Mississippi Solo: A River Quest

by Eddy L. Harris

Since the publication of his first book, Mississippi Solo, Eddy L. Harris has been praised for his travel writing. In this exciting reissue of his classic travelogue, readers will come to treasure the rich insightful prose that is as textured as the Mississippi River itself. They will be taken by the hand by an adventurer whose lifelong dream is to canoe the length of this mighty river, from Minnesota to New Orleans. The trip's dangers were legion for a Black man traveling alone, paddling from "where there ain't no black folks to where they still don't like us much." Barge waives loom large, wild dogs roam the wooded shores, and, in the Arkansas dusk, two shotgun-toting bigots nearly bring the author's dream to a bloody . Sustaining him through the hard weeks of paddling were the hundreds of people who reached out to share a small piece of his challenge. Mississippi Solo is a big, rollicking, brilliant book, a wonderful piece of American adventure, and an unforgettable story of a man testing his own limits.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Memoir, Adventure, African American, Literature, Book Club

256 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1988

About the author

Eddy L. Harris is the author of six books, including Native Stranger (Vintage, 1992) and Still Life in Harlem (Holt, 1996), both selected as “Notable Books” of the year by the New York Times. He is the writer, producer, and subject of the new documentary film River to the Heart. Currently he is writing an accompanying book as well as an exploration of race in Eastern Europe. He lives in the village of Pranzac, France.
***************
Poussé par son père, il fait des études dans un collège blanc catholique, premier pas vers la Stanford University.
À 30 ans, il décide de descendre le Mississipi en canoë et fait du récit de cette expérience la matière de son premier livre, A Mississipi Solo (1988).
Native Stranger (1992) raconte le voyage d’un Blackamerican au coeur de l’Afrique. Southern Haunted Dream (1993) naît de sa traversée du Sud des Etats-Unis à moto, sur les traces de Amérique de l’esclavage et du racisme quotidien.
Still life in Harlem, qui paraît en 1996 (Harlem en traduction française, Liana Levi, 2000), mêle portraits et réflexions au cours des deux années qu’il a choisi de vivre au coeur de ce quartier new-yorkais symbole de
l’espérance noire, passée et présente.
Jupiter et moi (Liana Levi, 2005), est une évocation
de la figure paternelle.

Aujourd’hui, Eddy L. Harris a quitté Harlem et élu domicile en France (à Paris puis aujourd’hui en Poitou-Charentes), tout en voyageant régulièrement à travers les États-Unis.

Source : Entre2noirs

Reviews

[Jessaka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heading for the Big Easy

I loved this book because it was slow and easy. Peaceful. It was as though the author were cruising down the river on a Sunday afternoon. And I liked him, too, because he was a calm, quiet, and kind person who had a wonderful philosophy and a lyrical style of writing. What more could you ask for?

His plan was to begin his trip in Minnesota and end up in New Orleans. A Mississippi River trip. He was warned about taking this trip past Missouri, because it might be unsafe due to racism. He was black. I worried about him too, because we had lived in Mississippi in the 90s, and only lasted 9 months. I grew so tired of hearing the “N” word when talking to other white people I hardly knew. They just thought that I would think like them. I joined a Buddhist group in Memphis, and that was my saving grace. I even had black friends, one who said that she preferred The South to Oregon, where she once lived, because at least she knew where she stood here. Oregon’s people were often just politically correct. You never knew if they were racist or not. Me, I just couldn’t stand to listen to racist comments.

The first half of his trip was the slow and easy part of the trip.I loved it because I needed to relax after listening to the daily news. So, I got to listen to his philosophy of life, his descriptions of nature, the river, and his encounters with people.
The white people he met along the way to St. Louis, Missouri were wonderfully kind and helpful. They made me think of the old song, “Dear Hearts and Gentle People.” But, then it happened: he arrived in St. Louis, visited with his family, and moved on, but not without his older brother. I was so glad that his brother left after two days because he was ruining Eddy’s trip and my peace of mind. But, it didn’t end there because he ran into a pack of wild dogs, a sex crazed teenage blonde haired girl that wanted to sleep with him, and then two “red neck,”men that were looking for trouble. Red Neck? People have given the farmers and ranchers of America a bad reputation. They are the red necks, and they can be liberal or conservative, and they can be racists or antiracists. And it makes no difference if you have extended the word Red Necks to others, the same applies. I would have called these men, white supremacists.

Yet, he met a lot of nice people in Mississippi and Louisiana. As for the river, well, it isn’t like it was in Mark Twain’s day. I had to stop remembering what the Mississippi River looked like when we were there. We first saw it off the bridge going into Memphis. We even took a drive to try to get to its shores, but all the roads led to farms that blocked our way. I saw it in New Orleans when I took a trip there, many times, with my sister and niece. We took a five-hour ferry boat ride, and it was boring and a big disappointment because the river’s walls were caked in concrete. Once we took a swamp tour in New Orleans, and that was wonderful. It was the way that the Mississippi should have looked. Natural.

So, now I am sold on this writer and have begun his book on Harlem. Only Harlem is not the peaceful place it was in the 20s. Well, not that it was totally peaceful, but it was better than it is now, and I am beginning to miss his Mississippi trip.

[Shirleynature · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eddy L. Harris's debut is a heartfelt and candid travel memoir and a fantastic story of his right of passage into adulthood. While his experiences reflect primarily a man of color enjoying kindness and generosity from strangers, episodes of racism are perhaps downplayed.

At some point I want to read Harris's book, "South of Haunted Dreams"; that seems to be of his journey into the heart of the racially divided Southern United States.

The power of The River and Mother Nature in "Mississippi Solo: A River Quest" are prominent throughout. Reading the episode at page 223-224 was as visceral as experiencing the hurricane scene in "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston, wow! I wish I knew exactly when Harris survived that storm...

I'm grateful to have read this book, recommended to me by Kansas author George Frazier. Now I'm inspired to re-read Frazier's closing chapter in "The Last Wild Places of Kansas" to experience his river journey again!

I had the opportunity to interview Eddy L. Harris in 2020. Here's a link to our conversation, enjoy!
https://lplks.org/blogs/post/heartfel...

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been a long time since I read a book and said, "I don't care where this takes me, I just want to see how this author puts the next sentence together." That's how good Eddy Harris is - dude can write!
And maybe it's appropriate that we just want to follow the flow of his words as this is a memoir by a centrist black man who is riding the Mississippi from Minnesota to New Orleans just so he can say he did it. Just get in, get on, and ride.
And I'm glad I took the plunge (horrible pun), because in Eddy Harris I discovered a dude who made no attempt to sound like anyone but Eddy Harris - he's not sparse, not flowery, not inconsitent. He's just himself, writing with a confidence I wish I had.
He can paint a river morning in middle America in a way that hearkens to Steinbeck's muse about a farm cat slinking into the barn in "Grapes of Wrath". Then he can shower down action like Crichton. He's neither of those writers, he's both of those writers, he's 100% himself.
I'm going to look for more by Eddy.

[AndreaMarretti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meraviglioso poter pensare che il fiume di Tom Sawyer è ancora lí.
E si, spesso la parte difficile è solo la partenza, sia che si tratti di un viaggio sia che

[stampatominuscolo · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Salire su una canoa alle sorgenti del Mississippi e puntare verso New Orleans...non è da persone normali, sane di mente".
In effetti, nessuno degli amici di vecchia data sostiene Eddy in questo bizzarro progetto, il suo sogno, un desiderio tenace come le sottili ragnatele sospese nell'aria estiva.

Eddy è nato a St.Louis e il grande fiume ha da sempre catturato la sua immaginazione: lo osserva da bambino, seduto sull'argine, attratto dalla sua forza e ammirato dal coraggioso e lungo viaggio di quelle acque temibili, ma paterne, solcate da chiatte e rimorchiatori. Non sa, Eddy bambino, quanto altro il Mississippi trascina con sé: storia, colpe, sogni di libertà; è l'identità di una intera nazione, che il suo corso spacca in due, dal lago Itasca, Minnesota a New Orleans, Louisiana: oltre tremilasettecento km!

Dunque si va, si parte: comincia l'avventura, senza esperienza di canoa né attrezzatura tecnica, con tanto coraggio e determinazione però, e la pressante esigenza di mettersi alla prova e conoscersi meglio. Il fiume cambia man mano che le sue acque corrono verso sud: è un bimbetto alla sorgente, ma diventa presto un ragazzotto che sperimenta la sua forza e la sua stazza; lo stesso è per Eddy: pagaiando con fatica, soffrendo di dolore per lo sforzo inusuale cui costringe il suo corpo, tremando per il freddo, urlando di paura per le rapide e la forza delle correnti, una chiusa dopo l'altra, Eddy muta insieme al fiume: è sempre più consapevole delle sue forze, e anche se il dubbio e la tentazione di mollare lo accompagneranno fin quasi alle porte di New Orleans, ora sa cosa vuole e perché: comprendere il fiume e attraverso il fiume, se stesso. Crescono insieme, i due: ma è chiaro chi comanda e detta le regole; Eddy ha crescente rispetto per questo dio-fiume che lo sta facendo diventare uomo. E scrittore.

C'è tanto altro nel romanzo: letteratura, fede, riflessioni politiche e sociali, la questione razziale, persone e storie americane del finire degli anni 80. Leggetelo 😉

[Troy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A black man decides to kayak down the Mississippi and, needless to say, such an extraordinary undertaking demands a retelling. I enjoyed it, but the author's insistence to pull away from the impact and framing of his experience in terms of being black in America and what it meant was..off-putting. Being black in America, in my opinion, frames our experience and in that frame one realizes that different things means different things to different people. Whether it be by upbringing or life experience, my thoughts about, say, Legos, are different from yours. He refuses to look at it in this way, only trying to frame his experience in terms of the great American experience which, while certainly his right and certainly his perogative, make him sound naive and an apologist for being black in the first place.

Even whenthings happen to him SPECIFICALLY because he is black (the rednecks in Arkansas pops to mind), he goes to length to explain it away. They'd do this to anyone, he muses, and in this good ol US of A! The naivete was deafening.

I finished the book, and enjoyed a lot of his summations amid the greater backdrop of doing A Wondrous Thing. Everyone wants t be remembered, and to touch people's lives is a special thing, and I think his stated need to do that put into words what a lot of us WANT to do in our own lives.

[Catherine Woodman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this when we spent a week on a paddlewheel boat going down the Mississippi River--a man who has a mid-life crisis and canoes down the Mississippi. My oft quoted line from this book is when he loses his canoe and asks someone to help him, thinks it might have been stolen, and the woman says "you are in Minnesota. that didn't happen. You probably didn't tie it up right" and sure enough,she was right--they found it had floated down river a bit.

[Laura Hoffman Brauman · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Eddy Harris was 30, he stopped and took stock of his life and where he was at - and decided to canoe the length of the Mississippi River, despite little experience with things like canoeing or camping. On this journey, Harris pushes the limits both physically and mentally. This Mississippi is a big river to canoe (not just in length), and two months of solo time seeing the best and worst of both people and nature will show you what you are made of. There were additional challenges that Harris faced as a Black man traveling alone, especially in the south - but Harris is clear that these are his experiences as a person. While he states, though, that he has always seen being Black as just one of the characteristics of who he is, he is also aware that on this journey it would impact both how he perceives his experiences as well as how he is perceived. Harris is a very talented writer and I appreciated how he described the natural world that he interacted with, the numerous people he meets along the way, and how his own thought process changed as the river changed on his journey.

"To drive the senses alive and then to calm them. To be able to see with the eye that is the heart's eye, to see life. To become one with the river, but more to become one with life. The river, the trees, the animals, the men and women, the wind. To feel it all rushing through my veins and to love it. To know that they are me and I am them. They and their generosity and goodness and beauty are what I want to be. They and their hate and shame and evil are what I am and what I try not to see. but it's all there, the many sides. And the faces of strangers are no longer strange. "

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book when I was going through my dad's library of books after he passed away. It sounded interesting and I knew my dad really loved this book. It was slow going at first but as I read more and more I felt as though I was silently riding along with Eddy. I could hear the river, smell the diesel, and it was wonderfully written. I highly recommend this book and hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

[J.J. Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my dreams as a child was to canoe from Ontario, Canada, to New Orleans. Here's a man who makes a similar quest and learns that the journey itself is of far greater value than the destination. Simply fascinating and real.

[Mesembryanthemum · Rating 4 out of 5]

A favorite book. Eddy L. Harris writes beautifully and has important things to say. Plus, I love how he describes the Mississippi river. I need to read more by this author.

[J.D. Frailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a good read, it completely and utterly squashed any ideas I once had of floating down the Mississippi myself. Eddie Harris is a St. Louis guy although now lives in Paris, went to college at Stanford, canoed from the headwaters in Itasca to New Orleans in 1998. It was interesting reading about the locks in the upper part of the Mississippi, I think he said there is only one below St. Louis. He met some interesting people along the way, whether in the occasional small towns at which he stopped to get provisions or people fishing along the banks or on the river in boats, whether small boats or barges. He was concerned he might have some issues in the South because he is African-American, but only one encounter with a couple rednecks and that was it. Part of the book is history, part is geography, part anthropology, and part meditations and reflections. Here is one passage I marked: “Then I finally saw what it was all about, what it was all for. To drive the senses alive and then to calm them. To be able to see with the eye that is the heart’s eye, to see life. To become one with the river, but more to become one with life. The river, the trees, the animals, the men and women, the wind. To feel it all rushing through my veins and to love it.”

[giduso · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un bel libro di viaggio. Lo scrittore percorre il Mississippi a bordo di una canoa, dal Minnesota a New Orleans, rendendo i lettori partecipi sia dell'avventura e degli incontri, sia delle sue analisi introspettive. Interessante leggere di un'America meno conosciuta.

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author writes with an unsophisticated - almost conversational - style, which adds to appeal of this book. Like you are just hanging out, having a cup of coffee, and listening to Eddy tell about about his trip down the Mississippi River. THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER, you say. Well, that's going to be quite a story. But after a while you wonder why you are becoming annoyed with this guy who seems a little full of himself at times. Was it because he was woefully unprepared for the trip? Or because he continually depended on the kindness of friends and strangers alike? Whatever the reason, it's still a story worth hearing about, especially when every once in awhile there's a little nugget like this:
"My duffel bags are nylon & camouflaged. Those were the cheapest ones, and at that price I would have taken absolutely any color. In fact I would have preferred any color, even fire-engine red, to the camouflage. I hoped no one would think I was one of those trendy idiots who walk around in combat fatigues trying to be stylish."
Priceless.

[Nikki Robbins · Rating 2 out of 5]

I expected more. Although fun to read about the part in MN, the glimpses of adventure, and the generous people he met along the way, Harris’ account of canoeing down the Mississippi somehow revealed very little personal development or personal insight.

[audrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first half of the book: four stars. The second: 2 stars. Add in the animal harm and: feh.

In the first half of the book, the author puts in in Minnesota and learns to canoe down the Mississippi, pulling off the river at tons of small towns along the way, and describing them in glowing detail. Lots of diners, lots of meals.

Halfway through the book, he decides he's going to suspend his journey at a certain town. Then he gets to the town and decides to keep going.

But then the whole second half of the book, the author seems tired of the whole project, and the writing really reflects that. And the loss of this kind of gritty joy at being on an adventure and learning new hard things is a true loss for the reader.

Then there's the dogs.

Animal harm in the spoiler: one night the author pulls off the river to camp, and some feral dogs come to his camp. He is terrified of dogs. The dogs come up to his tent and curl next to him through the tent, for warmth. This is terrifying for him, so the next morning he gets up bright and early and before they can get going he shoots them both, horribly, so unfortunately it's fuck this author all day long.

The author also drinks everything in creation. Wowzer that was a lot of drinking.

One of the things I appreciated about the book was that the author, who is Black, talks at some length about his fear of traveling alone into the American South, where we continue to have honking great problems with anti-Black racism, to the very real point that the author fears racist violence. And in fact in Mississippi, he is set upon by two white men. Plus all along the way he also has to tolerate far too many other white people using the n-word at him, and manages not to shoot any of them.

When I read travel-adventure narratives, I am continually struck by who thinks about the threat of violence and who has the privilege not to. In general, I've noticed that women who hike and camp mention their fear of violence at least in passing, and men don't. This is also the first book I've read where a male traveler encountered violence (sadly I've read it in multiple female-authored narratives.)

An okay read, but not one I'd recommend unless river travel or American camping narratives are absolutely your thing.

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is almost 40 years old (published in 1985), and I wonder what Eddy Harris would have experienced had he traveled solo down the Mississippi in a canoe in 2022. I expect it would have been worse--the overt, threatening racism he encounters would likely be more, and the weird passive-aggressive and verbal behavior from people he meets just as bad. I was struck that Harris didn't seem to mind much of it at all (except for the moment that he's nearly murdered).
The book is a true travelogue, flowing nearly day by day on the river, accounting his stops, his descriptions of landscapes, his meals, his pleasure in a beer and various liquors. In that way there's not much he reaches for as an over-arching message. I was compelled to read faster as the book went on, seeing Eddy to the end of his journey. I step away wondering what the rest of his life was like.
I'll assign 3-4 chapters in an upcoming course on Black Natures--an important text for accessing African American experience in nature prior to Rodney King and past 40 years of history.

[dirt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A love story about a man and a river.

Eddy Harris delivers a wonderfully honest account of his trip down the Might Mississippi. He does a remarkable job portraying the different moods of the river, the towns and people he encounters, and the fluctuating state of his soul. One notion I took away from this book is that 99.5% of his encounters with other people were positive, which helps reaffirm my personal belief that most people are good, decent, and eager to help.

The amazing days, desperate moments, peaceful interludes, disappointing times, and revelations of clarity are all delivered poignantly. You share in Eddy's elation and frustration. More over, you obtain the beatific state of mind he develops during the journey. As a reader, you cheer him on when he contemplates quitting early.

You share the same mix of emotions as Eddy's journey ends and the pages of the book dwindle.

[Micol Benimeo · Rating 2 out of 5]

La cosa migliore del libro è la stupenda copertina dell’edizione de La Nuova Frontiera. Nella discussione del book club ci siamo interrogati sul genere di appartenenza. È un romanzo? È un memoir? Letteratura di natura? Letteratura di viaggio? Il problema è che da qualunque angolazione lo si affronti risulta carente. Come romanzo d’avventura non è avvincente (e nemmeno ben scritto). Come memoir ha un narratore che risulta posticcio, quasi fosse scritto a tavolino e non là nel mezzo del Mississippi. Come letteratura di natura basta una riga qualunque di un libro come Antropologia del turchese o Attraverso spazi aperti per sentire che siamo su un altro livello. Come letteratura di viaggio manca della capacità di farci immergere in quel fiume, di sentirlo rollare sui fianchi della canoa, inzupparci le ossa. Manca proprio tutto a questo libro, persino il fiume. Ecco.

[Art · Rating 4 out of 5]

Similar to "Kon-Tiki", "Last of the Breed", "Eighty-days around the world", & "Voyage of the Frog" along w/others that I am reaching to remember.
One of the things that I am glad to belong to Goodreads, for it is helping me remember the books I have read to share w/others.
Mr. Harris does a good job noting the things he sees, feels, smells, tastes and hears on the Mississippi river and all what comes with it.
Makes me want to get out and canoe and re-visit some of the areas that he visited.
I kept reading because I have touched some of the areas that Mr. Harris had been to and I was wanting to see his take on that particular area.

[Margi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eddy Harris was here this week, reading from his work. This is his first book, about a solo canoe trip he took the length of the Missippi, and reveals his nature as a writer--curious, sympathetic, effervescent, gentle, sincere. Here, as in his later books--about Africa, Harlem, and the American south--Eddy explores his own identity as a black man as well as the nature of the place he is inhabiting. Lovely.

[David Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been a long time since I read this book, so I can't dredge up many details in my mind anymore.

I usually enjoy travelogues, and I enjoyed this one. I've always wanted to do a long trip like this. Until I can do it myself, though, I'm happy to learn about the experience secondhand from someone who has done it.

By the way, if you enjoyed this book, I would recommend Cheryl Strayed's more recent travel book about walking the Pacific Crest Trail. It's called _Wild_.

[Danielle Clark kanallakan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Living near the Mighty Mississippi, I found his description of the small towns through which he passed to be accurate and interesting. He also painted a rich picture of the landscape and characters he met along the way. Could not help but wonder why someone has not made this interesting story into a film

[Roma Giannina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rambling, meandering, vapid and a slog. Not sure if it was written to intentionally follow the cadence of the river, but this was tedious to get through. Half thought out sentences, inner monologue that was shallow and didn’t go deep enough to keep me engaged - hard to root for someone to finish a journey like this when they seem shallow and spoiled.

[Kaye · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a pleasure to read, lovely writing -- a journey down the Mississippi and into the author's own understanding of himself and his world. Harris is a new author to me, but I will definitely look for more.

[Cath Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful book. The author paddles the whole length of the Mississippi River; on the way he learns how to paddle a canoe and becomes one with the river.
A journey of discovery in more ways than one.

[Lynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good writing that combines paddling experiences with encounters of people along the way.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great memoir of a QUEST. In fact, this book is the reason I created a Goodreads shelf called “Quests.” I’ll add Bryson’s A WALK IN THE WOODS and Strayed’s WILD, and maybe one or two others. But this book gets top billing on the Quests shelf.

This is also one of those rare books that I hear about and immediately know I MUST read. I had the same overwhelming compulsion when I stumbled across the SHADOW SCHOLAR and BLACK KLANSMAN.

A man who paddles a borrowed canoe from Minneapolis to New Orleans? Can he do that? Do people do that? Is that a thing? Is it even possible? Where will he sleep (I know there are no shelters ala the Appalachian Trail)? What will the man eat? And why have I never heard of this before? What an incredible idea! I had to find that book and read it. I had to take this journey with this man. And then finally buy that canoe and start paddling the Brazos the way I always dreamed...

So what if he did it in the 1980s? So what if he begins knowing nothing about canoeing? So what if he starts out in the snowy Minnesota fall instead of the spring (what was he thinking?)? I had to buy this book and start reading right away.

It’s a good story. Eddy Harris is not the greatest memoirist of his generation, but he spins a good yarn, a story simple and light and perfectly suited to its brevity (250 pages). And the river he writes about is not Mark Twain’s river, though it is clearly a modern descendant of that august waterway. Today the river is controlled by locks and levees, some 29 of the them between Saint Paul and Saint Louis, converting one of the world’s greatest rivers to a series of wide, slow-moving lakes, easily navigable by engine powered vessels, whether traveling upstream or down.

Harris works his way downstream, of course, and it is a great tale. He may not possess Strayed’s recklessness or Bryson’s poetry and comedy, but Harris gives the river the treatment it deserves. He writes with good humor and affection for the Big River. But for the chronic hassle of never getting a good night’s sleep, I wanted to join Harris on every page.

To walk away from the big city and work and bills and responsibilities and simply test yourself handling a tiny canoe on a murky river hiding dangers under water and dangers on the surface?

To forget some of the ordinariness of home and hearth and challenge yourself with an adventure on the water?

To be able to say you have seen the full length and breadth of America’s great artery, one of the greatest on earth, and lived to tell about it? That would be amazing.

The book begins with a thesis of sorts:

“I’ve never minded looking stupid and I have no fear of failure. I decided to canoe down the Mississippi River and to find out what I was made of.”

And after all the adventures, he comes back around:

It has been a pretty remarkable voyage, hasn’t it? I can’t say I enjoyed every minute of it, and yet I loved every minute of it. Throughout the journey I lived my life in the present, in now, not dreaming about what had already happened and not worrying about or planning for tomorrow…. Oh, what a voyage this has been! I want to remember because I don’t want it to end.
…
I’m not afraid of hard times. The river has taught me how to stick it out and endure. Surviving the hard times makes me a stronger man able to better appreciate the good times, which makes me a better man. The river has helped me to improve my soul, and that is everything to me.

Then Harris breaks his reverie and realizes he still is not done. One day remains on his journey--and it turns out to be the most difficult day of the journey. Sea winds howl across the river creating huge, choppy waves that threaten not only to swamp his canoe, but to turn it over. Between the waves and the barge and tanker traffic on the swollen river, Harris ends up fighting for his life, and in the process makes a discovery that defines manhood for him, answering the quest that drove him into the brown river months before:

“And then I know what it is, what it has been, what it will be forever. If I want to live, if I want to live free and soar high in search of glory, I have to be ready to die.”

[Rita · Rating 3 out of 5]

1988 Author born 1956, St Louis.

Enjoyable read. So many aspects of canoeing down the Mississippi that I would never have thought of at all. Encounters with people along the way, encounters with himself. Not maybe real real deep, but still plenty of insights. Very human.

I would never have dreamed how much skill it takes to navigate the river and how much the river changes from one place to another and how much and how suddenly it can change with the weather. Downright dangerous!!! Learned something about all the tugboats down towards the bottom, and the towboats towing many many barges at once, further up. So many dams in the river. Towards the bottom the river is artificially kept in a certain channel, prevented from changing to a different course. [He says otherwise the Mississippi would at some point have moved into the Atchafalaya River [north of Baton Rouge].]

"How to intrude without being intrusive. This was definitely the South. People south talk more than people north. In New England two sentences is an extended conversation and *takes a crowbar to get started*. In the South, where the weather makes for a leisurely culture, the words flow with hardly any prodding at all." 150

Most of the many human encounters are with whites; just a couple with blacks.

"For me, being black has never been such a big deal, more a physical characteristic rather like being tall an identifier for the police and such. Part of my identity, but not who I am.
...I would most like to witness some general goodness in the human soul pouring out to strangers, and barring that, I'd want people to give me a chance to make my own imprint on them -- for good or for bad -- and then their behavior toward me would be based on me." 13

Starting in the lakes of Minnesota:
"the land around all covered with tall timber, pine and birch trees white and speckled like dalmatians..." p 11. Nice!

"When the sun finally rose it looked like it would have taken any excuse at all and gone back to bed." 19. Fun!

[Addie · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED this. What an amazing adventure, and what a talented writer.

Quotes:
"This riding of the river is not unlike a ride at Disneyland. Breath-taking spectacle, scenery, excitement, magic, fun. Even that best of all Disneyland attributes, the ability to leave ourselves and our cares at home. The difference, however, is that while the spine tingles and the blood rushes through the body at a furious pace during the excitement of Disneyland, you know that you are never in any real danger. When the day is done you pack up the car and head back to the real world. Back to your cares and woes, the distractions that heap layer upon layer of enamel coating that keep us from getting at the sweetness--or the yuk--that is our warm and creamy center.
"You can't see the teeth on a buzz-saw. If you can stay busy enough or distracted enough, you never have to venture into that / dangerous territory of boredom, discontent, and fear. Too much diversion can keep us from knowing how miserable or how happy we are, what bores we are or what fun, how much we want, need or lack.
"Each day on the river I shed more and more of my external self until I find eventually that I'm left totally alone with the core, facing myself as angry and aggressive, often afraid, no physical superman. Just a man and nothing special.
"A vacation is external. A pilgrimage is internal. An adventure combines them" (pp. 33-34).

"No one said anything to me, but everyone stared. I walked too tall and proud to be a local boy. Everyone in a small town it seems can spot strangers. Strangers walk with an accent" (p. 171).