A River Runs Through It, April 30, 2001

Kevin Bell, our human hero, returns to Grants Pass, Oregon at the conclusion of WWI a broken man, injured seemingly beyond repair. He has been damaged by an exploding cannon, an incident he repeats interminably thoughout the book. His memory is shaky and he has become a drunk to stop the pain in his broken jawbone-a jaw that has been repaired by mediocre dentistry (Grey was trained as a dentist and was able to work both bad and good dentistry into the story). In addition, his reputation has been ruined by a former officer of his regiment who obscures his own crime by spreading the word that Kev had ruined a family of five (that's 5) sisters (an incident which, in our day and age, might actually enhance a reputation). Presumably, this had taken place before the cannon blew up. Incensed at the slander, Kevin assaults his accuser, now politically well-connected and squiring Kevin's ex-fiancee, and has to flee down river with his old pal, the often inebriated fisherman/riverman Garry Lord. They run rapids in the dark in a skiff just finished by Kevin's dad. The descriptions of the river and river running are marvelous. For the first half of the book they are involved in fishing for salmon near Gold Beach at the mouth of the river, where Kevin's former fiancee's crooked father has a lock on the business. The descriptions of salmon fishing by net and by line are detailed and informative and the plot and character development point to an exciting denoument whereby Garry and Kevin will expose illegal fishing activities and insure a salmon and steelhead run for the up river folks. But the author has romance on his mind for he causes Kevin to flee upstream after losing Garry in a storm and killing Garry's would-be adversary. Hopeless, distraught, and with revenge as a driving motive and an itch for a drink, he stumbles into a camp called Solitude where he and Garry had called briefly on their way down river. A beautiful dark-haired girl calls out to him. He doesn't remember her (because his memory had been damaged by that cannon explosion). Slowly, but surely the lovely, woodsy Beryl restores the memory of four days four years before when Kevin had camped and fished at Solitude. The remainder of the book is involved with their romance in this idyllic setting, the only conflict coming when it turns out that Beryl is a much better steelhead fisherperson than is Kevin. This romance goes on and on, kept interesting only by the the river that runs through it. Finally, Kevin, restored in body and spirit by the river and the young woman who had decided four years previously that he was the one, asks her to marry him. Off they go to Portland the very next day, by mule train and choo choo train, with her trapper father's blessing, to marry and get his teeth fixed (by a kindly dentist who had appreciated a fishing tip Kevin had given him). Thence on to Grant's Pass for a triumphant homecoming to learn that Garry Lord lives and that he had cracked the case on the illegal fisheries while Kevin had been fooling around in the woods. They shop and shop and then return to Solitude to live happily ever after (with the little gold mine that Beryl had been keeping secret).

Zane Grey had nineteenth century sensibilities but his writing about the Rogue River will always be up to date.

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