Where Rivers Change Direction

Mark Spragg

One reviewer said of this book. "Mark Spragg's memoir makes you feel you've been somewhere, you've been out in the depths, and you've come back changed". This sums it up beautifully. There is not a page within these stories which will not grab your attention, hold you still while you absorb the soul of what Spragg has to tell you. It's a story of boyhood, of manhood, of the vast and unpredictable lands of Wyoming, where fences are strangers. There are stories in here which make the heart soar, and there are stories which make the heart break. As a reader, you're never quite sure where Spragg will take you next, you'll laugh with him, you'll tighten your throat at some of his words, and when you're done with this journey, you'll think the world around you has changed, but it hasn't, Spragg has just given you the magic to see it differently. Spragg lives his entire boyhood on the edge of manhood, unfolding himself into the landscapes and animals, both wild and domestic, which create his world. Of horses, he will tell you; "I believed that to have a horse between my legs, to extend my pulse and blood and energy to theirs, enhanced my vision. Made of me a seer. I believed them to be the dappled, sorrel, roan, bay, black pupils in the eyes of God". Of the dude ranch, where he learned about men and and animals, forests and water, of wind, he'll say; ".. but I did not know that I lived on the largest block of unfenced wilderness in the lower forty eight states. That is what I know as a man. As a boy, I knew only that I was free on the land". This memoir is beautifully written, from the first to the last page, Spragg's pen sometimes wounds the paper, sometimes heals it, and the reader is left feeling the scratching of a pen across the heart. This, for me, is one of the books that will sit always within easy reach on my bookshelves, there are times I'll seek Spragg's magic and bring it back into my world. This is a collection with something for everyone, because it touches the core of being human in a world where humanness is often the stranger. Do read, it's worth every moment of your time.