- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Houghton Mifflin (Trade) (17 Mar 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 061800193X
- ISBN-13: 978-0618001934
- Product Dimensions: 22.8 x 15.3 x 2.1 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,359,335 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Synopsis
Essays discuss food, travel, sports, and the writings of Ernest Hemingway, John D. MacDonald, Farley Mowat, Peter Matthiessen, and Paul Strand.
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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7 reviews
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Another Harrison Treasure
18 Jun 2000
Format:Paperback
Harrison's Just Before Dark sets itself apart from other works of non-fiction and leaves the reader astonished. Out on the landscape of Hemingway's A Movable Feast, Steinbeck's Travels With Charlie, and Faulkner's Go Down Moses; Harrison has brought forth his expedient andric style in this collection of indelible truths. Divided into Food, Travel & Sport, and Literary Matters the book is saturated with wisdom, humor, and insight into every subject from, bird hunting with a French Count, to bar pool, to Ernest Hemingway, to Zen writings. Whether it's sharing with the reader travel tips through America's dirt roads or showing us the complex simplicity in a walk at dusk, Harrison gives the reader an escape that is based in reality yet woven in the fantastic. In my personal copy stars or markings may appear next to titles or lines. By doing this I realize that I am inevitably suggesting that one story transcends another and therefore is somehow healthier than the rest but no assumption could be more crooked. My tattered, marked, and exhausted copy sits as reminder that some books are truly priceless.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Uneven, but 100% Harrison
18 Feb 2010
Format:Paperback
This is vintage Harrison, but some of it in the sense of simply "old," rather than good. Oh, they're not really bad, because they all contain that strange mix of machismo, arrogance, and self-deprecating humor we've learned to expect from Harrison. But these essays, dating from the 70s and 80s are, many of them, from his still-struggling-to-make-it days, when he was forced out of necessity to write magazine pieces for quick cash. There are, however, some gems scattered here and there amongst the gravel. Harrison fans will very likely differ on which pieces here are the best ones, depending on where they are "coming from," both in a literary sense and a geographic one. Since I come from Reed City, where Jim spent his own formative years, I tend to enjoy most those essays in which he remembers those rural Michigan times - "The Violators," "Night Walking," "The Last Good Country," and, my personal favorite, "A Memoir of Horse Pulling," in which Harrison remembers watching those mighty heavyweight mammals - Belgians and Percherons - who were once the main attraction at county fairs all around Michigan and the Midwest, back when his dad was agricultural agent based here in Reed City. There is also the crazed, Jabberwocky fun he has in "A Chat with a Novelist," in which he "interviews" his old Michigan State college chum, Tom McGuane. And there are some concise and interesting reviews of books too, by John D. MacDonald, Peter Matthiesen, Farley Mowat, and even Ernest Hemingway.
Just Before Dark is, admittedly, an uneven sort of collection, but if you take it in small doses (I suggest you keep it in the "powder room") it can be quite palatable. I'm happy I read it, if only for the already mentioned favorites. In the intervening years since these pieces were written, Jim Harrison has become much more than just a Michigan writer. He is on his way to becoming a permanent fixture in American literature. - Tim Bazzett, author of SOLDIER BOY: AT PLAY IN THE ASA
Just Before Dark is, admittedly, an uneven sort of collection, but if you take it in small doses (I suggest you keep it in the "powder room") it can be quite palatable. I'm happy I read it, if only for the already mentioned favorites. In the intervening years since these pieces were written, Jim Harrison has become much more than just a Michigan writer. He is on his way to becoming a permanent fixture in American literature. - Tim Bazzett, author of SOLDIER BOY: AT PLAY IN THE ASA
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Stay Home and let Harrison bring the world to you
12 Dec 2009
Format:Paperback
I own almost every Jim Harrison story collection and I haven't found a dud tale in any of them. Whether his subject is Native American malaise or the bored-with-everything sex lives of Ivy League wives and ex-wives...he tackles them with heart, humor, and an almost invisible touch of the Author's Voice. To call him a Naturalist isn't quite enough. Think Thoreau, only re-incarnated in Bukowski's body.
So we all know his fiction is amazing...but this non-fiction collection is a revelation! Here and there I've come across his magazine pieces and they alone merit the cover price of whatever mag they're in. But to have all these in one sleek, trade-paperback edition is priceless.
Life is hard and full of boredom and too much work. And none of us have time to experience all that we wish we could...Enter: Just Before Dark by Jim Harrison. Everything becomes an adventure...eating, reading, traveling, culture, art, America, nature...it's all there and rendered with that same invisible touch.
And each piece is short enough to be digested in one sitting. Do yourself a big favor and pick this one up. Go about your busy day and grab just fifteen minutes or so and let Harrison bring the great big world to you.
So we all know his fiction is amazing...but this non-fiction collection is a revelation! Here and there I've come across his magazine pieces and they alone merit the cover price of whatever mag they're in. But to have all these in one sleek, trade-paperback edition is priceless.
Life is hard and full of boredom and too much work. And none of us have time to experience all that we wish we could...Enter: Just Before Dark by Jim Harrison. Everything becomes an adventure...eating, reading, traveling, culture, art, America, nature...it's all there and rendered with that same invisible touch.
And each piece is short enough to be digested in one sitting. Do yourself a big favor and pick this one up. Go about your busy day and grab just fifteen minutes or so and let Harrison bring the great big world to you.
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