Memories And Tales Missoula Writer David James Duncan Mingles Stories From His Life With Fiction From His Imagination

“River Teeth” By David James Duncan ($20, Doubleday, 259 pages)

That David James Duncan can write well, there is no doubt. He has legions of readers who are passionate about his novels. And he has plenty of stories to tell that were not explored in his two books, “The River Why” and “The Brothers K.”

The latest book-length effort of this Missoula writer - “River Teeth” - incorporates some of those stories and, because of its structure, is a radical departure from his novels. It’s a mixture of fiction and nonfiction short stories, some previously published in anthologies such as “Edgewalking on the Western Rim” and Left Bank, others in magazines such as Gray’s Sporting Journal, The North American Review and Harper’s.

Each piece could stand on its own, and really, that’s the best way to read “River Teeth.” Those who cruised through “The River Why” or “The Brothers K” in long sittings will find “River Teeth” jarring if read in only a couple of evenings. The juxtaposition of fiction and nonfiction, of unrelated stories minus a thread woven through, is awkward and sometimes cumbersome.

Rather, spend time with each chapter, put the book down, read something else, then come back to it. I did it both ways. Eager to inhale the latest effort of this fine writer, I took it on a weekend getaway and read it through, expecting to come away with the satisfaction derived from Duncan’s other works. It did not happen. The images in the nonfiction pieces are too dynamic and overpower the subtleties of the quieter fiction.

I reread “River Teeth” in bits across the space of several weeks and came away wishing he would complete his next effort - another novel - quickly. And this reading pace allowed the powerful elements of Duncan’s work to settle in for pondering.

For example, his memory of watching Portland’s Rose Festival parade when he was 8 years old is, indeed, difficult to forget. A team of Clydesdales pulling a Meadowland Dairy wagon rolled up and paused in front of him:

“That was when I first noticed a man who’d been trudging along by the Clydesdales from the beginning. Just this bland-faced, pale old bald guy wearing black slacks and a shortsleeved shirt so boring he looked more like a lost salesman than part of a gala parade. Definitely not the guy you’d choose to save a day… . No sooner had he calmed the horses, though, than he fell facedown on the asphalt. And didn’t move, though the pavement was blistering hot. Seeing the odd behavior, the horses took a few nervous steps forward, and the wagon’s huge wooden-spoked, steelrimmed wheels turned just once. But once was enough: while we stared as if at another clown stunt or magician’s trick, the right front wheel of the Meadowland Dairy wagon rolled, with majestic slowness, not so much over as through the old man’s head. …

“It betrays my slant on civic pride that I consider this, by far, the most edifying Rose Festival event I’ve ever witnessed. When I try to this day to grasp the driving force behind words like karma, destiny or fate, I picture those eight enormous black Clydesdales.”

Other images from Duncan’s life are equally riveting slices of experience. The fiction works, in contrast, move slowly and deliberately, as though we’re looking across a gentle landscape and watching the sun slip deliciously below the hazy horizon.

Beyond the fascinating events and fiction told with masterful storytelling technique, Duncan’s talent shines brightest in “The Mickey Mantle Koan,” the accounting of the dying of his older brother, still a teenager. To excerpt from it would not do justice to this piece, but it, alone, is worth the price of the book.

In a phone interview this week Duncan said it was this story from his childhood that inspired “The Brother’s K.” He has a deep well from which he draws his inspiration. With the glimpses “River Teeth” affords us into that well, it’s clear this is far from the last we will hear from this Montana writer.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MEMO: David James Duncan will read from “River Teeth” Monday at 7:30 p.m. at Auntie’s Bookstore, located at Washington and Main.

This sidebar appeared with the story: ABOUT THE AUTHOR Following are glimpses of “River Teeth” author David James Duncan: He has moved back to Portland, his hometown, six times; even though his latest move two years ago was to Western Montana near Missoula, he doesn’t discount a return to Portland. His novel-in-progress is set in Portland. The day he found out “The River Why” had been accepted by a publisher, he had passed the test - with 100 percent score - to become a Portland metro bus driver. He decided instead to be a fulltime writer. When he wants to supplement his writing income, rather than teach creative writing, he prefers blue-collar jobs and, now that he’s in the country’s fly-fishing mecca, working as a river guide. His first novel started as a comment about the serious degradation of the Christmas holiday, but “in the midst of the novel, fishing chapters kept butting in,” Duncan says. He threw away the Christmas holiday chapters and instead wrote “The River Why.” He hopes to finish his next novel - it already has a name, but he’s not ready to reveal it - within a year. In the meantime, Duncan fans can read about why he left Oregon in an essay set for fall publication in Harper’s. He writes six to eight hours a day and then heads for a trout stream in his back yard to go fishing.