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kathleenitpdx 's review for:
The Good Rain: Across Time & Terrain in the Pacific Northwest
by Timothy Egan
This is Timothy Egan's homage to the Northwest. I bought the book at an author's reading for his new book [b:The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America|6452538|The Big Burn Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America|Timothy Egan|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255575610s/6452538.jpg|6642737]. When Egan signed it for me, he said that I might find it dated. It was published in 1990 and is somewhat dated--the Seahawks are still playing in the Kingdome, Astoria has not yet attained cuteness (based on being mostly a tourist town) and although he talks about the wind in the Gorge in reference to the windsurfers, the windmill generators have not shown up.
He ties the narrative to a book written by Theodore Winthrop, the great, great, great grandson of John Winthrop, the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Theodore Winthrop took a three month journey around the Northwest in 1853 and wrote a book about it. Egan compares what Winthrop found with what has happened since--salmon, timber, rivers, Native Americans, farming. As an Oregonian, many of the tales are familiar, but he knits some of the recent history together for me. And there are stories that are new to me.
His writing is beautiful and evocative. For instance, he describes, perfectly, something that I have never been able to put into words--"Sometimes the wind along the Pacific shore blows so hard it steals your breath before you can inhale it."
He ties the narrative to a book written by Theodore Winthrop, the great, great, great grandson of John Winthrop, the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Theodore Winthrop took a three month journey around the Northwest in 1853 and wrote a book about it. Egan compares what Winthrop found with what has happened since--salmon, timber, rivers, Native Americans, farming. As an Oregonian, many of the tales are familiar, but he knits some of the recent history together for me. And there are stories that are new to me.
His writing is beautiful and evocative. For instance, he describes, perfectly, something that I have never been able to put into words--"Sometimes the wind along the Pacific shore blows so hard it steals your breath before you can inhale it."