River of the Angry Moon: Seasons on the Bella Coola [Paperback]

Mark Hume (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2000

One of the world's most celebrated fishing streams, the Bella Coola is a grand, rushing river that flows through the stunning richness of British Columbia's temperate rain forest. This poetic and powerful book describes a year in the life of this magnificent river, and examines its increasingly endangered ecosystem.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In this ode to the Bella Coola River in Canada's British Columbia, Hume (senior correspondent, Vancouver Sun) and Thommassen (a physician who lives on the Bella Coola) attempt to describe the river's historical and contemporary environment, including the flora and fauna, ecology, geology, and the use of the river by the Nuxalk Nation and sport fishermen. While the authors's love of the Bella Coola and of fishing is clear in this eloquent homage, readers unfamiliar with the river will need more than poetry to feel empathy. If read as a prose poem, this book works well, but as a record of the river the book suffers from a lack of solid grounding in any particular subject. As it stands, it is an acceptable, though lightweight, book for the avid fisherman but holds little value for anyone else. Not recommended.AJulia Stump, Voorheesville P.L., NY
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: University of Washington Press (February 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 029597950X
• ISBN-13: 978-0295979502
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,252,689 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The seasons of the Bella Coola, March 18, 2003

By 

P. Smith "Reluctant Enthusiast" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: River of the Angry Moon (Hardcover)

In a book that carries the reader from deeply moving and poetic insights of BC's coastal natural phenomena, to alarming and occasionaly scathing analyses of resource management practices, Hume relates an incredibly intimate knowledge of the ecology and people of a very rich landscape. It may have been tempting for Hume to slip into a ranting diatribe of the regretable past policies which have scarred this beautiful place, but instead he describes to the reader the natural wonders of the Bella Coola valley along with the legends of the First Nations people that have inhabited the area. Hume's knowledge is vast and he can easily hold your interest on whatever subject takes his fancy. Highly recomended.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Loved it, hated it!, July 22, 2003

By 

Norman Dale (Prince George) - See all my reviews

This review is from: River of the Angry Moon: Seasons on the Bella Coola (Hardcover)

It is so hard not to simultaneously both love and dislike this book. Love, because the natural history is beautifully limned and Hume has gift for apt phrasings that take you right out on the edge of this beautiful river (which, I should say proudly, I once lived beside). Former local doctor and naturalist, Harvey Thommasen has contributed his peerless knowledge and stream-wisdom about the Bella Coola's fauna and flora all the way through. The chronological following of the Aboriginal yearly cycle adds to the feel Hume creates.

But, and it is a big and, for me, distracting "but", there is a lot of preachiness even egotistical meanness in the way that Hume looks at those of less finer sensibilities who actually - sin of sins! - keep their catch. Only so much of this holier-than-thou proselytization and one loses the lyricism!

Hume's accounts of his own flyfishing prowess, catching a big salmon almost every cast and of course, because he is so ecologically enlightened, letting it go rather than frying it up like you or I might do, gets really tiresome. Not very far beneath the surface respect for the Nuxalk Indians whose lore gives the book its structure, runs a vein of intolerance for the tribe and for others who do not share his quasi-religous awe for steelhead etc.

So? By all means buy it but unless you are yourself one of those saintly fly-casters be prepared to grit your teeth more than a few times!