The Summer He Didn't Die  Just finished Jim Harrison's latest work of fiction, The Summer He Didn't Die. Harrison can be an uneven writer. Dalva was one of the better books I've read over the years, but The Summer... seemed like it was quickly written and in need of some editing. Harrison is the kind of writer who writes simply and directly and at first his characters seem too contrived and unbelievable, but he has a way of sucking me in. I think it's his knowledge of the lives of working people who live in the rest of America, that big part of the country between the east and west coasts that is rarely portrayed well in literature.

The book consists of three novellas, the last being an offhanded memoir, a description of his life to date told in the third person. I enjoyed reading about his life and what motivated him during various phases of his career. He was a successful poet early, having his first book of poetry published without much effort. He dedicated himself to literature and to doing what was required to earn a living outside of academia, the only other refuge for successful poets. His foray into screenwriting earned him enough to be comfortable for a while until he realized that it was consuming the time he needed to write fiction, so he stopped.
posted by Bruce Wright at 9:59 PM #