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A review by margaret_j_c
Mink River by Brian Doyle
5.0
Oh my goodness.
I was, of course, joking yesterday when I said this book was healing me. But then again, isn't that what stories do? They pull the feelings from our hearts and speak them back to us in solidarity. They release the pressure of emotion.
I can't remember the last time I read a piece of fiction that I needed so badly. The very action of reading it was pure delight. I've spent many thousands of hours reading in my short lifetime, but despite how much I love what it does to my heart and my mind, I don't generally think about the actual physical reading of a book at all. But with Mink River it's almost impossible not to. Doyle's prose feels like his title - it sweeps you along. In his world, everything has the most extraordinary significance. The tiniest details have the most profound meaning. His world is a symphony of soul and spirit and story, which eddies and pools and finally empties out into the sea.
I am grateful for this book.
5/27/18:
It's been a year today since Brian Doyle passed away, and Mink River remains one of the most stunning pieces of fiction I have ever read. My original review is still true. This is a healing book. In its pages Doyle offers us a glimpse of a world where deep harmony presides, rooted in nature, tradition, and faith. Love runs underneath it all, a strong current. It is an echo of a place Doyle knows better than any of us now.
I was, of course, joking yesterday when I said this book was healing me. But then again, isn't that what stories do? They pull the feelings from our hearts and speak them back to us in solidarity. They release the pressure of emotion.
I can't remember the last time I read a piece of fiction that I needed so badly. The very action of reading it was pure delight. I've spent many thousands of hours reading in my short lifetime, but despite how much I love what it does to my heart and my mind, I don't generally think about the actual physical reading of a book at all. But with Mink River it's almost impossible not to. Doyle's prose feels like his title - it sweeps you along. In his world, everything has the most extraordinary significance. The tiniest details have the most profound meaning. His world is a symphony of soul and spirit and story, which eddies and pools and finally empties out into the sea.
I am grateful for this book.
5/27/18:
It's been a year today since Brian Doyle passed away, and Mink River remains one of the most stunning pieces of fiction I have ever read. My original review is still true. This is a healing book. In its pages Doyle offers us a glimpse of a world where deep harmony presides, rooted in nature, tradition, and faith. Love runs underneath it all, a strong current. It is an echo of a place Doyle knows better than any of us now.