Pale Morning Done: A Novel [Paperback]

Jeff Hull (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2005

Marshall is learning to love the land. He’s in the process of transforming his father’s ranch into prime spring creek fishing, literally molding the land as he attempts to fashion himself.
He’s a guide, along with his two closest friends, Molly and Alton. All three are trying to step out of a youthful fascination with the freewheeling, fish-guiding life, and into a sustainable life on the land and water of Montana. Pale Morning Done is a coming-of place novel, in which Marshall must decide between the woman who wants him and the woman who loves him; between the future desired by his father and the future created by himself; between the truth that will bind and the omission that will free. It is about the tides that toss friends, sometimes against each other, and ultimately unites them against enemies. It is about the delicate balance of our lives that violence can abruptly topple.

Beautifully written, this first novel scours the landscape of emotion as it revels in the physical landscape of Montana. Pale Morning Done is sure to place Jeff Hull in the company of other great chroniclers of the new West, including Norman McLean, William Kittredge, and Tom McGuane.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A Montana fly-fishing guide strives to restore his father's ranch to nature and its freshwater spring to a fishing stream while navigating a thorny romantic triangle in Hull's impressive first novel, which balances vivid, meticulous outdoor writing with fine characterization. The 33-year-old guide, Marshall Tate, faces an uphill battle to secure the water rights for the spring from the Klingmans, an ornery ranching clan that owns the adjoining land. While Tate clashes with the Klingman men, he also wrestles with his simultaneous attraction to Daisy Klingman, a childhood friend and longtime on-again, off-again lover, and Molly Huckabee, another fishing guide with whom his friendship blooms into something more. Hull engagingly captures the family feud, the nuances of fly-fishing and the dilemma of a typically indecisive and commitment-phobic young American male. Though the relationship subplot can be predictable, the novel stands out for its graceful, lovely evocation of the outdoors and as a chronicle of the struggle for control of a rare plot of Western wilderness. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

After two years of work, Marshall Tate has sculpted a spring creek on his rich father's pristine land in northwest Montana, and the fish love it. But the neighboring Klingmans, who used to own the land and now mostly don't like Marshall, threaten legal action over water rights, a situation not helped by Marshall's on-again, off-again relationship, sexual and otherwise, with Daisy Klingman. Meanwhile, the long-term friendships between Marshall and fellow fishing guides Molly Huckabee (who loves him) and Alton Summers is threatened by increasing sexual tensions and jealousies. When a bar fight turns very bad, the good friends are forced to face their futures. This first novel teeters between frat-boy humor and pranks (involving characters a good decade older than college age), paeans to nature, and technical information about flies and fly-casting, plus some love interest. It's a well-intentioned novel that has its moments--especially for Montana natives and fly-fishing fans--but it doesn't find an especially secure voice. Michele Leber
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: The Lyons Press (June 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592286844
• ISBN-13: 978-1592286843
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #925,961 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A masterful Novelist is born!, December 21, 2005

By 

Jolly Skwala "Skwala" (Seattle) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pale Morning Done: A Novel (Paperback)

INCREDIBLE!!!!!!! This novel is an expectional piece of literature that weaves the beauty of Montana, fly fishing,human nature and humor into a novel that is an absolute pleasure to read. The authors mastery of the english language is impressive and breathes fresh air into the genre of outdoor/fishing novels. His intimate knowledge of Montana......the culture, the rivers, the geography and fly-fishing is right on and adds substantial depth to an already polished storyline. The characters are intriguing and pulled directly from the drift boats, bars, fly shops, and ranches of western Montana. This is the real deal and should be on the "must read" list for anyone who enjoys great writing.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it., February 14, 2006

By 

CWD7 (AL, United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Pale Morning Done: A Novel (Paperback)

Jeff Hull paints a vivid, wonderful story. This book takes you to Montana, and keeps you there well after the last chapter is read.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Go Fishing With Jeff Hull, December 20, 2005

By 

Jeff, Michigan fly fisherman "Water Child" (Findlay, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pale Morning Done: A Novel (Paperback)

Jeff Hull has accomplished something increasingly rare in American Literature with this novel, that is, writing on several levels simultaneously. He pleases the average reader with an intricate story of outdoor adventure leading to tragedy and murder. That plot alone takes several unexpected turns that would not allow me to put this novel down. Simultaneously, he weaves an elaborate, delightful, beautiful description of the art of fly-fishing, and it's inexplicable link with nature and the modern man's desire to be one with it. He is obviously a man well-versed in the art, and the science within as well. Thirdly, he describes in so many ways the pain and joy of the human condition of being young, single, in and out of love and finding your way through life. He simply uses the stage of fly fishing guides in Montana to tell this timeless story. Finally, his command of the English Language is profound and articulate. The vocabulary alone and his near-perfect use of it is worth reading this book for. Yes, it could easily be made into a Hollywood movie. However, I enjoyed it simply for what it is, an honest, heart-felt story about what is plainly a personal, and necessary need to express his love of nature, and the beautiful places within which Trout live. I've read it twice, with the same joy and alacrity that I have read novels by Steinbeck and Hemingway. Yes, the main character leaves you hanging for a little more debth or resolution, which is what we all are--something short of the glory of the Montana land and waterscape. Forget any other negative reviewers, they haven't been there or just don't get it.