The English Major

Harrison, Jim THE ENGLISH MAJOR 2008 It is likely that one has to be of a certain age to really appreciate this book, but I certainly liked it a lot Harrison has the ability to bring his characters to life so that you can imagine yourself joining them for a drink at the bar In this novel, he chronicles the life of Cliff, a sixty ish farmer from Upper Michigan and one time English teacher His wife has just sued him for divorce and won In the process, he has lost his farm and most of his other pos [...]

Mes premiers pas avec Jim Harrison ont t extraordinaires, un voyage avec Cliff, un sexag naire fra chement divorc , bless mais encore plein de vigueur et qui n a pas l intention de se laisser abattre, malgr un coup dur port par son ex femme la vente de la ferme familiale du Michigan.A travers cette odyss e, qui nous fera franchir les fronti res de certains tats des Etats Unis, son ancienne vie refait surface de temps autre, comment se d barrasser de tant d ann es vivre au rythme des saisons, et [...]

Harrison is like Garrison Keiler, a voice I treasure Even when he is distressed, there s a warmth and deepness that soothes Because he writes from a spirit that is pure and heartful He always draws attention to the small details that we can so easily pass over in life, yet hold all the meaning for our spirit This is a simple book, an easy read, not much of a plot, and not his greatest, but all in all I still really liked it.

Having struggled through the overly plotted machinations of Gone Girl it was a pleasure to dive into Jim Harrison s shaggy dog story road trip and reflection on late middle age crisis When you are reading Harrison you cannot help but hope and feel that the fictional characters are proxy s for the author Harrison s protagonists are lusty learned men with big appetites for food drink and the beauty of Mother Nature They all seem like people I want to meet and hang out with On nearly every page of [...]

In the mood for an amusing road novel This will fill the bill Poor old Cliff, former English teacher and longtime farmer, at a high school class reunion, his wife of than 30 years disappeared with a former classmate for hours and reappeared with grass stains on her knees Bad sign Soon she s not only left Cliff for ahem greener pastures, but has sold the farm out from under him.He takes off in his beater with the intent of visiting every state, giving it a new suitable name, and at the same tim [...]

I really loved the author s Returning to Earth and when I saw he had a new book out, I jumped on it And while I saw some similar elements in this story namely, Michigan and Native American references, I didn t like the main character in the way I liked the last ones This guy was a dirty old man and made far too many references to his dick Totally turned me off And it s too bad, because it s such a lovely premise divorced older man hits the road to visit each of the United States.

It used to be Cliff and Vivian and now it isn t Divorced by his wife of 38 years, farm sold out from under him, Cliff drives away from a green valley in Michigan in a 13 year old Taurus with a childhood wooden puzzle map of the United States on the passenger seat.Satisfying, rich, personal account of coming to age, complete with OnStar, trout fishing, grown kids, renamed States, and as Cliff s friend AD calls it strip searching a life.

I changed my star rating for this book and edited out my former review not fair, I decided, to an author who gives so much pleasure, even if some of his later work varies in tone and qualityViva Jim Harrison

We re in Nebraska with this maniac former farmer, laughing on every page Is it because he s 60 and life is just beginning for him

Never read Jim Harrison, bought it for the title Yes, I am on occasion that superficial Okay, finished it I alternatively giggled and dozed during reading I don t know if it s Harrison s prose style, which does run on so, or that this is the second book in a month I ve read about a 60 year old man on the run from something the other one was Philosophy Made Simple by Robert Hellenga It s hard to fall in love with a character who is so aimless, I kept wanting to grab him up by the collar of his sh [...]

Festooned with guffaws and lousy with homely truths, the novel s first person narration irritated me with its self indulgence.Oh it starts out promisingly enough with Cliff, a numb, over the hill farmer,talking out his troubles Poor guy s split with his wife, his dog s dead, the farm s been sold Worse still, his penis has become, uh, an unreliable friend GONGGG Yes boys and girls, it s time to take to the road And we know what that means to English majors a trip into one s own head A long talk w [...]

I enjoyed this exploration of middle aged male angst THE ENGLISH MAJOR is a good story by one of my favorite writers Jim Harrison.

On the surface this is a travel novel The narrator, Cliff, who has lost his farm and his wife in a divorce, hits the road to restore himself He travels through the western U.S on a mission to rename the birds and states of America But his real journey is the one in his mind as he contemplates his past life and what makes life worth living In the hands of the author Jim Harrison, this mind journey is made at 90 miles an hour while negotiating a thousand curves in the road making this novel a shee [...]

You don t need to be an English major to enjoy this book, but it certainly adds to the fun since many different authors and their works are mentioned But you will need an appreciation for salacious humor laugh out loud funny, at times, but might be a little too ribald for some , a love of nature, and the ability to commiserate with a 60 year old man on a road trip through the western states he starts in Michigan as he copes with divorce and the loss of his dog and his farm Oh, and there s his on [...]

I thoroughly enjoyed the protagonist s, Cliff, self deprecating perspectives He reminded me of a shaggy dog, a bit messy, but endearing After finding himself without his faithful dog RIP Lola , without his unfaithful wife and without his farm, he takes a road trip throughout the states It s a great introspective journey filled with rekindled desires, self awareness and intermittent fulfillment I consoled myself with the idea that there was freedom in having this large portion of your past vapori [...]

I thought this book was crude I didn t get very far I liked the idea upon which it was based the protagonist s quest to visit all 50 states after his wife leaves him, his dog dies, and he loses his farm But the language was offensive, the descriptions crude and the I got to know the protagonist, the less I liked him Why go on reading I didn t.

Un tr s beau roman mettant en sc ne un sexag naire ayant sa vie reconstruire Des d sirs simples et authentiques, un soup on de folie une belle odyss e

I m a huge Jim Harrison fan this one was nicely done and amusing Not his best but still enjoyable.

Gosh, I m sure going to miss Cliff, the 60 something protagonist of this fictionalized iconic American road trip tale It s not often that I find myself so intrigued by a character and the way he approaches the world Cliff, an English major, after being an English teacher for 10 years and then a farmer for the last 30 years while married to Viv, is suddenly without a farm or a marriage after Viv leaves him for her high school sweetheart Fred after meeting him at their 4oth reunion Thrust into a b [...]

3.5 A new look into the late middle age male psyche, with some odd ball funny moments along with some painful truths.

Jim Harrison s latest novel is difficult for me to rate It is a quick and enjoyable read The book follows many of the formulas we western American males of a certain age embrace, albeit somewhat apologetically at least in Eugene, Oregon A sixty year old man gets divorced and decides that he will hit the road, traveling from state to state Oh yes, to add to the angst his dog has just died I m not kidding He has several projects renaming each state with the name of an Indian tribe that originally [...]

This is the second Harrison novel I ve read, the first being Dalva They say he writes with varying styles and themes so I ll probably read a few They also say he never re writes, which I could believe, based on the relaxed, conversational style of the writing, and the numerous clumsy, underdeveloped sentences Here, his narrator, Cliff, is a weak willed, unprincipled old man, a slave to his sexual appetite, disrespectful toward women and for that reason, chosing women who will cause him a lot of [...]

It used to be Cliff and Vivian and now it isn t These are the opening words, our introduction to Cliff He s 60, a former teacher, currently a farmer and now quite alone, after his wife leaves him, for a high school sweetheart.Cliff needs to escape, after sinking into a prolonged funk He decides a long road trip is in order Armed with a kid s puzzle of the United States, flicking the piece of each state out the window, after crossing the next border, Cliff begins his adventure.This is a funny, we [...]

What a load of self indulgent male fantasy rubbish Ok so I stupidly thought I was going to read about an English Major military as he traveled across the United States I thought I might be reading a book with a loose story and lots of detail about many of the 50 states Wrong The English Major is an academic major in English yawn and the travel across the states was a rouse the author quickly forgot he was writing about.This is a book about a 60 something who has a life changing event which cause [...]

My generation learned that one way to the self is through travel when we read Catcher in the Rye Then, we read On the Road, and, later, Travels with Charley Now part of the new middle aged group in their 60 s, Jim Harrison provides us with The English Major.Cliff s wife got bored and ran off with a guy from their reunion The farm fails The son is on his own, living far away The dog dies Cliff does what our generation does he hits the road, traveling from Michigan west He lives with all of the Cl [...]

Un ancien enseignant am ricain sexag naire, po te solitaire ses heures, devenu cultivateur par la force des choses, se fait plaquer par sa femme soixante ans En pleine d pression m lancolie, il d cide alors de faire le tour des Etats Unis et de renommer les 50 tats ainsi que leurs animaux associ s Lors de cette aventure, il fait la rencontre d une de ses anciennes l ves, trentenaire, totalement d lur e qui va r veiller en lui le vieux lubrique J ai eu plaisir parcourir cette oeuvre dont le ton h [...]

I kind of coasted along with this book, along with the narrator s road trip, enjoying the ride ok but not feeling very invested in old Cliff s journey and tiring at times with the repetition of stubborn sentiments he expresses, the countless remembrances of his old dead dog and then especially with his growing obsession with the pretty lame goal of re naming all the states and many of the birds of north america But I still liked Cliff, there are plenty of one liner nuggets along the way, and by [...]

I listened to this book on MP3 while I walked Some people saw me chuckling as I walked down the street This is, indeed, a strange book But, a fun read for geezers Here s Cliff, a 60 year old former Michigan high school teacher, who lost his farm a dirty deal and his wife she got wooed at her high school reunion and his dog way too old He sets off on a yearlong, countrywide jag You have to accompany Cliff on this jag Harrison is consistently witty and engaging as he drives home his timeless theme [...]

This is a tale about a former farmer teacher who retires at age 60 after his wife divorces him and sells out the from underneath him He decides to get in his car and visit each of the fifty states He does 15 and returns home.Makes one wonder about ones own life Looking back, what did I achieve what impact did I make Did I make than or at least 30% of my goal What do I do now The story is entertaining with some humor, but from one as old as I 66 , it is also disturbing At least a 3 day read

From the book Rivers make my favorite sound If I had brought along my rowboat I could have escaped the confusion because when you row you tend to think about nothing except the river floating off behind you Staring at the river I began to wonder what we are when we are alone Maybe we don t count for much unless we are rubbing against others.