Customer Reviews

The Canoeist: A Memoir

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4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

I watched THE CANOEIST evolve from the first scribbled pages to the last polished paragraph, and I read the book several times in manuscript form before it was published. But reading the finished product was like shooting the rapids with John Manuel as my guide...a wonderful ride! John did what many writers fail to do, which is fine-tune his book during the last few months before publication. I was delighted to come upon whole chapters revised and even more so to find added words of wisdom, eg, "...obstacles that appear so daunting often turn out to be easy, while the unnamed threats do us in." Such thoughts and observations take the reader in tandem with John, give us an intimate relationship with him as we read this story of his life. Memoir is variously defined as "an essay on a learned subject" and "an account of personal experiences" and "a narrative of something noteworthy." John Manuel's book explores all facets of memoir; he lets us look over his shoulder as he runs wild rivers and as he struggles to be a good husband, father, and friend. The book opens on the deathbed of John's father, a man we come to know as both critical and kind, both harsh and gentle, both judgmental and wise. Throughout the book John struggles to be a better man than his father was; by the end of the book we come to see that the two men are more alike than they are different, because John allows us to see his own weaknesses, and to be with him when he acknowledges his father's strengths. It is appropriate that John dedicated this book to his father, the man who first put a paddle in John's hands. From "The Chagrin" to "The Ocoee," this is a book to be savored, one riveting chapter at a time.

John Manuel's The Canoeist is a page turner at the same time it is poignant and personal. It offers vivid descriptions of dramatic and sometimes nail-biting river runs as it weaves a picture of personal growth, family love, and decades long friendships. It is intensely male, offering a window into the world of summer camps, father and son dynamics, and important relationships. I highly recommend it; it's a great read.

John Manuel's The Canoeist is insightful and well-paced. He intertwines quiet reflections on life and relationships with tales of trips down various rivers, providing insight into more than canoeing and rivers.

Much of the book circles around Manual's prickly relationship with his disapproving father, who died before its writing, and the author's very different relationship with his own son, Jackson.

Recounting a trip down the storied Nantahala with his son, Manuel writes:
We rounded the bend to find a canoe broached on the rock, its bow sticking right in our path.
"Draw right!"
Jackson pulled hard, the sinew flexing in his thin arms. We slipped thorugh the narrow gap between the rock and the shore, punched through the tail wave, and eddied out against the bank.
"Good job!" I said.
Keith and Roger came around the corner, dodged the canoe, and swung in behind us.
"We would've hit the boat if we hadn't seen you bogey for shore," Roger said. "Way to go, Jackson."
Keith nodded his approval. I felt a sudden wave of emotion and glanced away to hide my tears. I couldn't understand what was happening. Was it just Jackson I was happy for, or was there another boy in the boat who'd waited a lifetime for a few words of praise?

Like many memoirs, "The Canoeist" is an interesting recounting of people, events, time and place, but it also offers a rare and welcome perceptiveness.

"How is it, I wondered, that obstacles that appear so daunting often turn out to be easy, while the unnamed threats do us in?" (From Chapter 12, "The Chatooga, Revisited.")

I enjoyed reading John Manuel's memoir, The Canoeist, for its white-knuckle descriptions of river adventures, and for its exploration of the friendships that develop among diverse personalities out together battling the elements. But I also found, in the process of moving from chapter to chapter, reflections of life's journeys and hazards, the "unnamed threats" that can do us in. I like the way he weaves the story lines of his most important relationships in and out of the sequence of river chapters. A good read!

Over the years, I have purchased hundreds of books, but I must say, I have never purchased a book based on a review by Publishers Weekly. (I don't know that Kirkus fellow, either.)

Perhaps it's the anonymity of these reviews that bothers me. In this case, though, I know the reason. The review, excerpted above, is laughably off the mark.

First things first: John is my oldest friend. We grew up together. I was his college roommate, and I appear briefly in the book during our life in Washington. So, I have a clear bias. Even before I started, I really wanted to like this book.

I put the book down, amazed.

In The Canoeist, John has accomplished a task most of us dream about, if we ever think of writing. He has managed to uncover and express the most profound connections that we only dimly feel. He does so with nuance and clear writing that leaves his relationships intact. He has reached the insights and beauty that lie on the other side of life's complexities. He does all this with a subtlety of humor, thought and word.

This is not easy stuff. John shares with us how he sorts through the unspoken mysteries of his father's love, even as he must learn how to express his own. He guides us through the uneven terrain of environmental politics, while faithfully sharing the friendships he's found.

This experience is not new for me. As boys walking through the woods, John would often point out something -- a hawk, a turtle, a ripple in the water -- I could not see. He has done it again.

Spend time with this book. You will be better for it.

I'm delighted to say that I enjoyed John Manuel's book MUCH more than I expected to! (I actually rated this Four Stars - not One as indicated above - but the software won't allow me to edit this. Sorry about that, Mr. Manuel!) This was a thoroughly smooth and pleasurable read. Although I'm not a paddler, and much of the whitewater tech talk raced past me, the author's fluid language evoked a vivid sense of time, place, and character. I was very much at home with John and his band of merry pranksters, and by journey's end felt as if I knew every one of them. Read this book!

John Manuel's lyrical writing is evocative of Salinger and Knowles as he tells of personal rites of passage. Whether reading this book as personal memoir or whitewater adventuring, it's captivating and realistic. With each chapter focusing on a different river Manual (sometimes with friends) has paddled, comes a clear window into life experiences. The beauty and honesty of Manuel's writing makes this a memorable reading treasure.