Customer Reviews

River Journey

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

 

 

Clarence Jonk's classic book is the story of a poor but idealistic young man and his adventures of living on the Mississippi River on a home-made houseboat during the Great Depression. Originally published in 1964, it has been re-released in 2003.

There is something about living by a big river that makes one wonder what the river leads to. It turns out that the destination is not so much a place as a state of mind. The power and magic of the river are transformative and when your journey is over you are better for it. I think that the same can be said for Clarence Jonk's River Journey - if you read it you will be better for it.

This is a book about a college age guy back in the 1930s. He and his friend build a house boat to save money on rent. The plan becomes to float down the Mississippi from around the Twin Cities in Minnesota. They mess around until the weather gets bad and only make it about to LaCrosse WI. Kind of typical kids, can not get their stuff together to make anything happen. Not a great book by any means, but somewhat interesting if you like the Mississippi River.

A pleasant story from a time gone by. You can still recognize the locations described. This is an updated bit of Huck and Tom type stuff. A great read.

I wanted to read a book that discussed the building of the houseboat, what troubles went into the building of the boat, what made him come to his decision (other than being a hippy and wanting to live rent free) and things he decided he would or would not need along the way. Also about the excitement of the journey and what he might be able to accomplish along the way. Instead, what I found was a lot of talk about how great squirrels are in the morning, and how a man who accomplishes things during his life and is able to provide for others in the community is worthless compared to a man that does nothing except write poetry and complain about working people. I admit, I only got to something like page 15 before I shredded the book, burned the remains and buried the ash so deep that hopefully no one would unfortunately find themselves reading this book, but I could already tell that this book was only going to continue down the same road that it started on; his observations on the world, and not an adventure book. I have no need to read that crap. If I'm correct, he doesn't even make it more than 150 miles or so. Go figure, a hippy that wouldn't finish what he'd set off to finish. If you want to read an exciting adventure ... you MAY find it here, but you'll have to read through a bunch of B.S. first. It's not worth it. But I digress. Other books are out there that are much better. If you're looking for a good book about traveling down a river, try "A Louisiana River Journal" by Skipper Dixon. It's a pretty quick read, but it's all about the river adventure and the excitement, not about hippies being greater than thou. The only problem is that it's hard to find. I expect other hippies to vote this review negatively. Be my guest.