Customer Reviews

Old Fish Hawk

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A very nice story, well told. True to the time period and location, the Missouri Ozarks in the mid 1800s. Read by the author with a pure, Southern Ozarks accent. This can take some getting used to, even for a Missouri native like myself, but don't give up on it, the story is worth the listening effort. My one criticism would be that Mr. Jaynes seems to be a little rushed in his reading, which makes interpretion of his accent that much more difficult.

Clearing out my mother's house last month, I came across this old paperback. It had my sister's name in it, so I brought it home to mail to her, as she is out of state. I decided to go ahead and read it beforehand. From the first chapter, I was hooked. It is a story of redemption such as you rarely get to read. It had some truly admirable characters, and built up enough suspense that it was hard to put it down and sleep.

I just finished probably the best audio book on cassette that I have ever heard. Though it didn't belong to our library's collection at the time it so intrigued me, it has now been generously donated to our branch for everyone to enjoy.

Read by the author, this tale of an old Osage Indian, known by all as Fish Hawk, is a dramatically moving story that will bring tears to the eyes of anyone who has a special place in his heart for the beauty/cruelty of nature and for the less advantaged living among us.

The last of a vanishing breed, Fish Hawk had lived on the fringe of the white man's world for many years but, weighed down by the burden of feeling useless, he was ready to return to the land of his ancestors to live out the last years of his life. Only with the help of a young white boy was he able to regain the sense of dignity and respect it took for him to complete his journey home.

"Old Fish Hawk", written and vividly narrated by native Ozarkian Mitch Jayne, was enhanced even more by the accompaniment of the flute, mandolin, fiddle, harmonica, banjo, accordion, and guitar.

It's an audio book that you'll not want to come to an end, and a story that you'll never forget.

I have been a voracious reader for fifty plus years. I've probably read and re-read Old Fish Hawk twenty plus times over the last decade or so. The writing is so good you find yourself lost in the deep woods, can see the world through the eyes of that old boar, feel the frost on the air. When the spell finally ends you are left with a sense of longing for a simplier time, for the ability to always do the right thing, of admiration for an old uneducated man who has the ability to salvage his life and live his dream. This is without a doubt one of the best books I've ever read.

The true sence of the Ozarks is the center of this audio tape. I could relate much of this story to our moving to the Ozarks in the early 60's.
There were families that were much like this still around. Very good.