Amazon.com Review
Outdoor Life magazine columnist Patrick McManus has been compared to Mark Twain.
Into the Twilight, Endlessly Grousing demonstrates that he isn't, but McManus will suffice until the next Twain comes along. In this book, the outdoorsman extraordinaire is doing what he does best--telling fish stories, getting into scrapes with buddies, occasionally waxing philosophical, but grousing just as often. Sometimes he even ventures out of the wilderness and into mainstream humor. McManus is easily the equal of Dave Barry or any other contemporary humorist, for that matter:
When I think of all the times a Stupidity Alarm could have saved me from committing a Stupidity ... Here's one instance that comes to mind.
My children: "Daddy, please buy us a horse! Please, please, please, please!"
Me: "Well, kids, I guess a horse wouldn't be all that much trouble."
Stupidity Alarm: WHOOOOP! WHOOOOP! WHOOOOP!
The cowboy who sold me the horse said it loved children. That was true. But as I belatedly discovered, it hated adults.
He covers well-worn territory, sure. But McManus is a pro who tells stories well, so
Into the Twilight, Endlessly Grousing is always diverting. And when he tells stories about his boyhood, a note of wistfulness and pathos creeps in that is definitely agreeable. This volume is a fine effort by an experienced woodsman/wordsman.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
In this collection of tales, McManus, one of America's most prominent humorists, frequently returns both in place (the backcountry Northwest) and time (his childhood) to some of his most fertile ground. There are echoes of Mark Twain as he tells of a boy's pursuit of the dream fish, the perils of growing a beard, and the allure of hunting the wily avid (as in, "He is an avid hunter"). Populated by characters such as Retch Sweeney and Rancid Crabtree, this is hardly New Yorker stuff, but to McManus fans the less so the better. Recommended for libraries whose patrons like their humor country fried and well done.
-?Jim G. Burns, Ottumwa P.L., IowaCopyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
