| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
'A brilliant and breathtaking adventure' New Yorker 'A novel that will curl your toes ... Dickey's canoe rides to the limits of dramatic tension' New York Times Book Review 'A novel of stunning power' Nation 'A tour de force' New Republic
Product Description
'I don't believe I'd go there if I was you. What's the use of it?' 'Because it's there,' said Lewis. 'It's there, all right. If you git in there and can't get out, you're goin' to wish it wudn't.' A group of middle-aged friends in search of the wilderness experience that has been missing from their big-city lives go canoeing one weekend. They pack all the usual survival gear - plus a banjo and a bow and arrow - and head off. Unskilled and naive, they paddle downstream, enjoying the exercise and the gorgeous scenery. But something is in the air. There are small signs at first: their canoes hit sudden rapids, the river seems polluted with litter and bird feathers, and during the night their tent is punctured by the talons of a hunting owl. Then, the following day, after mooring their canoes by the woods, they are approached by two sinister men. One is carrying a shotgun and the other a knife...
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As adventure books go you won't get much better than this one. I'd rate it right along side Buchan's "Thirty Nine Steps", Household's "Rogue Male", Haggard's "King Solomon's Mines". It must surely become a classic.
It is a more complex work than the others cited above in that Dickey creates truly believable characters with convincing motives for the way they act.
Dickey has the ability to write extremely visually so that you are drawn deeply into the aching suspense of the action.
It's a an action novel with a twist in that the real tough guy in the end misses out on the tough guy action because of a broken leg and it's left to one of the more unlikely group members to risk everything in a bid to get them all off the river and safely home.
It's not a particularly macho novel- Dickey breathes too much life into his characters to be that insensitive.
I'd recommend this to everybody and anybody. If you've seen the film and found that gripping you're in for even more suspense and entertainment as you read.
By the way, if you have seen the film you'll have seen James Dickey himself because he plays the part of the sheriff.
It is a more complex work than the others cited above in that Dickey creates truly believable characters with convincing motives for the way they act.
Dickey has the ability to write extremely visually so that you are drawn deeply into the aching suspense of the action.
It's a an action novel with a twist in that the real tough guy in the end misses out on the tough guy action because of a broken leg and it's left to one of the more unlikely group members to risk everything in a bid to get them all off the river and safely home.
It's not a particularly macho novel- Dickey breathes too much life into his characters to be that insensitive.
I'd recommend this to everybody and anybody. If you've seen the film and found that gripping you're in for even more suspense and entertainment as you read.
By the way, if you have seen the film you'll have seen James Dickey himself because he plays the part of the sheriff.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As another person who watched the classic 1970 movie starring Burt Reynolds and Jon Voight and subsequently bought this novel, I was stunned by how good the source novel actually is. Dickey writes fairly economically but with a power and an intensity that resonates long after the book has been put down. As for the notorious rape scene, Dickey handles it sensitively and without indulging in gratuitous description; I was left uncomfortable but not as nauseous as the film version made me.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
"The kind of [experience] I'm talking about depends on its being the last chance, the very last of all."
27 Aug 2006
Format:Paperback
When four "typical" suburban businessmen decide to canoe down a river in the wilderness of northern Georgia, they are unprepared for any of the disasters which will await them. Inexperienced as canoeists, overloaded with beer and supplies, and ignorant of both the river and the mountains, they all have romantic visions of meeting some self-imposed test of manhood, of shooting a deer with bow and arrow and feeding themselves, of becoming one with the pristine environment, and of emerging from the experience "fulfilled" as men. Instead, they discover hostile country men, whom they refer to as "rednecks," who prove to be even more treacherous than the sheer faces of the cliffs along the river, the river's rocks and currents, and the dense, almost impenetrable, woods.
Poet James Dickey combines his ability to create vibrant descriptions of the natural world with his equally sensitive awareness of the need for city people to get closer to their roots. While sympathetic and understanding toward these suburbanites and their "mission," he is also careful to show their ignorance and their casual arrogance, both toward the natural elements and toward the mountain dwellers for whom these mountains and rivers represent the whole world. As the journey on the river begins, Dickey's romantic descriptions parallel the buoyant spirits of the canoeists, and as disasters begin to strike, his descriptions become darker, reflecting ominous events ahead.
When two mountain dwellers attack the four suburbanites in scenes which are by now infamous from the film, Dickey's minute descriptions of the most devastating aspects of these events add power to the story--one cannot simply close one's eyes to the worst of the horrors which destroy one canoeist's innocence forever. As main character/narrator Ed Gentry recreates this and succeeding events, the fact that he is a very "ordinary" man, who also reflects the responses of his readers, creates an additional bond of sympathy between the reader and the characters.
The practical and ethical dilemmas the men face at the end of the novel put the conflict between the "civilized" life of the city and the "natural" life of the wild into new perspective, reflecting the long-term effects of this test of "manhood." All the men have been permanently scarred, and none will ever again see the world innocently. Appealing for its action, the intensity of its themes, the reality of its descriptions of nature, and the questions raised by its ending, Dickey's novel has become a standard of the man-against-nature genre. Mary Whipple
Poet James Dickey combines his ability to create vibrant descriptions of the natural world with his equally sensitive awareness of the need for city people to get closer to their roots. While sympathetic and understanding toward these suburbanites and their "mission," he is also careful to show their ignorance and their casual arrogance, both toward the natural elements and toward the mountain dwellers for whom these mountains and rivers represent the whole world. As the journey on the river begins, Dickey's romantic descriptions parallel the buoyant spirits of the canoeists, and as disasters begin to strike, his descriptions become darker, reflecting ominous events ahead.
When two mountain dwellers attack the four suburbanites in scenes which are by now infamous from the film, Dickey's minute descriptions of the most devastating aspects of these events add power to the story--one cannot simply close one's eyes to the worst of the horrors which destroy one canoeist's innocence forever. As main character/narrator Ed Gentry recreates this and succeeding events, the fact that he is a very "ordinary" man, who also reflects the responses of his readers, creates an additional bond of sympathy between the reader and the characters.
The practical and ethical dilemmas the men face at the end of the novel put the conflict between the "civilized" life of the city and the "natural" life of the wild into new perspective, reflecting the long-term effects of this test of "manhood." All the men have been permanently scarred, and none will ever again see the world innocently. Appealing for its action, the intensity of its themes, the reality of its descriptions of nature, and the questions raised by its ending, Dickey's novel has become a standard of the man-against-nature genre. Mary Whipple
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Drawn out for such a short book
Like most people I really enjoyed the film and it stirred a sense of adventure in me. With this in mind I purchased the novel, and after reading so many 5 star reviews on Amazon... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Bridgey
Overwhelming tension with an underwhelming narrator
This novel begins strangely and rather flatly, with the lead character (Ed Gentry) spending a day in the office as an Art Director. Read more
Published on 11 Jan 2010 by Rusty
Better Than Expected
I was lucky enough to read this before the film was made. The latter was one dimensional by comparison with the book and, although James Dickey was involved, this is arguably one... Read more
Published on 17 Oct 2009 by Nigel Smart
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
