A review by billyjepma
The Everlasting Stream: A True Story of Rabbits, Guns, Friendship, and Family by Walt Harrington

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

"Memorable moments are like waking versions of lucid dreams. We are within them and outside them at once as they are happening."

I would've never picked this book up on my own had my dad not asked me to read it. It's about hunting, for starters, an activity I couldn't have less interest in, and it seemingly focuses on "the good ol' days" of men's men, another subject I have little interest in or patience for. Suffice to say; I started reading it with more than my fair share of skepticism. So, consider my surprise when, after reading it over several months in bits and pieces, I find myself stifling emotions during the final pages.

The book is about hunting, and the descriptions of the activity and the processes involved were not something I would confess to having enjoyed. I love animals more than people most days, which means it's a testament to Harrington's lovely, thoughtful writing that I ended up savoring the book as much as I did. It helps that his reckoning with the act of hunting and taking a life is a crucial part of the story he's writing about, too, as it reframes the activity in a light I would have considered otherwise. He taps into the value of rituals, designated experiences, places, and motions that can transcend the actions themselves and reveal something more meaningful. Being the sentimental, nostalgic sap that I am, I suppose it shouldn't be surprising that Harrington's careful recollections and examinations of these experiences felt very authentic.

I don't think there's a lot of material here that hasn't been done elsewhere, especially considering the ultimate message is one of reconciliation between different worlds. I also won't pretend that Harrington's outlook doesn't occasionally fall into privilege (something that, to his credit, he is at least partially aware of), and I wouldn't be surprised to learn that he has his fair share of problematic beliefs. In this particular book, though, he remains mostly neutral on most of the "hot" topics and instead zeroes in on the experiences he's shared with the group of men the book focuses on. Harrington's revelations aren't shocking, but his journey to them is genuine and reads as such. His prose is also just a delight to read—precise, poignant, and sentimental without straying into self-important (at least not very often).

It's also important to note my experience with this book is undeniably shaped by my relationship with my dad and the simple truth that he's the one who put it in front of me. We differ in many ways—ideologically, intellectually, emotionally—but we're very close, and reading this, knowing that he had done the same and thought of me while doing so, affected me in ways I don't know if I quite have the words for. Regardless, the book offers a safe middle ground to explore different forms of masculinity and their influence on men of different generations, which is something I am interested in and found very rewarding. It asks us how we can continue to grow and evolve in productive, inclusive, and deconstructive ways (which is crucial) while also maintaining an appropriate recognition that not everyone who came before us was wrong in how they did things. The Everlasting Stream doesn't offer a firm direction, as it shouldn't. Instead, it presents an isolated experience and turns it into something potentially universal. It certainly felt that way to me.

This isn't a 5-star book, at least not technically, but it's getting the 5 stars anyway. It touched me in more ways than one, and I'm very glad I took my dad's advice and gave it a chance. Here are a few quotes from the book that I especially liked.

"Memorable moments are like waking versions of lucid dreams. We are within them and outside them at once as they are happening."

"It's not the material remnants of this place that matter. It's the meaning I've made of them."

"Under the guise of telling me stories about themselves, the men have been constantly affirming the story that is their family."

"The power isn't in the memory of the story; the power is in the telling of the story. The telling is what holds the moment, makes it immortal."
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