Customer Reviews

The Same River Twice: A Memoir

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Besides the fact that Chris Offutt is a great writer, I like the guy's work because he's so honest and genuine. For those of you who can't tell the difference, Chris is an authentic country boy. Reading this memoir and sections of his novel "The Good Brother", I recognize the rhythm of speech, turns of phrase, and basic life assumptions that are innate in country boys like us from the Great State of Kentucky and southward, although I'm afraid that some traits are more reflected in the guys I prosecute than in myself. Offutt has given an admirable voice to a class of folks who are ridiculed and berated, but rarely understood. Thank you for helping us understand, Mr. Offutt-those of us seeking to understand ourselves, and those for whom the country is a place to visit. I'm afraid there aren't too many people today who get sentimental when they hear their state song the way we do when we hear "My Old Kentucky Home" (or "Georgia on my Mind"). It seems like no one understands the point of standing on a handful of dirt from your homeland when you get married in a foreign land (or New York City). At least they will recognize great writing when they see it. And here it is in your memoir.

I loved this book and have re-read it several times. The account of his first sexual experience in New York City is worth the price of the book. It is hilarious!

I was hooked from the moment I read this quote in the front of the book by Richard Hugo, "I forget the names of the towns without rivers. A town needs a river to forgive the town. Whatever river, whatever town---It is much the same. The cruel things I did, I took to the river. I begged the current: make me better."

Chris Offutt has takes ordinary words and weaves them into memorable events that stick in your mind long after the last page is read. The way he intertwines the story of his travels and his journey into fatherhood is beautiful.

this is an absolutely beautiful piece. offett has the ability to make the reader laugh, cry, and think critically all at the same time. It is unpredictable, interesting, and provocative. It was hard for me to believe that after all his crazy adventures he was actually going thru with fatherhood. it is a wonderful look into one talented writer's life. and katherine dunn could learn a few things about how carnival life should be portrayed by reading offett's memoir. a must read for fans of memoir, autobiography, and autobiographical fiction.

What an adventure! The author has an uncanny ability to tell the tales of his travels with a poignant and hilarious viewpoint. He is dead on with his keen observations of human behavior through the inexperienced eyes of a displaced Kentucky hayseed.

i picked this book up as a recommendation from a bookstore and it was great read.
The author who left home at age nineteen and drifts along with various jobs and finally ending up living on the banks of the iowa river.
He takes regular walks comtemplating how his life is going to change and how good a father he is going to be(his wife of course is pregenant)as he takes these walks the stories from his odd jobs are woven in.For me the best job he had was when hewas pretending to be a real live walrus in a small circus.This is a great book give it a shot

One of the few books that I will go out of my way to keep in my possession for the rest of my life. Thanks Chris.

"Hellboy"

I actually wept at the description of Offutt's son's birth that ends the book, both because of the way it's told and the chain of events (some more compelling than others, some less believable) that led up to his becoming a father. A gut-wrenchingly honest book, beautiful and funny, if at times a bit of a stretch. He's quite a writer. Those 15-hour days paid off.

I remember reading the short story by Chris Offutt, "Aunt Granny Lith," and although I think I enjoyed that piece more than this book, I found Offutt's descriptions to be simply gorgeous. His writing was far from flowery, but he still managed to effortlessly convey the beauty of the landscape and use simple language to relay fresh, original insights. It's really just amazing to read a work that displays such easy mastery and tight control.
Some of the descriptions/scenes that I really liked: "After the quantum mechanics of Manhattan, Brooklyn sounded like simple geometry," (27) "My fears shed as easily as autumn leaves in rain" (188), the bathroom proposal (classic), when he pretended to be a walrus, and finally, his son's birth at the end. I liked the epilogue, too, although I didn't think it necessarily had to be there.
Another great part of this story is the humor. Offutt has this great ability to paint ridiculous pictures--God, the image of hair like "crumpled spiders" still makes me shudder. From walruses to dwarfs--not dwarves, obviously--to awkward baseball imagery, this book is not short of laughs.

I read an essay by Offutt in The Eleventh Draft--a collection of essays on writing by graduates of the prestigious Iowa Writer's Workshop--that I loved so much I knew I had to read more of him. Offutt is a Kentucky native, who in this memoir, weaves a thoughtful, smart, often funny reflection of his life in different stages: in it, he works his way between life as a sort of aimless vagabond to falling in love with his wife and awaiting the birth of their child, all with a gorgeous attention to the natural world around him and the love that makes him feel whole. This is beautiful, meaningful, brilliant writing. I loved it.

Chris Offutt's first memoir is a pretty decent read. "The Same River Twice" is essentially the story of the years after he left home and hitchhiked across the country. The writing is lyrical and concise and there are quite a few amusing bits to this book (see for example the hilarious exchange between Offutt and a NYC-by-way-of-Jamaica hooker on pages 28-29). This memoir alternates (by chapter) between Offutt's cross country travels and his wife's first pregnancy. The latter portion of the pregnancy stuff is occasionally moving and majority of the book is amusing and well written. Recommended and I strongly suggest interested readers review pages 28-29 for some very useful looooove tips. Batter up!!!!