A Stretch on the River

Fiction & Literature, Classics, Literary
Cover of the book A Stretch on the River by Richard Bissell, eNet Press Inc.
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Author: Richard Bissell ISBN: 9781618865533
Publisher: eNet Press Inc. Publication: September 28, 2013
Imprint: Language: English
Author: Richard Bissell
ISBN: 9781618865533
Publisher: eNet Press Inc.
Publication: September 28, 2013
Imprint:
Language: English

Author Richard Bissell worked on the Mississippi most of his life and from the very first page, A Stretch on the River sweeps the reader along much like the river that runs through it – gripping our attention, burbling and chortling, and inspiring wonder. 

The narrator joins the crew of a Mississippi towboat at the beginning of WW II having been refused by the Navy (and having no use for the army) and is soon immersed in his job and in the lives of Shorty and Diamond and Joe. Work for the crew is brutal, but there is time for trips ashore, hard drinking, good eating, falling in love (meet Toots and Merle), solving problems of the world, and pausing long enough to wonder why in the heck they are doing this. Bissell tells it like it is. This is how they talked, this is how they lived; and sometimes, eloquently and tenderly, this is how they died. Unerringly and with great authenticity, Bissell tells the story of the river and why it grips the men who love it.

“At first I stayed [on the river] out of stubbornness.Then I began to forget I had lived any other way. Then I began to feel sorry for the people on the bank.When I got that far I was a river man. (Herb,ch 3, p.1)

A wonderful first book by a treasured American author.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Author Richard Bissell worked on the Mississippi most of his life and from the very first page, A Stretch on the River sweeps the reader along much like the river that runs through it – gripping our attention, burbling and chortling, and inspiring wonder. 

The narrator joins the crew of a Mississippi towboat at the beginning of WW II having been refused by the Navy (and having no use for the army) and is soon immersed in his job and in the lives of Shorty and Diamond and Joe. Work for the crew is brutal, but there is time for trips ashore, hard drinking, good eating, falling in love (meet Toots and Merle), solving problems of the world, and pausing long enough to wonder why in the heck they are doing this. Bissell tells it like it is. This is how they talked, this is how they lived; and sometimes, eloquently and tenderly, this is how they died. Unerringly and with great authenticity, Bissell tells the story of the river and why it grips the men who love it.

“At first I stayed [on the river] out of stubbornness.Then I began to forget I had lived any other way. Then I began to feel sorry for the people on the bank.When I got that far I was a river man. (Herb,ch 3, p.1)

A wonderful first book by a treasured American author.

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