River Teeth [Hardcover]

David James Duncan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1995

In his passionate, luminous novels, David James Duncan has won the devotion of countless critics and readers, earning comparisons to Harper Lee, Tom Robbins, and J.D. Salinger, to name just a few. Now Duncan distills his remarkable powers of observation into this unique collection of short stories and essays.

At the heart of Duncan's tales are characters undergoing the complex and violent process of transformation, with results both painful and wondrous. Equally affecting are his nonfiction reminiscences, the "river teeth" of the title. He likens his memories to the remains of old-growth trees that fall into Northwestern rivers and are sculpted by time and water. These experiences—shaped by his own river of time—are related with the art and grace of a master storyteller. In River Teeth, a uniquely gifted American writer blends two forms, taking us into the rivers of truth and make-believe, and all that lies in between.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The enormously popular writer of The River Why and The Brothers K offers an eclectic collection of fiction and nonfiction, in which the latter entries pack the greater wallop. There's a whimsical, sentimental and very Zen sensibility at work in the short stories, although Theme and Meaning often strut too blatantly. In one story, a young girl learns the frustrating distinctions between fantasy and reality when her garbage man becomes to her a mythical figure like Santa Claus. In "Not Rocking the Boats," Duncan revisits his river terrain when an ardent and usually drunk fly-fisherman confronts a packaged fishing tour operator. The strongest entries are nonfiction pieces that Duncan calls "river teeth," a term he draws from fallen old-growth trees that are whittled down by rivers to their last and hardest wood. These vignettes are first-person, succinct and uniformly powerful. The best of them, "The Mickey Mantle Koan," considers the irony of a signed ball from Mantle arriving just after the death of his baseball fanatic brother. "A Streetlamp in the Netherlands" depicts a jarring collision between beauty and violence, when a woman on a moped hits an opening car door with her knee. Duncan calls these bits "time-defying knots of experience that remain in us after most of our autobiographies are gone." In these artful musings, Duncan reins in the didactics and presents readers with marvelous nuggets mined from a complex, absurd and magical life.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Though some readers dislike blurred lines between genres, Duncan's compilation of fiction and nonfiction is fluid and diverse, if not easily definable. His writings, which are sometimes narrative, mostly defy formal structure and are based on a metaphorical and realistic image he calls river teeth, or the knots in a tree that resist breakdown after the tree has fallen into a river and its main mass has disintegrated. Duncan claims that each person owns scores of river teeth and that they have the potential to guide, wound, and withstand time's erasure. Duncan's style is refreshing because of its intimate tone, the simultaneously lyrical and vernacular prose, vivid description, hilarious action, spirited movement, and poignant observation. "The Garbage Man's Daughter," the key piece, is a perfect re-creation of childhood perception. This emotional and witty portrait of a family's relationships offers an insightful commentary on a current and real threat to children: loss of childhood. Duncan deftly characterizes modern life and American culture--our fears, desires, and drives--revealing in these exquisite vignettes and tales all that shapes a life. Janet St. John

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 250 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1st edition (May 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385477279
• ISBN-13: 978-0385477277
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #859,671 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ...I don't even fish, November 9, 2004

By 

MJC (On Ice) - See all my reviews

This review is from: River Teeth: Stories and Writings (Paperback)

When DJD writes about a game of catch the ball burns my hand thru the mitt. When his story is about wading up a trout stream, my neck gets hot from the sun on it, I can hear the mosquitos whine, and my feet go numb from the cold water. He writes books that I could live in and I don't even play baseball. Or fish.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favort book is only a click away, August 4, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: River Teeth: Stories and Writings (Paperback)

On a long trip up and down the west coast I picked this book up in a shabby bookstore in the hills of San Francisco on a lonely rainy night. It gave me a strange and warm comfort as I battled my way through the vicous rain for the last two weeks of my trip. The book is erre in ways I cannot explain, simply because you read it and understand it so well. Everything Duncan describes has been a part of all our lives somewhere, somehow. This book deeply moved me, and though I was mearly 16 on that rainy night I can never escape the vivid imagery of Duncan's voice.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An incredible surprise, April 26, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: River Teeth: Stories and Writings (Paperback)

River Teeth is a richly woven and intricate collection of short works. Duncan's writing is thick like poetry; his words are delictible. River Teeth explores the beauty of life through glimpses of nature, family, and human spirituality. Duncan is my favorite author and this is my favorite book.