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Farmer
The New York Times bestselling author of thirty-nine books of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry—including Legends of the Fall , Dalva , and Returning to Earth —Jim Harrison was one of our most beloved and acclaimed writers, adored by both readers and critics. In Farmer, he tells the story of Joseph, a forty-three-year-old farmer-schoolteacher who suddenly finds himself at a crossroads. Forced to choose between two lovers—one a younger woman, the other his beautiful childhood friend—he must also decide whether or not to stay on the farm or finally seek the wider, more broader horizons he has avoided all his life. Returning Harrison fans will be ecstatic to find this in print once again, and for new readers, this work serves as the perfect introduction to Harrison’s remarkable insight, storytelling, and evocation of the natural world.
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
66 people are currently reading
623 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 112 reviews
April 23, 2014
First, the Goodreads description of this book is actually the description of Harrison's The Farmer's Daughter which is a collection of three novellas and written 33 years after this one. Fortunately, I found this in the $1 must-go shelves of a used bookstore and, thumbing through it, could see that it was a completely different book. (That's been corrected by Teresa so, you know, never mind.)
Farmer is one of Harrison's earliest works. He works his usual themes here but without the polish of later efforts. Very few aphorisms to guide me.
The eponymous farmer is Joseph Lundgren, consigned to be a teacher because of a leg damaged in a farm equipment accident. But they're going to close the Upper Michigan school where he teaches, his mother is dying and he has to decide whether he really loves his old sweetheart Rosalee or a senior student named Catherine. He's painted as a good but flawed man who maybe just doesn't give a shit any more.
His friend is a 70 year-old doctor who shares many of his vices but serves as oracle. Dr. Evans steals the show.
Harrison's male characters are invariable sex-obsessed and prone to alcoholism. (He may be projecting.) But Harrison also is surprisingly enlightened for, as here, an author writing in the 1970s. For instance, Joseph tells Dr. Evans that Rosalee's son is homosexual and he asks the doctor what they can do about it. Dr. Evans replies:
"Nothing. You can start by leaving him alone. He'll probably move to the city where he can find some friends. So don't say much and don't let Rosalee say much. He's a man and it's his business and you can't change him. Some are and most aren't and it's always been like that."
It was nice, comforting to be reading Jim Harrison again, but this was hardly his best effort.
Farmer is one of Harrison's earliest works. He works his usual themes here but without the polish of later efforts. Very few aphorisms to guide me.
The eponymous farmer is Joseph Lundgren, consigned to be a teacher because of a leg damaged in a farm equipment accident. But they're going to close the Upper Michigan school where he teaches, his mother is dying and he has to decide whether he really loves his old sweetheart Rosalee or a senior student named Catherine. He's painted as a good but flawed man who maybe just doesn't give a shit any more.
His friend is a 70 year-old doctor who shares many of his vices but serves as oracle. Dr. Evans steals the show.
Harrison's male characters are invariable sex-obsessed and prone to alcoholism. (He may be projecting.) But Harrison also is surprisingly enlightened for, as here, an author writing in the 1970s. For instance, Joseph tells Dr. Evans that Rosalee's son is homosexual and he asks the doctor what they can do about it. Dr. Evans replies:
"Nothing. You can start by leaving him alone. He'll probably move to the city where he can find some friends. So don't say much and don't let Rosalee say much. He's a man and it's his business and you can't change him. Some are and most aren't and it's always been like that."
It was nice, comforting to be reading Jim Harrison again, but this was hardly his best effort.
April 1, 2024
This is my 2011 review:
Very restrained, sad storytelling about a middle-aged sap who never got to do what he wanted. Typical but quietly and sadly drawn out character study.
This is my 2019 review:
I have re-read this slim almost masterpiece of aging teacher, Joseph and the two women of his life: Rosalee, his childhood sweetheart, and Catherine, his seductive student. Joseph is experiencing a midlife crisis- he wants to travel, leave the small Michigan town life. He reads books by DH Lawrence and Henry Miller, and through those authors and his affair with Catherine, discovers sex can be erotic and pleasurable. Written in spare, exquisite prose that underscores the loneliness and depths of sadness found in everyday people.
Note- this novel was adapted as a 1996 film titled Carried Away, starring Dennis Hopper, Amy Irving, and Amy Locane as Joseph, Rosalee and Catherine respectively. The film is just as quiet and spare as the novel, with Dennis Hopper Amy Irving, and Amy Locane performing and simulating sex scenes that are described exactly in the novel as passionate and charged with an eroticism that really depicts pleasure. Amy Irving brings a tender sadness in her portrayal as the prudish and love starved Rosalee. Dennis Hopper gives a nuanced and subtle performance as Joseph experiencing a midlife crisis, also with a sadness that speaks volumes. Now a prisoner, Amy Locane gives her best performance as the sultry yet eventually needy and disturbed Catherine, who also yearns for love beyond the sex. It’s an understated film adaptation of this underrated novel.
Very restrained, sad storytelling about a middle-aged sap who never got to do what he wanted. Typical but quietly and sadly drawn out character study.
This is my 2019 review:
I have re-read this slim almost masterpiece of aging teacher, Joseph and the two women of his life: Rosalee, his childhood sweetheart, and Catherine, his seductive student. Joseph is experiencing a midlife crisis- he wants to travel, leave the small Michigan town life. He reads books by DH Lawrence and Henry Miller, and through those authors and his affair with Catherine, discovers sex can be erotic and pleasurable. Written in spare, exquisite prose that underscores the loneliness and depths of sadness found in everyday people.
Note- this novel was adapted as a 1996 film titled Carried Away, starring Dennis Hopper, Amy Irving, and Amy Locane as Joseph, Rosalee and Catherine respectively. The film is just as quiet and spare as the novel, with Dennis Hopper Amy Irving, and Amy Locane performing and simulating sex scenes that are described exactly in the novel as passionate and charged with an eroticism that really depicts pleasure. Amy Irving brings a tender sadness in her portrayal as the prudish and love starved Rosalee. Dennis Hopper gives a nuanced and subtle performance as Joseph experiencing a midlife crisis, also with a sadness that speaks volumes. Now a prisoner, Amy Locane gives her best performance as the sultry yet eventually needy and disturbed Catherine, who also yearns for love beyond the sex. It’s an understated film adaptation of this underrated novel.
September 13, 2025
While exploring the written works of the friends of Richard Brautigan I’ve finally made my way to Jim Harrison. A name that in many ways eclipses the popularity of Brautigan, Harrison had a long career of writing finding success in his novels, short stories, and film scripts.
As my introduction to Harrison what made me decide to pick up Farmer was the fact that it held a quote from Brautigan on the back cover. While I’m not typically one for reading a book based solely on back cover quotes from authors I like, I felt that if I was to read Harrison in the context of Brautigan’s life I might as well read the one that he is quoted as having read.
Brautigan is quoted as saying "A sensitive, powerful love story about a man on the cutting edge of life . . . The characters are so real that often my eyes filled up with tears for their plight, their human helplessness."
Certainly an interesting quote and if anyone is to know what it's like to write deeply emotional characters it's Brautigan. My interest was piqued and I went into this book not knowing anything else about it.
Surprising enough, shortly after deciding on reading this book I realized I had been familiar with it long before I first became aware of Richard Brautigan. I was back home visiting my parents for Easter this year and saw this book on their bookshelf. Thinking back, I distinctly remember seeing this early 80s Delta paperback among the bookshelf of “grown up” books as a kid. It is interesting to note that this book is the first instance of finding myself in the periphery of Brautigan, as his books were not the kinds of books on my parent’s bookshelf.
I’m not sure why this was a book my parents kept on their shelf. My mother is the one who bought and read it and didn’t offer much else in memory of her experience with it. I will say that Jim Harrison’s midwest sensibilities are something that my parents and I hold in appreciation.
Farmer is the story of a middle aged man named Joseph. He lives in Northern Michigan and is a farmer and school teacher. The narrative of this book follows him as he finds himself between two love interests. The first is Rosalee, someone he has known and loved since childhood. They are not married but it feels inevitable that they will end up together. The second is Catherine, a seventeen year old student who is new to town after her military father makes the move up north. Joseph is enraptured by the excitement of a new and youthful sexual partner. The book follows along as you see this man at the crossroads of his life dwindling down any remaining time before a decision in direction is at its point of no return.
Overall, this was not what I expected from this book. I don’t think this kind of plot or concept shouldn’t be explored but I’m not sure it was done effectively here. I think the portrayal of Joseph at this point of midlife crisis is done exceptionally well but that isn’t to say that the love interest aspect is very compelling.
This is a midwest tragedy through and through. Every character has some tragic aspect to them. In many ways this can feel like the reality of small town midwest living, something that makes this book feel relevant even in modern sensibilities. For taking place in the 1950 this book could easily have taken place in the 1970s when it was published or even today. There is a lot of deep realism to these characters and the world they inhabit. The Brautigan quote really feels apt here as even minor side characters feel deeply rich and tangible. I bring this up because this can feel in contrast to a lot of the characterization of the main characters when it comes to the love plot.
Joseph is given painstaking patience from everyone around him, especially when they find out about his affair with one of his students. Some characters raise alarm and give him a stern talking to but nothing more comes from these discussions. The most absurd example being when Catherine’s father finds out comes to confront Joseph pretty much just admitting that his daughter has a habit of this and that it isn’t really his fault. It feels truly unbelievable that this reaction would take place.
Catherine is overall portrayed simultaneously juvenile and adolescent as well as strong and mature in her intentions. While not unique to this book, this is a trope that is especially harmful and disingenuous to how these kinds of situations play out in real life, a stark contrast to the realism of the rest of the book.
In juxtaposition to Catherine's clear conviction, Joseph is portrayed as a harmless, innocent character that just needs to get his life together more than anything else. It is shameful to portray an adult man in this helpless way. While I think the man at the crossroads of his life aspect is quite accurate in its portrayal I don’t think painting him as powerless when it comes to doing anything with either of these two love interests lives up to what this book is trying to accomplish.
Some of my frustration with this aspect is that there really aren’t any stakes to any situation Joseph finds himself in. Pretty much any conflict is quickly resolved or forgotten. There doesn’t feel like there is much weight to what is happening here when you know these characters will just continue on as they have been until the next time something is brought up. The open ended conclusion to this book really only adds to this feeling as there is no resolve. I’d imagine Harrison is being intentional with this, leaving interpretation up to the reader, but given how the entirety of this book progressed up to this point it feels like a lazy cop out after setting up this scenario.
I will say there is a lot I really liked about this book. Harrison’s writing is deeply vivid. I have already mentioned the characters but many of the scenes feel so lifelike, which is a great accomplishment for such a short book. The scenes in small town bars or out in the wilderness hunting and fishing are great and I can really picture them, even the latter portions on the trip to Chicago feel quite real for how short they are.
A lot of this book reminded me of the work of Thomas McGuane. In many ways I thought this was better than what I’ve read from McGuane (granted I haven’t read anything of his from this period yet, only later works). The outdoorsman, masculine internal conflict aspects are one of the same between these two authors. If I had to make a comparison I would say Harrison is somewhere between Brautigan and McGuane. He can offer the tough realism of McGuane while also offering the emotional aspects of Brautigan. While I wasn’t fully impressed by Farmer I could see myself really enjoying another of his books.
As my introduction to Harrison what made me decide to pick up Farmer was the fact that it held a quote from Brautigan on the back cover. While I’m not typically one for reading a book based solely on back cover quotes from authors I like, I felt that if I was to read Harrison in the context of Brautigan’s life I might as well read the one that he is quoted as having read.
Brautigan is quoted as saying "A sensitive, powerful love story about a man on the cutting edge of life . . . The characters are so real that often my eyes filled up with tears for their plight, their human helplessness."
Certainly an interesting quote and if anyone is to know what it's like to write deeply emotional characters it's Brautigan. My interest was piqued and I went into this book not knowing anything else about it.
Surprising enough, shortly after deciding on reading this book I realized I had been familiar with it long before I first became aware of Richard Brautigan. I was back home visiting my parents for Easter this year and saw this book on their bookshelf. Thinking back, I distinctly remember seeing this early 80s Delta paperback among the bookshelf of “grown up” books as a kid. It is interesting to note that this book is the first instance of finding myself in the periphery of Brautigan, as his books were not the kinds of books on my parent’s bookshelf.
I’m not sure why this was a book my parents kept on their shelf. My mother is the one who bought and read it and didn’t offer much else in memory of her experience with it. I will say that Jim Harrison’s midwest sensibilities are something that my parents and I hold in appreciation.
Farmer is the story of a middle aged man named Joseph. He lives in Northern Michigan and is a farmer and school teacher. The narrative of this book follows him as he finds himself between two love interests. The first is Rosalee, someone he has known and loved since childhood. They are not married but it feels inevitable that they will end up together. The second is Catherine, a seventeen year old student who is new to town after her military father makes the move up north. Joseph is enraptured by the excitement of a new and youthful sexual partner. The book follows along as you see this man at the crossroads of his life dwindling down any remaining time before a decision in direction is at its point of no return.
Overall, this was not what I expected from this book. I don’t think this kind of plot or concept shouldn’t be explored but I’m not sure it was done effectively here. I think the portrayal of Joseph at this point of midlife crisis is done exceptionally well but that isn’t to say that the love interest aspect is very compelling.
This is a midwest tragedy through and through. Every character has some tragic aspect to them. In many ways this can feel like the reality of small town midwest living, something that makes this book feel relevant even in modern sensibilities. For taking place in the 1950 this book could easily have taken place in the 1970s when it was published or even today. There is a lot of deep realism to these characters and the world they inhabit. The Brautigan quote really feels apt here as even minor side characters feel deeply rich and tangible. I bring this up because this can feel in contrast to a lot of the characterization of the main characters when it comes to the love plot.
Joseph is given painstaking patience from everyone around him, especially when they find out about his affair with one of his students. Some characters raise alarm and give him a stern talking to but nothing more comes from these discussions. The most absurd example being when Catherine’s father finds out comes to confront Joseph pretty much just admitting that his daughter has a habit of this and that it isn’t really his fault. It feels truly unbelievable that this reaction would take place.
Catherine is overall portrayed simultaneously juvenile and adolescent as well as strong and mature in her intentions. While not unique to this book, this is a trope that is especially harmful and disingenuous to how these kinds of situations play out in real life, a stark contrast to the realism of the rest of the book.
In juxtaposition to Catherine's clear conviction, Joseph is portrayed as a harmless, innocent character that just needs to get his life together more than anything else. It is shameful to portray an adult man in this helpless way. While I think the man at the crossroads of his life aspect is quite accurate in its portrayal I don’t think painting him as powerless when it comes to doing anything with either of these two love interests lives up to what this book is trying to accomplish.
Some of my frustration with this aspect is that there really aren’t any stakes to any situation Joseph finds himself in. Pretty much any conflict is quickly resolved or forgotten. There doesn’t feel like there is much weight to what is happening here when you know these characters will just continue on as they have been until the next time something is brought up. The open ended conclusion to this book really only adds to this feeling as there is no resolve. I’d imagine Harrison is being intentional with this, leaving interpretation up to the reader, but given how the entirety of this book progressed up to this point it feels like a lazy cop out after setting up this scenario.
I will say there is a lot I really liked about this book. Harrison’s writing is deeply vivid. I have already mentioned the characters but many of the scenes feel so lifelike, which is a great accomplishment for such a short book. The scenes in small town bars or out in the wilderness hunting and fishing are great and I can really picture them, even the latter portions on the trip to Chicago feel quite real for how short they are.
A lot of this book reminded me of the work of Thomas McGuane. In many ways I thought this was better than what I’ve read from McGuane (granted I haven’t read anything of his from this period yet, only later works). The outdoorsman, masculine internal conflict aspects are one of the same between these two authors. If I had to make a comparison I would say Harrison is somewhere between Brautigan and McGuane. He can offer the tough realism of McGuane while also offering the emotional aspects of Brautigan. While I wasn’t fully impressed by Farmer I could see myself really enjoying another of his books.
June 23, 2021
Lets start by our standard Harrison checklist
-Main character from Michigan: that's a bingo
-Drug abuse: very little drug use, shocker
-Alcoholism: relative to his other works lighter alcohol use (again relative scale)
-A tour of western states: Hmm not to the extent of his later work, but certainly a fixation on the ocean and generally "elsewhere"
-General nihilism: Oh buddy, yup.
-A male character obsessed with a female character: big ole fat check mark here.
One of Harrisons best full length novels that I have read. A "good man" (Joseph) as the lead that is good in spite of his constant attempts at nihilism and generally apathetic view of life. The aging doctor is an insightful character that often mirrors the frustration of the reader. The greatest victory of this book must be the ending... it is difficult to describe but captures a authenticity and heartfeltness paired with the sense that tomorrow will be a new day. (Alternatively it could be viewed as our character making the same mistakes and not changing at all. Maybe I'm exposing my self as an unwilling optimist).
-Main character from Michigan: that's a bingo
-Drug abuse: very little drug use, shocker
-Alcoholism: relative to his other works lighter alcohol use (again relative scale)
-A tour of western states: Hmm not to the extent of his later work, but certainly a fixation on the ocean and generally "elsewhere"
-General nihilism: Oh buddy, yup.
-A male character obsessed with a female character: big ole fat check mark here.
One of Harrisons best full length novels that I have read. A "good man" (Joseph) as the lead that is good in spite of his constant attempts at nihilism and generally apathetic view of life. The aging doctor is an insightful character that often mirrors the frustration of the reader. The greatest victory of this book must be the ending... it is difficult to describe but captures a authenticity and heartfeltness paired with the sense that tomorrow will be a new day. (Alternatively it could be viewed as our character making the same mistakes and not changing at all. Maybe I'm exposing my self as an unwilling optimist).
March 14, 2012
Short, bittersweet, and simply superb - I "discovered" Jim Harrison while in college thirty-some years ago when I read of his first novel, Wolf: A False Memoir. When he mentioned Reed City in the first line of that book, I was hooked. I never imagined that the little town where I grew up would ever make the pages of good fiction. I shouldn't have been surprised though. Jim Harrison did some growing up in Reed City too. His dad, Win Harrison, was the county agent here. The Harrisons moved away to the Lansing area around 1949, but Jim still credits Reed City as a formative influence in his memoir, Off to the Side. There have been a lot of Harrison books since Wolf, and I've read most of them, but, in re-reading it recently, Farmer still holds up well after more than 30 years. In fact, I still think it is his best novel. It is so much more than just a love story, although it certainly is that. It is a tale of lust and longing, but also one of regret and redemption. Joseph Lundgren, the title character, is at once complex and simple. He is Everyman. In Wolf, the protagonist looked for a wolf in the wilderness mountains of Upper Michigan in the sixties - a time when wolves were all but gone from the state. That same theme - chasing a ghost animal of an earlier time - shows up again in Farmer, when Joseph tries to get a glimpse of a coyote. What he finally sees is no more than a blur for "a tenth of a second." What the middle-aged teacher/farmer Joseph wants in his ill-advised affair with a beautiful high school student is nearly as impossible to define as that search for the elsusive and all-but-extinct coyote. "I wanted to be carried away," he says, trying to explain things to his twin sister. And, at least for a little while, he succeeded. And, while I know there is no "political correctness" about this thirty year-old novel, any man today who can still be honest about his real feelings and simply say the hell with propriety and political correctness, will understand Joseph and what he did. Harrison puts you inside Joseph's skin. You feel his despair, his regrets, his longing for something more. Farmer may be a very short book, but it is as nearly perfect as a novel can ever hope to be.
May 6, 2016
If you are old enough to have some regrets, to have done some things, and left other things undone that you should have done, but have the good sense to not be morose about it, this is for you. Farmer/teacher Joseph engages in behavior that hurts someone he loves. But even though it is behavior that is routinely criticized (and these days would also be illegal in one particular), good friends know that such behavior doesn't make an otherwise good person bad. So the story is all about sowing, and reaping, and the importance of good, longtime friends. Have regrets? Doing something you might regret later? You just need good company. This story will show you what that looks like. This was the first Harrison novel I have read. Won't be the last.
October 20, 2014
It has been quite some time since I took in a book in one delicious bite, language at once both devoured and savored. FARMER was a reminder of how beautiful literature can be, a novel that will haunt me for some time to come. I do believe my top five books may have just shifted.
July 8, 2020
https://rogueliterarysociety.com/f/fa...
It has been several years since I first read Farmer, but I must admit I had no idea how good the novel was back then. I suppose this current revelation has everything to do with my advancing age, the fact that I have had similar experiences, and that existential questions present themselves the more educated and well-read one becomes. There are so many sidebars in this novel, subplots and personal histories between the main characters, and the small-town farming community that by default knows everyone’s business. Farmer is a great American novel that ranks with the very best in American literature.
...Everyone got disgusted with winter by March and usually before, and a major April storm could bring on a fit of sheer spite in anyone…
I too grew up in northern Michigan. It has snowed on Mother’s Day. Delivering the Detroit Free Press every morning as a kid on a bike was an experience I will NEVER forget. Not exactly sure about that activity building character. The winter/spring weather is certainly something that can bring you down.
...A neighbor lady who spent the day with his (Joseph’s) mother had left a tuna fish casserole on the table with cooking instructions. Joseph dumped it in the garbage…
Hooray for Joseph. Can’t tell you the number of homemade dishes and desserts I too have personally thrown away uneaten that came from the loving hands of a kind-hearted neighbor. No way am I eating something brought over from an acquaintance. Harrison speaks kernels of truth on a regular basis, and is something I look forward to while reading.
…I didn't think of that when we started last fall but that was what kept me going. One night Rosealee and I got carried away for the first time since we were young. I mean we were doing something we didn't actually know we were going to do before we did it.”
The love of my life fell in love with another man and my resulting heartbreak led me toward a path of self-destruction. Twelve years later she did come back to me and we have had several decades to work out together our resentments and life’s disappointments. Our personal baggage resulted in much heartache and suffering. Rosalie’s and Joseph’s love affair mirrors our own and I can relate to the angst and confusion Joseph still harbors. I somewhat understand how he would “fall” for his precocious and attractive seventeen year-old student. She gave him the attention he had previously desired from Rosalie who instead first offered it to his best friend and then married him. When he died in the war, Rosalie became available and their relationship through the subsequent years has been complicated and somewhat stalled. Their expected and promised marriage has thus been put on hold for a very long time. Joseph remains a very confused and damaged man with conflicting feelings. Harrison does a great job of examining these lives through fiction. Turns out he can write an intense love story as well.
It has been several years since I first read Farmer, but I must admit I had no idea how good the novel was back then. I suppose this current revelation has everything to do with my advancing age, the fact that I have had similar experiences, and that existential questions present themselves the more educated and well-read one becomes. There are so many sidebars in this novel, subplots and personal histories between the main characters, and the small-town farming community that by default knows everyone’s business. Farmer is a great American novel that ranks with the very best in American literature.
...Everyone got disgusted with winter by March and usually before, and a major April storm could bring on a fit of sheer spite in anyone…
I too grew up in northern Michigan. It has snowed on Mother’s Day. Delivering the Detroit Free Press every morning as a kid on a bike was an experience I will NEVER forget. Not exactly sure about that activity building character. The winter/spring weather is certainly something that can bring you down.
...A neighbor lady who spent the day with his (Joseph’s) mother had left a tuna fish casserole on the table with cooking instructions. Joseph dumped it in the garbage…
Hooray for Joseph. Can’t tell you the number of homemade dishes and desserts I too have personally thrown away uneaten that came from the loving hands of a kind-hearted neighbor. No way am I eating something brought over from an acquaintance. Harrison speaks kernels of truth on a regular basis, and is something I look forward to while reading.
…I didn't think of that when we started last fall but that was what kept me going. One night Rosealee and I got carried away for the first time since we were young. I mean we were doing something we didn't actually know we were going to do before we did it.”
The love of my life fell in love with another man and my resulting heartbreak led me toward a path of self-destruction. Twelve years later she did come back to me and we have had several decades to work out together our resentments and life’s disappointments. Our personal baggage resulted in much heartache and suffering. Rosalie’s and Joseph’s love affair mirrors our own and I can relate to the angst and confusion Joseph still harbors. I somewhat understand how he would “fall” for his precocious and attractive seventeen year-old student. She gave him the attention he had previously desired from Rosalie who instead first offered it to his best friend and then married him. When he died in the war, Rosalie became available and their relationship through the subsequent years has been complicated and somewhat stalled. Their expected and promised marriage has thus been put on hold for a very long time. Joseph remains a very confused and damaged man with conflicting feelings. Harrison does a great job of examining these lives through fiction. Turns out he can write an intense love story as well.
March 9, 2017
I much enjoyed this short novel (160 pages) by one of my favorite writers, Jim Harrison. The story is set in the farm country of northern Michigan circa 1955-56 and the main character, the 43 yr old Joesph, is going through something of a mid-life crisis. He feels like he is doing a bit of a dance with death and he wants to see the ocean (any ocean) before he dies. His mother has recently passed. Joesph is a farmer and he is also a teacher. Joesph has never been much beyond his farm (Detroit and Chicago is about it) and it troubles him that he seems to be losing his interests in hunting and fishing. He also begins an affair with a 17 yr old student which he knows is wrong. (It is really only about sex and both Joseph and the 17 yr old Catherine are using each other.) Joseph also has a longtime relationship with a woman his own age and she is someone he does not want to lose. Harrison, as always, is great with his description of the setting. I felt like I was in Michigan while reading this story. He also creates real and believable characters. I especially liked the old country doctor in this story. There is some great writing during a scene at a local cemetery on Memorial Day. Harrison has a way of getting at the basic truths of life. We all have some of the same feelings about life (the fact that life is fleeting and we all need to take stock in what is going on) and Harrison speaks to me and hopefully to other readers about matters of the heart. I have noticed that I have given almost every Harrison book I have read 4 stars. This one too. Very solid but not great. This story might appeal more to older readers and perhaps more to men than women. I don't really know. I know I enjoyed it very much. Harrison stirs the soul and makes one sit back and think a little bit. Is that not the point of good books?
August 18, 2007
Who wouldn't love a story with sex in a barn with an underage nymph?
November 14, 2021
Although this book was published in its print form in 1976 it was not published in the audible version which I have just listen to until 2019 after the death of the author when his estate released a number of his books in the audible format.
This book is the story of a 43 year old man who is deciding what to do about his future. While the book has many of the characteristics of the author: drinking and sex, the book seems to me to be a much more mature effort in spite of the fact that it is written much earlier than a number of his books that I have found far more coarse. This book includes the sexual relationship of the 43-year-old with a 17-year-old high school student in his school which is carried on through much of the book. This is happening while he ponders the relationship he has had with a woman who has always been assumed to be who is going to marry. He has known this woman since they were 13 and although she eventually married another friend of his, since he died in the Korean War they had assumed they would marry but never followed through with this.
The writing is more elegant than I am used to experiencing with the authors books that I have read just prior to this. The life of farming and hunting and fishing and life in a rural area predominates. Northern Michigan is the location which is common for this author but it is not necessarily strongly emphasized other than occasional references to other Michigan cities. The main character has been a farmer and a teacher in a small rural school and has suffered from a serious injury from the age of age when his leg was severely injured in a farming accident. He has a 73 year old friend who is the community Doctor Who is both a source of conversation and drinking camaraderie.
This book is the story of a 43 year old man who is deciding what to do about his future. While the book has many of the characteristics of the author: drinking and sex, the book seems to me to be a much more mature effort in spite of the fact that it is written much earlier than a number of his books that I have found far more coarse. This book includes the sexual relationship of the 43-year-old with a 17-year-old high school student in his school which is carried on through much of the book. This is happening while he ponders the relationship he has had with a woman who has always been assumed to be who is going to marry. He has known this woman since they were 13 and although she eventually married another friend of his, since he died in the Korean War they had assumed they would marry but never followed through with this.
The writing is more elegant than I am used to experiencing with the authors books that I have read just prior to this. The life of farming and hunting and fishing and life in a rural area predominates. Northern Michigan is the location which is common for this author but it is not necessarily strongly emphasized other than occasional references to other Michigan cities. The main character has been a farmer and a teacher in a small rural school and has suffered from a serious injury from the age of age when his leg was severely injured in a farming accident. He has a 73 year old friend who is the community Doctor Who is both a source of conversation and drinking camaraderie.
November 6, 2017
9,6 /10. Cela reste pour moi un de ses meilleurs. Toujours aussi ému et d'autant plus ce soir.
Je réserve mes premiers commentaires à ma tendre et chère.
Juste pour vous donner envie de lire ce superbe roman et découvrir si vous ne connaissez pas le plus grand écrivain nord-américain de la fin du siècle dernier et de ces premières décades.
Good way, mister Jim et merci.
''Joseph laissa le cheval brouter l'herbe se souvenant d'un vers de Whitman qui disait l'herbe était ''la belle chevelure intouchée des tombes'', un vers qui l'avait toujours troubler.''
''À deux kilomètres environ de chez lui, Joseph s'arrêta devant la dernière ferme abandonnée en lisière de la zone où le sol devenait à peu près fertile. Une longue rangée de peupliers de Lombardie longeait la propriété et le vent avait cerclé leurs feuilles d'une écume argentée. Le soleil était énorme et rouge, et il était en train de sombrer dans la forêt. Joseph sourit en se souvenant que lorsqu'il était tout petit, il croyait fermement que le soleil allait dormir dans le champ derrière l'étable.''
Je réserve mes premiers commentaires à ma tendre et chère.
Juste pour vous donner envie de lire ce superbe roman et découvrir si vous ne connaissez pas le plus grand écrivain nord-américain de la fin du siècle dernier et de ces premières décades.
Good way, mister Jim et merci.
''Joseph laissa le cheval brouter l'herbe se souvenant d'un vers de Whitman qui disait l'herbe était ''la belle chevelure intouchée des tombes'', un vers qui l'avait toujours troubler.''
''À deux kilomètres environ de chez lui, Joseph s'arrêta devant la dernière ferme abandonnée en lisière de la zone où le sol devenait à peu près fertile. Une longue rangée de peupliers de Lombardie longeait la propriété et le vent avait cerclé leurs feuilles d'une écume argentée. Le soleil était énorme et rouge, et il était en train de sombrer dans la forêt. Joseph sourit en se souvenant que lorsqu'il était tout petit, il croyait fermement que le soleil allait dormir dans le champ derrière l'étable.''
January 2, 2016
Just remembered reading this years ago. At least I *think* it was this; a bunch of the book covers look the same. Read because my wife is from Michigan and she had the book, and maybe I read another one of his too?
I think I really liked it, and still have gut feelings about being outside and shit about duck blinds and complicated slow hunting processes, and the description reminds me that maybe it was extra hard because of his bum leg or whatever and some stressful stuff with dogs? I rarely remember a lot of detail about books, just retain feelings and colors and qualities of light in my head for favorites, and this does still evoke a lot of that and a desire to visit that in solitude with him again.
I was reminded of him because of Chef Ed Lee talking about him on Mind of a Chef (S3: E7 "Impermanence") and food being a metaphor for our own mortality. He described Harrison as really funny which I don't remember from whatever I read unless it was very wry humor, but the stuff he said made me want to revisit him. And Michigan in general. But then I think if I want to do that in books I would be better off with Bonnie Jo Campbell.
I think I really liked it, and still have gut feelings about being outside and shit about duck blinds and complicated slow hunting processes, and the description reminds me that maybe it was extra hard because of his bum leg or whatever and some stressful stuff with dogs? I rarely remember a lot of detail about books, just retain feelings and colors and qualities of light in my head for favorites, and this does still evoke a lot of that and a desire to visit that in solitude with him again.
I was reminded of him because of Chef Ed Lee talking about him on Mind of a Chef (S3: E7 "Impermanence") and food being a metaphor for our own mortality. He described Harrison as really funny which I don't remember from whatever I read unless it was very wry humor, but the stuff he said made me want to revisit him. And Michigan in general. But then I think if I want to do that in books I would be better off with Bonnie Jo Campbell.
August 29, 2021
Ce livre raconte l'histoire d'un homme Joseph, fils d'agriculteur dans le Nord-Michigan devenu enseignant. Après 30 ans avec la même compagne, vivant une vie un peu monotone, il s'éprend d'une de ses élèves mineures qui lui fait des avances. Il retrouve dans ses bras goût à la vie néanmoins est rongé par la culpabilité et les remords. Il est très heureux avec sa jeune maîtresse tout en étant malheureux de tromper sa fidèle épouse. L'intrigue est donc basée sur cette situation. Joseph raconte également son amour de la pêche et de la chasse, son amitié avec son médecin et sa passion pour la nature. C'est donc un livre plein de fêlures où le héros n'est pas parfait et essaie d'être heureux néanmoins.
C'est un beau livre néanmoins l'histoire m'a semblé peu originale. C'est l'histoire d'un mari qui s'ennuie et qui prend une maîtresse... OK. C'est agréable à lire, il faut reconnaître.
C'est un beau livre néanmoins l'histoire m'a semblé peu originale. C'est l'histoire d'un mari qui s'ennuie et qui prend une maîtresse... OK. C'est agréable à lire, il faut reconnaître.
April 5, 2016
A book that transposes the values of the '70s to the '50s. Very disappointing to my mind. A muddled story about a muddled teacher (this guy ain't no farmer - no farmer I know gives a damn about Whitman) with too much dull description of the countryside. Everybody is so earnest in this book (or would that be Ernest?)
September 9, 2023
One of my all-time favorites. Reread in 2023.
February 10, 2024
This author was recommended to me by someone but i read it and it didn't rock my world. It's not a bad book by any stretch of the imagination but it didn't make a big impact on me and i don't think i'll read more of him.
Good but doesn't really stand out in any way.
Good but doesn't really stand out in any way.
Read
December 4, 2024If I could rate this book -1 star, I would.
Most hideous thing I’ve EVER read!
brother ew
Most hideous thing I’ve EVER read!
brother ew
February 16, 2011
“Farmer”
By: Jim Harrison
Delta Trade Paperbacks
New York, 1976
Brilliance and beautiful are two words very commonly together used, but never do they mean as much as when describing Jim Harrison’s work in Farmer. This novel, his third, concerns the life of Joseph as he learns to move on from his mother’s death, find love through a seventeen year old student or the woman he's loved for years, and how to live life. Farmer (1976) seemed to be Harrison’s coming out party after his first two novels Wolf; A False Memoir (1971) and A Good Day to Die (1973). Both novels served as representations of Harrison’s skill, but it wasn’t until Farmer that he seemed to put it all together. After Farmer, Harrison went on to write many more acclaimed novels and novellas, such as: Legends of the Fall (1979), Warlock (1981), Sundog (1984), Dalva (1988), and The Woman Lit by Fireflies (1990). Farmer, however, stands out to be one of his finer works.
One of the main themes of Farmer, and indeed one of Harrison’s main themes in general, is the relationship between love and death. One could also argue the importance of nature, sex, and moral dilemma, which all have a bearing thematically to Farmer, as well as all of his other works, but it would seem that love and death and how they relate are the cornerstone. In the novel, Joseph goes through the death of his mother, which Harrison describes via “The thought of his mother’s death brought Joseph wide awake. It was the first year of his life that he had had trouble sleeping…” (36). Harrison sets up how Joseph faces uncertainty when it comes to death, which goes hand in hand with how the character (Joseph) thinks about love, which also causes him some trouble sleeping. Joseph faces a conundrum when it comes to love as well because “He thought with sadness that he had made love to this girl more in an afternoon than he usually made love to Rosealee in a week,” (12). Harrison shows how much both love and death can affect someone deeply with similar emotional and physical symptomatic responses. He seems to demonstrate how the relationship between love and death is one that can be quite symbiotic due to how deeply they affect a person, and, perhaps, how they always seem to coexist.
Harrison does a wonderful job when it comes to describing the environment that Joseph is in, as well as his internalized and externalized behavior. For a while, both while reading and after I had finished reading, I wondered why Harrison did not write the novel in first person, it being a very personal and single character driven piece. I thought that it would perhaps be better served to show everything through the character’s eyes since he was the central figure of the novel, but then the more I thought about it, the more I realized that third person was the way to go, and I applaud Harrison for that decision. While Joseph was the main character and everything centered on him, the setting he was in was also a major driving force of the novel, and third person was indeed the best way to capture their complex relationship.
By: Jim Harrison
Delta Trade Paperbacks
New York, 1976
Brilliance and beautiful are two words very commonly together used, but never do they mean as much as when describing Jim Harrison’s work in Farmer. This novel, his third, concerns the life of Joseph as he learns to move on from his mother’s death, find love through a seventeen year old student or the woman he's loved for years, and how to live life. Farmer (1976) seemed to be Harrison’s coming out party after his first two novels Wolf; A False Memoir (1971) and A Good Day to Die (1973). Both novels served as representations of Harrison’s skill, but it wasn’t until Farmer that he seemed to put it all together. After Farmer, Harrison went on to write many more acclaimed novels and novellas, such as: Legends of the Fall (1979), Warlock (1981), Sundog (1984), Dalva (1988), and The Woman Lit by Fireflies (1990). Farmer, however, stands out to be one of his finer works.
One of the main themes of Farmer, and indeed one of Harrison’s main themes in general, is the relationship between love and death. One could also argue the importance of nature, sex, and moral dilemma, which all have a bearing thematically to Farmer, as well as all of his other works, but it would seem that love and death and how they relate are the cornerstone. In the novel, Joseph goes through the death of his mother, which Harrison describes via “The thought of his mother’s death brought Joseph wide awake. It was the first year of his life that he had had trouble sleeping…” (36). Harrison sets up how Joseph faces uncertainty when it comes to death, which goes hand in hand with how the character (Joseph) thinks about love, which also causes him some trouble sleeping. Joseph faces a conundrum when it comes to love as well because “He thought with sadness that he had made love to this girl more in an afternoon than he usually made love to Rosealee in a week,” (12). Harrison shows how much both love and death can affect someone deeply with similar emotional and physical symptomatic responses. He seems to demonstrate how the relationship between love and death is one that can be quite symbiotic due to how deeply they affect a person, and, perhaps, how they always seem to coexist.
Harrison does a wonderful job when it comes to describing the environment that Joseph is in, as well as his internalized and externalized behavior. For a while, both while reading and after I had finished reading, I wondered why Harrison did not write the novel in first person, it being a very personal and single character driven piece. I thought that it would perhaps be better served to show everything through the character’s eyes since he was the central figure of the novel, but then the more I thought about it, the more I realized that third person was the way to go, and I applaud Harrison for that decision. While Joseph was the main character and everything centered on him, the setting he was in was also a major driving force of the novel, and third person was indeed the best way to capture their complex relationship.
December 11, 2017
This year has been a series of leisurely reads for me. I'd have to say "Farmer" is the best read of 2017 for me. The books I've read this year have simply been enjoyable. "Farmer" is the first book that really made me stare at the ceiling for 5 minutes after finishing, sit up slowly, place my hands over my eyes and really feel this sense of profound calm confusion about life. His lack of closure is of the same strategy as William Faulkner, but some how I felt settled after ambling over the ending for a few hours.
Jim Harrison often writes about women with a careless tone. If you are easily offended by the thoughts heterosexuals have about their loved ones, don't read Jim Harrison. He doesn't care about your fragile opinions. Joseph treats Rosealee unfairly - and he discusses this mistreatment over and over again. These conversations Joseph has are similar to the ones I have in my head so naturally the stream of consciousness Joseph employs to try and wrap his head around reality really resonated with me.
Harrison makes this loose comparison between the hunt of a woman that a man can really love and the hunt of a wolf. Both creatures are hopelessly intelligent and of course men struggle with this intelligence as men are often - obtuse. This obtuseness is a refreshing read for someone such as myself who specializes in wanting one specific type of woman when really there are multiple palatable types.
Jim Harrison often writes about women with a careless tone. If you are easily offended by the thoughts heterosexuals have about their loved ones, don't read Jim Harrison. He doesn't care about your fragile opinions. Joseph treats Rosealee unfairly - and he discusses this mistreatment over and over again. These conversations Joseph has are similar to the ones I have in my head so naturally the stream of consciousness Joseph employs to try and wrap his head around reality really resonated with me.
Harrison makes this loose comparison between the hunt of a woman that a man can really love and the hunt of a wolf. Both creatures are hopelessly intelligent and of course men struggle with this intelligence as men are often - obtuse. This obtuseness is a refreshing read for someone such as myself who specializes in wanting one specific type of woman when really there are multiple palatable types.
June 6, 2010
What a talented writer! I wasn't very impressed with Harrison's short stories that I just read but this novel touched me. He is able to get ino the minds and hearts of the characters and leaves the reader with the understanding that you hoped for when the narrative is done. Not that you know what the future will bring for Joseph or Rosealee but I feltl contented that everything woudl be ok, no matter what.
When I think back to reading "Edgar Sawtelle" I realize that this was what I didn't like about that story.....it ws hard to "feel" for the characters and at the end I didn't feel closure. There were still too many questions that I had. It makes me realize that it is not the story line as much as the way it is told that makes a novel linger.
What a joy to read a good story by a gifted writer. I am so glad that I will have the opportunity to read other works by Harrison and I will be understanding if they don't quite live up to the beauty of "Farmer".
When I think back to reading "Edgar Sawtelle" I realize that this was what I didn't like about that story.....it ws hard to "feel" for the characters and at the end I didn't feel closure. There were still too many questions that I had. It makes me realize that it is not the story line as much as the way it is told that makes a novel linger.
What a joy to read a good story by a gifted writer. I am so glad that I will have the opportunity to read other works by Harrison and I will be understanding if they don't quite live up to the beauty of "Farmer".
January 7, 2014
Although there were some beautifully written passages and interesting characters, "Farmer" seems to go nowhere. The protagonist doesn't seem to learn anything or grow by the end (and it's a very ABRUPT ending, at that) of the book. Since he doesn't show any remorse for his actions and all the other characters seem to be okay with his behavior, this book seems to me to be a vehicle to gain approval/sympathy for someone to cheat on a significant other and commit statutory rape. Even the protagonist's girlfriend and student's father are quick to forgive his transgressions without really letting him have a piece of their mind. He gets off way to easily without any real conflict or difficulty to face.
I would've liked for the protagonist to have much more at stake. Maybe lose something or someone important to him while gaining some valuable insights on life.
I would've liked for the protagonist to have much more at stake. Maybe lose something or someone important to him while gaining some valuable insights on life.
July 12, 2009
Beautiful, beautiful writing. The story is of a man in northern Michigan and it is set in another time indeed, though only in the 1950's. A 43 year old teacher, Joseph, says horrible things to his students, treats the love of his life very poorly, and takes up with a senior girl in his class practically with the permission of her father. He ruminates on physical disability, war, farming, hunting, fishing, sex, and wildlife. He eventually makes a decision -- sort of -- and by the last third of the book I was less affected by the beautiful writing and more wondering why I should care about such a great big whiney doofus. But then. The first two pages are two of the most beautiful pages I have ever read in life.
September 19, 2023
Sad and beautiful. Loathsome but honest.
Update: like a sad Otis Redding song that you play over and over. Sitting on the dock of the bay. . .
One of Harrison’s best.
Update: like a sad Otis Redding song that you play over and over. Sitting on the dock of the bay. . .
One of Harrison’s best.
November 2, 2024
The point of fiction, often, is to give the reader a realistic glimpse into an unfamiliar world. In this respect, Jim Harrison’s Farmer is an ideal book for me, a born and raised Manhattanite who worked maritime for a living on the world’s oceans. Joseph, Harrison’s protagonist, is a middle-aged schoolteacher—in a school so small that he doesn’t need certification--from rural Northern Michigan who spends his idle hours hunting, fishing and dreaming of one day seeing an ocean. He probably would have followed his long-dead father’s footsteps as a farmer eking out a living on the family land, owned since the father emigrated from Sweden, but a childhood farm accident left Joseph with a damaged leg that would make farming too burdensome, hence his career as a rural schoolteacher. Joseph’s is a world that modern city-dwellers should glimpse into now and again to gain empathy or a rural mid-Western sentiment.
Harrison gives us a snapshot of a mostly bygone era, the 1950’s, when owning a family farm is a viable—if foolhardy—venture; where the seasons are described by the game that is available to hunt. Where rural inhabitants might only make a couple of trips to a big city, Chicago or Detroit, in their lifetimes. The inhabitants all have a folky Steinbeck quality that comes through in the dialogue, particularly that of the country doctor who plays the town sage or therapist. Alcohol flows freely and everyone eventually knows everyone else’s business. Cliché but effective as Steinbeck’s Nobel Prize indicates.
As apparent as the change of seasons in Farmer are Joseph’s various crises: His mother has just died; his job is being phased out, leaving him to ponder trying to run the family farm despite his bad leg; and—most absurd to the contemporary reader—he foolishly embarks on an affair with a seventeen-year-old student of his, Catherine, much to the chagrin of his steady partner Rosealee, a Korean War widow who was once married to his best friend.
If all this sounds like a rural soap opera, it is. However, Harrison writes with such poignancy that we are drawn to care about his characters and particularly Joseph’s spiritual crisis; the changing seasons and descriptions of nature both evoke the fall and Joseph’s temporary Fall. His condition is either a mid-life crisis, the onset of middle-aged ennui or both.
Did it mean, too, that one more pleasure was to be denied him on his already severely atrophied list of enthusiasms? (Farmer, pg. 17)
While Joseph’s mother’s decline and death are a huge component to his crisis, the ill-advised “affair” and copious descriptions of ridiculous seduction and copulation between a forty-three-year-old teacher and his seventeen-year-old student will make a contemporary reader blanch and judge; the term “make love” appears often, as does the cringeworthy noun “sex” for female genitalia. Harrison’s descriptions of the “affair” are uncomfortable, yet realistic enough to just make a reader ponder this alien world and not be too sententious; Joseph’s folly is self-evident, but not a crime. The age of consent in rural Michigan in the 1950’s was sixteen, so there is no question of statutory rape, not that there would ever be a court case or scandal in a small town such as that; Joseph is lucky to not get shot by Catherine’s father. The central dilemma is which woman will win Joseph’s heart. The denouement is as obvious as leaves falling from a tree in an autumn breeze. Yet there is something endlessly endearing about Harrison’s depictions of rural life. Enough to make me keep coming back for another dose of his prose.
Harrison gives us a snapshot of a mostly bygone era, the 1950’s, when owning a family farm is a viable—if foolhardy—venture; where the seasons are described by the game that is available to hunt. Where rural inhabitants might only make a couple of trips to a big city, Chicago or Detroit, in their lifetimes. The inhabitants all have a folky Steinbeck quality that comes through in the dialogue, particularly that of the country doctor who plays the town sage or therapist. Alcohol flows freely and everyone eventually knows everyone else’s business. Cliché but effective as Steinbeck’s Nobel Prize indicates.
As apparent as the change of seasons in Farmer are Joseph’s various crises: His mother has just died; his job is being phased out, leaving him to ponder trying to run the family farm despite his bad leg; and—most absurd to the contemporary reader—he foolishly embarks on an affair with a seventeen-year-old student of his, Catherine, much to the chagrin of his steady partner Rosealee, a Korean War widow who was once married to his best friend.
If all this sounds like a rural soap opera, it is. However, Harrison writes with such poignancy that we are drawn to care about his characters and particularly Joseph’s spiritual crisis; the changing seasons and descriptions of nature both evoke the fall and Joseph’s temporary Fall. His condition is either a mid-life crisis, the onset of middle-aged ennui or both.
Did it mean, too, that one more pleasure was to be denied him on his already severely atrophied list of enthusiasms? (Farmer, pg. 17)
While Joseph’s mother’s decline and death are a huge component to his crisis, the ill-advised “affair” and copious descriptions of ridiculous seduction and copulation between a forty-three-year-old teacher and his seventeen-year-old student will make a contemporary reader blanch and judge; the term “make love” appears often, as does the cringeworthy noun “sex” for female genitalia. Harrison’s descriptions of the “affair” are uncomfortable, yet realistic enough to just make a reader ponder this alien world and not be too sententious; Joseph’s folly is self-evident, but not a crime. The age of consent in rural Michigan in the 1950’s was sixteen, so there is no question of statutory rape, not that there would ever be a court case or scandal in a small town such as that; Joseph is lucky to not get shot by Catherine’s father. The central dilemma is which woman will win Joseph’s heart. The denouement is as obvious as leaves falling from a tree in an autumn breeze. Yet there is something endlessly endearing about Harrison’s depictions of rural life. Enough to make me keep coming back for another dose of his prose.
March 28, 2025
My first experience with Harrison, and I was prepared to be a little skeptical of this book. Yes, it's another book produced in the 1970s about a middle-aged man whose midlife crisis includes an affair with a young girl while generally acting like a fucking asshole to everyone else around him.
You will be forgiven if you toss this one aside in frustration.
But really, if you can get past the kneejerk reaction...holy shit. Harrison can write like almost no one I've ever read. He has a way of mixing the beautiful with the profane, the commonplace with the philosophical. Harrison's book is about a man going through an existential crisis, a man who has maybe pissed away his life feeling sorry for himself. Joseph is a fascinating character. Left behind on the family farm with his mother after his father's death and the exodus of many siblings, he's a competent agriculturist even if his heart isn't in it. He's also a school teacher, although as we see, his heart really isn't in that either. Joseph is a deep thinker with relatively progressive ideas, a love of poetry, and an obsession with the sea, something he's never seen.
Despite all of his dreaming, he finds himself at 43 having never done much of anything. He's in a long-term relationship with Rosalee, who he loved as a teen before she chose to marry his best friend, who later died in the Korean War. The plan is to marry Rosalee, move into his best friend's house, and farm. But Joseph doesn't quite want to. He strings Rosalee along and wonders if he's doing it to punish her for the many years she spent rejecting him in favor of another.
Of course, Joseph's deferral of the domestic dream embodied by a life with Rosalee presages more concerning changes. In the course of several closely-detailed months, Joseph finds himself experiencing a true existential crisis, as he is besieged by memories and sifts through his many regrets. Believing he is owed it for his lack of worldly experience, he enters into a doomed sexual relationship with his 17-year old student (Reader, this book was written in the 1970s, when such plots were possible). He fucks around, relentlessly, and yet never quite finds out. Or maybe he does? And comes to his senses? The reader will have to decide.
Overall, this is a very interesting book about universal human feelings, albeit explored from a very masculine perspective. Again, I get why modern readers might be tempted to throw the damn thing across the room. But the crazy thing is...Harrison is a good enough writer that he pulls it off! Amazing. I have to read everything he ever wrote now.
You will be forgiven if you toss this one aside in frustration.
But really, if you can get past the kneejerk reaction...holy shit. Harrison can write like almost no one I've ever read. He has a way of mixing the beautiful with the profane, the commonplace with the philosophical. Harrison's book is about a man going through an existential crisis, a man who has maybe pissed away his life feeling sorry for himself. Joseph is a fascinating character. Left behind on the family farm with his mother after his father's death and the exodus of many siblings, he's a competent agriculturist even if his heart isn't in it. He's also a school teacher, although as we see, his heart really isn't in that either. Joseph is a deep thinker with relatively progressive ideas, a love of poetry, and an obsession with the sea, something he's never seen.
Despite all of his dreaming, he finds himself at 43 having never done much of anything. He's in a long-term relationship with Rosalee, who he loved as a teen before she chose to marry his best friend, who later died in the Korean War. The plan is to marry Rosalee, move into his best friend's house, and farm. But Joseph doesn't quite want to. He strings Rosalee along and wonders if he's doing it to punish her for the many years she spent rejecting him in favor of another.
Of course, Joseph's deferral of the domestic dream embodied by a life with Rosalee presages more concerning changes. In the course of several closely-detailed months, Joseph finds himself experiencing a true existential crisis, as he is besieged by memories and sifts through his many regrets. Believing he is owed it for his lack of worldly experience, he enters into a doomed sexual relationship with his 17-year old student (Reader, this book was written in the 1970s, when such plots were possible). He fucks around, relentlessly, and yet never quite finds out. Or maybe he does? And comes to his senses? The reader will have to decide.
Overall, this is a very interesting book about universal human feelings, albeit explored from a very masculine perspective. Again, I get why modern readers might be tempted to throw the damn thing across the room. But the crazy thing is...Harrison is a good enough writer that he pulls it off! Amazing. I have to read everything he ever wrote now.
July 15, 2023
3 and 1/2 for the lovely descriptions of nature in Northern Michigan (which, by the way, is NOT the Upper Peninsula).
I read this book to get a taste of Northern Michigan back in the day (mid-1950's in this case) since my mother was raised there and I used to vacation there a lot until I moved to Seattle. It still is beautiful country and relatively unspoiled especially when compared to the population centers of Southeastern Michigan (e.g. Detroit, Flint).
The book begins at the end which kind of spoils things as far as Joseph's “big decision”, but that's not the point of the book (or is it?-I kind of think so).
So, in flashback, Joseph is in his early forties and is having a full on mid-life crisis/pity party. He is a teacher with a certificate, not a college degree, so he's being phased out at the end of the school year. He is already not giving a f- (the word does appear often in the text despite the time frame, btw) about what he does in his last year as a teacher.
This includes his behavior towards students. He begins a sexual affair with one of his senior students the October of his last year. Catherine, the student, desperately wants him to love her and marry her. She has had a difficult childhood as an army brat, which is what makes her vulnerable to Joseph's advances. She ends up telling almost anyone who will listen about their affair. Joseph is confronted by several people of influence in his small town and yet he keeps his job and defiantly so!
Meanwhile, his childhood friend, now girlfriend of several years, Rosealee, is trying to salvage their relationship and get him to marry her as well. She is also talking to anyone who will listen.
These women need a backbone! This is what seems dated about the book-women need to be married no matter what. Rosealee and Catherine, kick this guy to the curb!
Other than an annual senior student trip to Detroit or Chicago, Joseph never leaves his small town in the middle of nowhere, which is another source of his crisis state-he hasn't done enough with his life.
Of course, Joseph's problems are mostly Joseph's fault. He drinks a lot, too, and when he does he contemplates his sorry state of affairs (sexual and otherwise).
The book is mercifully short: Joseph is just not a sympathetic protagonist. I think the author Jim Harrison must have been a "manly man" and probably hit the bottle pretty hard-see his photo in the author's section for proof of Harrison's hard living!
Harrison's gift for describing the natural world is the saving grace of this book.
I read this book to get a taste of Northern Michigan back in the day (mid-1950's in this case) since my mother was raised there and I used to vacation there a lot until I moved to Seattle. It still is beautiful country and relatively unspoiled especially when compared to the population centers of Southeastern Michigan (e.g. Detroit, Flint).
The book begins at the end which kind of spoils things as far as Joseph's “big decision”, but that's not the point of the book (or is it?-I kind of think so).
So, in flashback, Joseph is in his early forties and is having a full on mid-life crisis/pity party. He is a teacher with a certificate, not a college degree, so he's being phased out at the end of the school year. He is already not giving a f- (the word does appear often in the text despite the time frame, btw) about what he does in his last year as a teacher.
This includes his behavior towards students. He begins a sexual affair with one of his senior students the October of his last year. Catherine, the student, desperately wants him to love her and marry her. She has had a difficult childhood as an army brat, which is what makes her vulnerable to Joseph's advances. She ends up telling almost anyone who will listen about their affair. Joseph is confronted by several people of influence in his small town and yet he keeps his job and defiantly so!
Meanwhile, his childhood friend, now girlfriend of several years, Rosealee, is trying to salvage their relationship and get him to marry her as well. She is also talking to anyone who will listen.
These women need a backbone! This is what seems dated about the book-women need to be married no matter what. Rosealee and Catherine, kick this guy to the curb!
Other than an annual senior student trip to Detroit or Chicago, Joseph never leaves his small town in the middle of nowhere, which is another source of his crisis state-he hasn't done enough with his life.
Of course, Joseph's problems are mostly Joseph's fault. He drinks a lot, too, and when he does he contemplates his sorry state of affairs (sexual and otherwise).
The book is mercifully short: Joseph is just not a sympathetic protagonist. I think the author Jim Harrison must have been a "manly man" and probably hit the bottle pretty hard-see his photo in the author's section for proof of Harrison's hard living!
Harrison's gift for describing the natural world is the saving grace of this book.
February 23, 2025
3.5/5
C’est un livre très bien écrit et qui a réussi le pari de me faire apprécier une lecture sur un thème assez banal en soit :
Les + :
- Une belle écriture , un style très poétique et un page Turner plutôt calme
- les scènes bucoliques et les descriptions de nature sont vraiment au point ! On est transportés lors des nombreuses descriptions de l’auteur
- un livre qui a su garder le rhytme du début jusqu’à la fin et qui sait alterner entre scènes d’actions et scènes plus tendres.
- dr. Evans est un personnage sincèrement incroyable et attachant ! Je suis étonné de voir à quel point ce personnage est bien ficelé.
Les - :
- la banalité pour moi , ce n’est pas d’avoir une aventure avec une élève de 17 ans qui a clairement des problèmes psys. En soit c’est quelque chose qui est critiqué lors du livre , le fait que les femmes ne sont pas aidées dans cette Amérique décrite par Harrison. Mais j’avoue qu’à la toute fin il y a quelque chose de très dérangeant dans cette histoire entière. On a passé une histoire entière à entendre les affres de Joseph et de sa famille , de son mal être , de sa dépression qu’il coule sous le whisky , et peu est donné à Catherine et à une redemption possible pour cette fille qu’on décrit comme une « nymphomane manipulatrice et qui a un grain ».Je crois que j’aurais aimé qu’on en apprenne plus sur Catherine autre que sa soif de cul d’adolescente. Le roman avait beaucoup plus à nous donner à mon sens que ça.
- la fin brumeuse a le mérite d’être énigmatique , mais elle nous laisse sur notre fin. Pour moi ce livre manque de plusieurs chapitres. Il est avorté et laissé là dans un élan… il manque tant de descriptions de la mer que Joseph n’a pas vu. On nous a leurré avec les promesses d’un voyage qui n’arrive jamais et j’aurais aimé avoir une ellipse ou un épilogue, deux trois lignes même tout simplement. La fin ne résous que peu de choses si ce n’est les divagations de Joseph envers Rosalie.
Donc en soit c’est plus le fonds que la forme que je critique, il est d’époque mais ça reste des choses à révéler quand même.
C’est un livre très bien écrit et qui a réussi le pari de me faire apprécier une lecture sur un thème assez banal en soit :
Les + :
- Une belle écriture , un style très poétique et un page Turner plutôt calme
- les scènes bucoliques et les descriptions de nature sont vraiment au point ! On est transportés lors des nombreuses descriptions de l’auteur
- un livre qui a su garder le rhytme du début jusqu’à la fin et qui sait alterner entre scènes d’actions et scènes plus tendres.
- dr. Evans est un personnage sincèrement incroyable et attachant ! Je suis étonné de voir à quel point ce personnage est bien ficelé.
Les - :
- la banalité pour moi , ce n’est pas d’avoir une aventure avec une élève de 17 ans qui a clairement des problèmes psys. En soit c’est quelque chose qui est critiqué lors du livre , le fait que les femmes ne sont pas aidées dans cette Amérique décrite par Harrison. Mais j’avoue qu’à la toute fin il y a quelque chose de très dérangeant dans cette histoire entière. On a passé une histoire entière à entendre les affres de Joseph et de sa famille , de son mal être , de sa dépression qu’il coule sous le whisky , et peu est donné à Catherine et à une redemption possible pour cette fille qu’on décrit comme une « nymphomane manipulatrice et qui a un grain ».Je crois que j’aurais aimé qu’on en apprenne plus sur Catherine autre que sa soif de cul d’adolescente. Le roman avait beaucoup plus à nous donner à mon sens que ça.
- la fin brumeuse a le mérite d’être énigmatique , mais elle nous laisse sur notre fin. Pour moi ce livre manque de plusieurs chapitres. Il est avorté et laissé là dans un élan… il manque tant de descriptions de la mer que Joseph n’a pas vu. On nous a leurré avec les promesses d’un voyage qui n’arrive jamais et j’aurais aimé avoir une ellipse ou un épilogue, deux trois lignes même tout simplement. La fin ne résous que peu de choses si ce n’est les divagations de Joseph envers Rosalie.
Donc en soit c’est plus le fonds que la forme que je critique, il est d’époque mais ça reste des choses à révéler quand même.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 12, 2022
Barksdale Penick
Wed, Aug 17, 11:44 AM
to me
A slim novel about an indecisive schoolteacher who lives in a farming area of northern Michigan. The book opens with an italicized page describing a midwestern farmer on vacation with his wife. This turns out to be the teacher and his long term girlfriend in what may be an alternate reality that differs from the main story line. The teacher hunts and fishes and thinks of farming in the future because the local school is closing. He starts an affair with a senior at his school who is no stranger to sex, it seems, and of course in a small town everyone finds out including the long term girlfriend. Oddly there doesn't seem to be any uproar at a high school teacher carrying with a student, and she even joins the seniors in their annual trip to Chicago, chaperoned by our protagonist. He doesn't provide much supervision tor he students, allowing one senior who is gay to disappear with a slick looking older man while the teacher gets drunk with the girl and abandons his pledge not to sleep with her on the trip. And there it ends. This so why I wonder if the opening paragraph is an alternate reality--the teacher sure doesn't seem to be about to go on vacation with the long term girlfriend. And I suppose that may be the point. He can't make a decision to move ahead with his life and so probably won't take that trip.
I didn't love this book but am glad to have read at least one Jim Harrison effort.
November 7, 2016
This rocks. If you're a woman, skip it; it'll just make you mad. This is a book for guys who like to take stupid risks and learn things the hard way, even if only some of the time: most of us. It's also a book for guys who have trouble with women and their feelings about them: nearly all of us. Joseph is a good guy with bad habits. One his best traits, however, is honesty to himself. He knows he's screwing up by screwing around, hurting people and burning good will, but partly he can't and partly he doesn't want to make the necessary changes to move on with his life. He's stuck wishing he were younger and acting as if he is, and he's fully aware of the problems this causes. Without spoiling, I'll say Joseph crosses a line and he's lucky that people around him are grounded realists. All characters are well drawn, interactions natural, the story fascinating (for the above-mentioned audiences), the writing brisk and vivid; the only thing you might clip the book for is that Joseph might be a little too passive for you. His passivity is the point, but maybe that's not your thing. If you like tough, decisive characters, don't bother with this one. But if you want commiseration and insight into failings that probably mirror your own in one way or another, get Farmer today and start reading.
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