Even the fish smile at those lines

It occurred to me while writing about the June selection of The Spokesman-Review Book Club that 2006 is the 30th anniversary of the publication of Norman Maclean’s “A River Runs Through It.”
The book, which is a collection of three reminiscences of Maclean’s life growing up near Missoula, is often seen as a book about the joys of flyfishing. But as with any piece of literature, the book is so much more. It explores both the world of the inner man as well as the outdoors that surrounds him.

And the words that Maclean uses are, at time, pure poetry. Take this passage, for example:

“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world’s great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.

“I am haunted by waters.”