"In our family there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing..." - this magnificent sentence sends the reader
off on an unforgettable journey through the natural beauty of frontier Montana.
The book is semi-autobiographical and divided into three stories, following the life of Norman Maclean, his troubled brother and minister father, in the amazing
scenery of rural america.
What strikes the reader immediately is Maclean's boundless skill to portray scenery in a manner more befitting a painter. I am tempted to quote passages
depicting views of astonishing beauty, but am reluctant to spoil the book.
Maclean unfolds a timeless story of a man, his brother and his father, attempting to understand one another. Often relying on fly fishing as the only middleground for the three and perhaps the only grounds on which there was no winner or loser between them. Fly fishing is seen as an art, a way of connecting with nature, and with one another.
This book is a masterpiece, a painting of a time, place and life. It is already considered by many as the greatest fishing book of all time, but it is much more than that. It is about the complicated relationships of man, and this is its true beauty.