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Summary: From Sea to Shining Sea..a Chronicle of our Waterways
Review: One of my favorite books to read and savor again and again has been Blue Highways, so I was delighted to hear that Least Heat Moon was "in the saddle again" on River Horse. Although I found it wonderfully researched, I must confess, it didn't have the gentle humor and understanding of human foibles that his first travel book expressed. This journey was taken under a similar set of circumstances...a "flattened marriage", and although Least Heat Moon does not dwell on his own personal problems, an almost irascible, frenetic, quality permeates the book. Least Heat Moon is at his best when he meets people along his journey, treating even the most unpleasant, with a gentle, and restrained sense of humor. Perhaps because he needed a larger crew for this arduous journey,he doesn't seem to make the connections he did in Highways...and because he seems so driven to complete the journey, the reader feels like they are being rushed along as well. But his criticism of the poor stewardship of our rivers is extremely well documented and well stated... and he remains one of the most meticulous and powerful voices for protecting America against those who would exploit her and destroy her natural beauty.
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Summary: Across America by Boat, Canoe and White Water Raft
Review: William Least Heat-Most takes you with him and his friend "Pilotis" (a pseudonym) on his modern day adventure across America by boat (and by canoe and white water raft, as well as portages with a trailer that follows the boat by land). He takes the Hudson to the Erie Canal; crosses a small stretch of Lake Erie (where his boat nearly sinks); on to the Allegheny, the Ohio, the Mississippi, the Missouri (a two thousand mile stretch of river miles); the Salmon, the Snake and finally down the Columbia to the Pacific. He knows American history as it pertains to rivers. When he gets to the confluence of the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio rivers, the point where the Pittsburgh Pirates now play at Three River Stadium, he lets you know that in the French and Indian Wars George Washington, then a British officer, barely escaped a battle right there in which most of the British were scalped. Mr. Most would have liked to accompanied Lewis & Clark on their Corps of Discovery expedition. Knowing he missed that trip, he peppers his own adventure with quotations those gentlemen made along their historic expedition,particularly on the upstream battle to the headwaters of the Missouri. Mr. Heat-Most conveys a sense of adventure and the risks and good luck he faced on his four month excursion. Anyone who loves American history and wants to travel its rivers to enjoy the author's uniquely "river"ting view of this country will enjoy the ride on "Nikawa" (the Indian name Mr. Heat Most gave his boat, which means "River Horse").
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Summary: Much ado, but ultimately not too much
Review: An acquaintence recommended "River Horse" in such extravagant terms, that I was tempted to buy it. Fortunately I checked it out of our local library, and saved myself several bucks. The book is a disappointment on any number of levels. Ostensibly about a small boat traveling across the country, the author shows little interest in small boats and regards travel merely as a catalyst for his eratic and shallow musings. The reader would be better served by subscribing to the National Geographic.
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Summary: The Emperor Would've Been Right This Time.
Review: Remember in "Amadeus" when the Emperor tells Mozart, "Too many notes."? The Emperor, of course, was wrong. Had he been reviewing River-Horse, my guess is his three-word summary would have been "Too many words." He would have been right. Moon seems to have fallen to what I call the "Woody Allen Syndrome". A performer/writer/ musician starts to read, and (worst yet) BELIEVE his or her reviews, and suddenly, instead of being a comic with a great facility for making things funny, he becomes a comedic genius, or an enfant terrible, and from then on he's doomed. Moon could have written a lyrical journal of a fascinating trip. Instead, he obviously decided to dig deep into some ancient thesaurus in order to prove that he is a master wordsmith. Well, he USED to be one. Now he's just an overblown show off, and his book might be more useful as a sedative than as a diary. Alas. Too bad "Pilotis", itself a cheap contrivance, didn't have the courage to kick him overboard. Would've been a much more interesting story.
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Summary: Lighten up!
Review: That's exactly what the detractors of "Moon's" latest odyssey should do. This is exactly what Moon seems to be doing in this book, lightening up in his own, personal words. This is the first of his books that I've read and it's got me wanting to get his others. While I did find some parts to drag on a bit and make me want to learn speed reading, overall I enjoyed what I learned about the history of these rivers and lakes. From the way he uses, and sometimes abuses, the english language, and his perspectives of what's happening around him, I can tell this guy's a real character. I'd love to share a bit of "River Relief" with him. Along with this, I would have enjoyed to travel along with him every watery step of the way.
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Summary: Thanks for the trip
Review: I won't be wordy with this. In a nutshell, Heat-Moon is an arogant arse out to prove what? Nevertheless, I stuck with the book, an atlas at my side. (I don't get out much)
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Summary: Boring Egocentric Obsession
Review: BORING! The author of one of my favorite books (Blue Highways) returns with an egocentric and boring book of his desire to cross the United States on rivers in a little boat. I don't know what happened to him since he wrote Blue Highways but his prose style has become ridiculous. He has elevated himself to a status where he doesn't need quotation marks around his dialogue but he puts it around others. It's also like he used a thesauras to find the most obscure "literary" sounding words he could find and lastly, he never inspired any desire in me for his journey. Maybe that's because this "journey" was simply something he wanted to do to see if he could do it (and of course be the "first" to do it). Gone is the introspective nature of Blue Highways (until the very very end and by then I was just wishing the book was over). Gone are the interesting antecdotes and stories of people/places along the way. I would guess that well over half of the stories he does tell are recalled from earlier times. If you liked Blue Highways, don't read this. Keep your experience of Heat-Moon confined to his other work.
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Summary: Lighten up & leave the map at home next time
Review: First of all, if you enjoy the writings of William Least Heat-Moon [as do I], then by all means, buy this book. That having been said, you should also beware-this is NOT the wandering, see-where-the-wind-takes-me journey of Blue Highways. This is an obsession. This is a mission, a quest; a race to arrive at fixed destination by a fixed route before a fixed time, and devil take the hindmost. Moon [I'll just call him "Moon", if that's okay] decided long ago that he wanted to cross the country by navigable rivers, using as few portages as possible. Fine & dandy. The country looks a lot different from the river than it does from the highway, and such a journey would be a fine companion piece to Blue Highways. The problem is: in order to cross the country via river in a single season, timing the journey to take advantage of the snowmelt of the western mountains is vital. This is where the journey [and the book] lose their way. The Moon of Blue Highways always had time to talk, to investigate, to explore [I recall one episode of speaking to a man in Tennessee for over an hour, all while stopped in the middle of a seldom-used road]. The Moon of River Horse has no room for such frivolities. Those people who appear in River Horse are described by a thumbnail sketch, pumped for information about the route ahead, and then sent upon their way. Moon is determined to complete his journey-but most of the time forgets to take the journey. There are passages which describe the lazy, dialed-down atmosphere of life on the river; but there are far too many passages which feel like a salesman trying to make airline connections. Almost twenty years after first reading Blue Highways, those people and images still resonate in my mind. Two months after reading River Horse, I simply wonder which one of us has changed the most. The book is very readable, and a must for Moon fans; but be aware that it is deeply flawed.
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Summary: Pilotis, Where Are You?
Review: I only recently discovered Willian Least Heat-Moon's works, having finished Blue Highways just a couple of weeks ago. I was utterly mesmerized by Heat-Moon's river journey across America. While I missed the interactions between the author and the people he encountered that made Blue Highways so successful, his conversations with Pilotis often had me laughing out loud on the bus I take home from work everyday! A must read for a Heat-Moon fan.
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Summary: I Didn't Make the Journey
Review: This book didn't work for me. Far too many meandering "rivulets" of thought. I jumped ship a quarter way through and then kept skipping ahead to see if I was judging the book wrongly. The author seemed to be prooving himself as an Important American Writer with his flowery language... Quote:"As unruly, illogical, shifty, and willful as the Missouri is - here's one more river traveler's gambit - it nevertheless gives recompense, and in that country of long reaches and mild bends it returned to us some of the finest riverine landscapes we'd seen..." One final thing it would be helpful if the book visually charted the voyage better for people not familiar with the many backroads and rivers of this country. Very little visual reference was provided and it could have made the trip more exciting!
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