this magic, especially in the fiction that moves me in any "real" sense.
In the first long story/short novel, titledThe Land of Unlikeness, we are made to follow the misadventures of a middle-aged painter of fading renown as he goes back to his childhood home in rural Michigan. I agree with Harrison that "memories reside in the landscape and arise when you revisit an area." However, there was nothing heroic or interesting enough about Clive, the protagonist in question, to make me particularly care about his memories or how they made him feel or think about his life. Late in the narrative, Harrison states of Clive, "He was a man of no importance so why not paint?"
I know that this is a story about how one examines the path his life has taken up to its apex and impending decline; in fact, I know it quite personally. Unfortunately, however, I agree with Harrison's narration in that I find Clive unimportant and therefore uninteresting.
Conversely, the second piece,The River Swimmer held my attention, mostly, I think, due to a kind of magic realism that was absent from the first story. Thad is a person who cannot stay away from the water and the wonder it offers him, the true meaning it gives his life when he is swimming. He is accompanied, time and again, by his "friends," amphibious creatures called "water babies," who, according to native lore are inhabited by the souls of dead infants. They guide and love him in the dark water, and he muses on whether or not to share his discovery with the rest of the world. The core of the book is this division between the real and the miraculous. In my favorite line in the book, Harrison writes, "It seemed comic to [Thad] that people desire miracles but when they get them it adds an extremely confusing element to life. Maybe Lazarus didn't want to come back to life."
The River Swimmer is all about this struggle we hold; on the one hand, we desire a quiet, comfortable life. As humans, however, it is in our nature to crave the transcendent, the magical, the divine. Again, my thanks to Jim Harrison for reminding me that I, too, crave this magic, especially in the fiction that moves me in any "real" sense.
January 27, 2014
The two novellas in this book are a study in contrasts. The land of Unlikeness takes Clive, a 60-something year old failed artist and successful critic and academic, from his comfortable Manhattan life back to the small farm in northern Michigan where he grew up. He's there to look after his bird watching, slightly dotty mother so his sister can spend a month in Europe - her first trip abroad. He reconnects with his family, his first love and his painterly self in ways that are both surprising and satisfying.
The River Swimmer is the story of Thad, a teenage farm boy who has been obsessed with swimming since early childhood, and swimming rivers especially. The tension between his love of farming and his obsession with water describe his life. In a bit of magical realism, there are water babies who appear to him occasionally, and serve as guides and rescuers when he needs them. It's all rather strange and wonderful.
There are some writers who are mostly head, and some who are mostly heart. In these stories, Harrison is both. Clive is decent but flawed, regretful and hopeful, appreciative of his connections both to his international art scene and his rural roots. Thad is all youthful dreams and optimism, combined with his grounding in life on the farm and his mystical relationship with water.
Both stories are filled with sentences that are so perfect and beautiful that I had to stop and read them over and over.
The River Swimmer is the story of Thad, a teenage farm boy who has been obsessed with swimming since early childhood, and swimming rivers especially. The tension between his love of farming and his obsession with water describe his life. In a bit of magical realism, there are water babies who appear to him occasionally, and serve as guides and rescuers when he needs them. It's all rather strange and wonderful.
There are some writers who are mostly head, and some who are mostly heart. In these stories, Harrison is both. Clive is decent but flawed, regretful and hopeful, appreciative of his connections both to his international art scene and his rural roots. Thad is all youthful dreams and optimism, combined with his grounding in life on the farm and his mystical relationship with water.
Both stories are filled with sentences that are so perfect and beautiful that I had to stop and read them over and over.
January 7, 2014
This compilation of two novellas by Jim Harrison provides a fascinating perspective of time and the human condition. The first—The Land of Unlikeness—concerns an older man in his declining years unhappily reviewing his past, not necessarily as failure but rather as, accomplishing all he set out to achieve but finding no enjoyment in the result. He realizes that regardless of his professional success as a notable New York art appraiser and art history professor he was happiest when he was a painter without any hope of success. When he returns to his childhood Michigan home to care for his elderly mother he becomes obsessed with early memories of his sexual awaking and his love of painting and recording life's experiences. The second novella—The River Swimmer—concerns a young farm boy growing up with an obsession for flowing water, particularly rivers, and an overwhelming need to swim in them. This story is written in a completely different style from the first. Free flowing thoughts and mystical illusions mix with the reality of every day life and the decisions he faces about the future; the river swimming, real or imagined, providing an escape from compromise. In both stories Harrison unabashedly suggests that wealth is hollow when achieved and that true happiness can only be found in the basic constructs of a more natural world. I think this one deserves a second read. There's a lot going on.
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