The River You Touch: Making a Life on Moving Water

by Chris Dombrowski

"We are matter and long to be received by an Earth that conceived us, which accepts and reconstitutes us, its children, each of us, without exception, every one. The journey is long, and then we start homeward, fathomless as to what home might make of us."--from All of It Everywhere When Chris Dombrowski burst onto the literary scene with Body of Water, the book was acclaimed as "a classic" (Jim Harrison) and its author compared with John McPhee. Dombrowski begins the highly anticipated All of It Everywhere with a question as timely as it is profound: "What does a meaningful, mindful, sustainable inhabitance on this small planet look like in the anthropocene?" He answers this fundamental question of our time initially by listening lovingly to rivers and the land they pulse through in his adopted home of Montana. Transplants from the post-industrial Midwest, he and his partner, Mary, assemble a life based precariously on her income as a schoolteacher, his as a poet and fly-fishing guide. Before long, their first child arrives, followed soon after by two more, all "free beings in whom flourishes an essential kind of knowing [...], whose capacity for wonder may be the beacon by which we see ourselves through this dark epoch." And around the young family circles a community of friends -- river-rafting guides and conservationists, climbers and wildlife biologists -- who seek to cultivate a way of living in place that moves beyond the mythologized West of appropriation and extraction. Moving seamlessly from the quotidian -- diapers, the mortgage, a threadbare bank account -- to the metaphysical -- time, memory, how to live a life of integrity -- Dombrowski illuminates the experience of fatherhood with intimacy and grace. Spending time in wild places with their children, he learns that their youthful sense of wonder at the beauty and connectivity of the more-than-human world is not naivete to be shed, but rather wisdom most of us lose along the way -- wisdom that is essential for the possibility of transformation.

Genres: Nature, Memoir, Nonfiction, Environment, Outdoors, Biography, Spirituality

321 pages, Hardcover

Published October 11, 2022

Reviews

[Marley Richmond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chris Dombrowski is a beautiful writer, and this book helped me see wonder in the natural world around me. It certainly made me wish for more time spent outside. I thought his connections between nature and parenthood were thoughtful and reminded me of my own parents.

[Amy C Novak · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lyrical exploration of the intersection of humanity through the lens of life in, with, and on the river. A piece of creative nonfiction that invites you to just keep reading more. It’s a stunning piece of writing and an absolutely delightful read….that in the end, invites one to ask, how can one better see oneself connected to all living things. From Autumn snowfalls in Montana’s bitterroot mountains, to blooming wildflowers, to trout in the mountain streams, the reader feels transported into a beautiful story of the intersection of nature and humanity.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are many underlying layers in this story. Family, life, trying to eke out a living, nature, community, etc. At times it was hard to grasp the story line as new themes kept coming up. This is not a fast read, but one to mull over as you go.

[Art Shelton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is mostly about life in Montana and Michigan. It has some fishing but not as much as his other books. He includes some nice stories about Jim Harrison who is my favorite writer.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

If readers are fish, then this book failed to land me. I found TMI parts of the autobiography— like the play by play description of the author’s vasectomy (an interlude that, by nature of its announcement, has already snipped any dramatic tension (pardon the pun))…in other words, we know how this will end.

I am out of patience with poets who are convinced they are a singular interpreter of beauty in the world. The author comes across as self absorbed, and his writing as self indulgent. The imagery and description was so incessant and overwrought that it was like drinking from a fire hose— or, perhaps the author would argue, like trying to drink from a rushing river.

It didn’t work for me, though I know it does for others, as this was a recommendation from someone in Literati, the Ann Arbor local bookstore, who saw me holding Up North in Michigan by Jerry Dennis, which I truly loved. I’d recommend the latter instead of this, but that’s just how my river’s flowing, perhaps yours will cut towards this book instead.

[Themountainbookie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A family memoir. Some beautiful writing, it meanders like a river.

[vicki honeyman]

This is a touching tribute to nature and fatherhood. A poet and fly-fishing guide in love with the wilds of Montana, Detroit transplant Chris Dombroski's sensitive treatise on the birth and raising of his three children and being a good citizen to the planet is a lesson on paying attention to the natural world in which we reside.

[Zach LaFond-Hudson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chris Dombrowski's grocery lists are probably beautiful to read.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Right near the beginning of his book Chris Dombrowski tells us, "At age 16, I declared Tom Waits's 'I Don't Wanna Grow Up' as the national anthem....and to this day, when faced with the slightest bit of responsibility, I flee from it, hearkening instead toward Waits's desperate growling chorus." When people revel in their immaturity I assume that they are a spoiled child of privilege, someone who assumes others will always take care of them and make sure that they are never forced to face the consequences of their actions or life choices. I read the whole book through that frame of reference and it's a negative one for me.
In addition, I am not a fan of authors who use their own children as story prompts - especially when they are too young to give their permission to include intimate passages about their exploits - things that might prove to be embarrassing later in life.
All that being said, the book is exceedingly well written. The author conjures up stunning images of the Montana and Michigan countryside. His love for his family and his appreciation of the natural landscapes is apparent throughout.

[Matt Mesa · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a wonderful, heartwarming, and inspiring book. Part memoir, part nature treatise, this book tells Chris's life story--his days as a river guide, his life with wife and friends, and, perhaps most importantly, his bringing of three children into this world. All mostly taking place in his beloved Montana.

I envy this book, and Chris, for the life he lives. I live a similar kind of life, or at least parts of it, but I can't name drop any heroes, like he can. Including two of my faves, Jim Harrison and Jeffrey Foucault. I've always wondered what it must be like to have known JH--what a pleasure it was to read about him here. One of my life's fantasies is hanging out with JH, eating, drinking, and fishing with him--guess I'll never know.

Well done Chris. Even though you mention throughout the book your family financial woes, it seems to me that you were richer than you ever knew. A notion that I'm sure you now understand clearly.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really don't know how to feel about this book. I like the appreciation for nature, love that the author is from Michigan (Michigander here) and the discussion about how wide-eyed appreciation for nature is something to be held onto and not naivete to be lost with maturity is great. That said, the description of his newborn's bowel movements, the author describing how he changes the kids' diaper in great detail, and sniffing his wife in public to be able to tell if she's pumped or not is just...some stuff is meant to be kept private especially when it comes to their kids. I'd be mortified if my parent wrote a book describing making sure they wiped my buttcrack thoroughly. The author getting poetical about his vasectomy was fine I guess because it's his body. But man kids really do not get their privacy respected anymore.

[Katharine Wadas · Rating 2 out of 5]

So many people recommended that I read this book, I just had a hard time getting into it. This is one of the first books in a while that I wanted to DNF. I think when I was recommended this book, it came with the idea that it would be about the outdoors based. I also just don’t like the writing style of this book. It seemed as if the author was trying to fit as many big words into his book as possible. I also understand that he is trying to be a story telling, however it’s just not my style. I don’t enjoy the cutting back and forget between different experiences. All in all, I am glad that I finished this book but I would definitely not read it again.

[River James · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got to the Neighbors chapter and hit the wall (kids, endlessly inarestin when yours, not so much when they’re yours) others described in low star reviews. Up till then I overlooked the $10 word when a 10 cent word would make you a Norman Maclean. Also difficult was the eschewing of big picture themes for contemporary minutia.

[J Rossi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened to the audiobook that was read by musician Jeffrey Foucault. His voice is so perfect and sweet. I could listen to him read anything. The book was very well written and a joy to listen to on a 7 state roadtrip.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the top ten reading experiences of my life.

[Lindsay Prats · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous prose from an incredible poet. The Land is indeed a character.

[Debby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moves so slowly and peacefully almost like meditating.

[Bridgette · Rating 5 out of 5]

*beautifully written
*easy to read and very descriptive
*strong character development
*highly recommend

[Emily Whalen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Reads like a love letter to Montana. Raw honesty and vulnerability about man’s relationship with the land.

[David Lo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fishing, family, and food. So good!

[Brad Johnston · Rating 2 out of 5]

got tired of hearing about bringing up kids...nothing particularly revelatory for me

[April · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beautiful writing but no story at all

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was lucky to blurb this book. Here's what I wrote: "Mid way through The River You Touch, poet and naturalist Chris Dombrowski tells us, “To truly fathom a river, is to know it from its headwaters to its mouth…” To truly fathom a life—one’s place, community, family, history, purpose on earth—is the sacred pursuit of this moving and beautifully written memoir. Here is the story of a man attempting to reckon with his cultural inheritance, his vocation, his past, and his responsibilities to family, land, and history. Along the route, he continuously encounters reminders of his own mortal smallness and, simultaneously, the numinous interconnection of all beings. Like the river, Dombrowski’s story is complicated and enlivened by all it touches, “an extension of everything upstream and down”—from the joys, doubts, and terrors of parenthood; to the precarity of making a life in art; to the rivers and mountains that are both his source of sustenance and place of worship; and the fraught layers of histories that map over it all. By the end, I’d fallen hopelessly in love with Dombrowski’s Montana, not just its rivers and mountains, but the unforgettable cast of characters that populate his world—from children who speak in beguiling riddles to crusty old hunters whose colloquial panache rivals the naughtiest Shakespeare. Dombrowski brings a near-religious attentiveness to the details of his world, both our wise guide and awe-struck fellow-passenger."

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

“ We are matter and long to be received by an earth that conceived us, which accepts and reconstitutes us, its children, each of us, without exception, every one. The journey is long, and then we start homeward, fathomless as to what home might make of us.”

“How could we ever know if the land is communicating with us? Either it’s a far-fetched and fanciful idea, or it is rote, in that the land is always communicating with us, and we’re simply ill-attuned to its frequency.”

“ a triangle of sunlight found her cheek, a triangle with rounded edges that morphed into something resembling a wing, the wind from which Whitman himself would give his ceiling fan of a thousand hummingbirds in heaven to feel flutter across his skin.”

“ there were sixty million bison living in Montana when Lewis and Clark arrived; half a century later, there were fewer than a thousand. For millennia, tribes lived sustainably with the animal, and in fifty years they were nearly gone.”

[Mike Foreman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a contemplative journal that covers about 15 years of the authors life - living near Missoula, MT, starting and raising a family, teaching, and guiding fishing trips along the rivers. It is a love song to the land. The author is also a poet and teaches creative writing, and it shows is his very descriptive creative writing. There are no cliches, or tropes or similar writing issues, but some of the word choices require a dictionary and can be a little florid. I would compare his writing to an early Wallace Stegner.

There isn't a story, but a theme of "do what you love" as we only go around once in life. Its best to read in shorted sessions, like a journal. Overall, I loved this book and look forward to more of his writing.

[Tait Sougstad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is this a memoir? Meditation? Collection of transcendentalist essays? Probably all three, and neither. An anodyne to the day's caustic view of family, Chris flashes through scene after scene of an ordinary life squeezed dry. This book lands somewhere in a constellation with Brenden Leonard's 80 Meters to Nowhere, and Nate Wilson's Death By Living.

I picked up the audiobook on Audible after listening to Chris's interview on the Mountain and Prairie podcast. It's not what I expected, but it's what I needed, a vitamin of the beauty and wonder of life, and the gift of family, and the privilege of living in a wild, open country.

[Aurora · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Lyrical and complex, The River You Touch keeps you grounded in the wonder of nature and place as the author navigates through life as a parent, writer, and partner. Dombrowski, a poet, writer, and fishing guide, seamlessly weaves together new and interesting perspectives on fatherhood while painting moving scenes of the American West and allowing glimpses into the many challenges of parenthood and the writing life."

Read my full review in Hippocampus Magazine at https://hippocampusmagazine.com/2023/...

[Zachary Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books I have ever read. Chris is an amazing writer and they way his uses words to describe his life experiences are an inspiration. I loved Montana before this book but now it is a love affair of place with no equal. It also has made me think deeply how I would like to raise my kids in this world. My first is due in June and I will read many excerpts from this to my kid along the journey. Simply beautiful. Thank you, Chris for sharing this beautiful work with the world.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would not have found this audiobook had not been narrated by the amazing singer-songwriter Jeffrey Foucault. But I'm very glad to have found this quiet meditation on life and place. Dombrowski touches on philosophy, economics, love, hunting, fishing, and family along with many other things in this memoir. Foucault's narration was as thoughtful and as beautifully paced as his music.

[James M · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author writes both about his love for nature and family. I enjoyed the last part of the book more where he was able to spend more time on nature and friendships, also enjoyed the part of the book where he describes his returning to Montana. Although I enjoyed his joy and adventures of family I did think the author spent too much time on family.