The Death of a River Guide

Richard Flanagan

What a terrific book !! I cannot believe that Shirley Hazzard and Richard Flanagan come from the same corner of the world. I am about half way through Death of a River Guide and the book is JUST as good as The Sound of One Hand Clapping and Gould's Book of Fish. What is so neat about Flanagan is that his stories are all so different one from the other. In Death of a River Guide, the protagonist is a man who is trapped in the river and is drowning. He is having what he calls "visions" about his family, his life and his country. REALLY good stuff. I figured out what it is that bothers me about Hazzard (The Great Fire) and I have the same problem with Stegner and a few other authors. Hazzard is obviously well traveled and has a way of coming across as if EVERYONE jumps from one corner of the world to the other. Stegner does this with education, from what I've read of him he seems to assume that everyone has a few years of collage and post collage experience. For some reason this bothers me. I like travel books and I don't mind books about higher education. I guess it is in the telling and something about Hazzard's writing is snobbish. (just my humble opinion)