This two-part novel is pure Jones: an outrageous outdoor adventure accented by ribald humor, violence, sex, pitch-perfect dialog, unforgettably eccentric characters, and a riveting plot. Part One opens as two boyhood friends, Ben, who is about to go off to the Korean War, and Harry, who has begun college to become a doctor, set off to have the final adventure of their youth -- a canoe trip down the Firesteel River to Lake Superior, also known as Gitche Gumee, the Big-Sea-Water. Armed with flyrods and shotguns, they plan to fish and hunt their way downriver, relishing their last blast of freedom in the great outdoors.Part Two takes place fifty years later, when Harry, a retired physician, is diagnosed with terminal cancer, and Ben contemplates the dismal state of his own failed life. The two decide to recreate their canoe trip as a last hurrah -- this time with the wisdom of years and the pains of the past informing their every paddlestroke.This is Jones at his very best -- his wicked humor now tempered with the acute poignancy of the final stretch of the river of life.
- ISBN10 1585744069
- ISBN13 9781585744060
- Publish Date 1 November 2001
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 19 December 2011
- Publish Country US
- Publisher Rowman & Littlefield
- Imprint The Lyons Press
- Pages 292
- Language English