A River Runs Through It

A River Runs through It is a semi-autobiographical novella by the American author Norman Maclean. The novella was published in 1976, and A River Runs through It was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1977.

The novella contains the coming-of-age story of the author and his brother, Paul. Sons of a Scottish Presbyterian minister and his wife, the two boys grew up in a small town in western Montana at the turn of the last century. Born in 1902, Maclean wrote this story as part memoir, part elegy for his brother and for the Montana way of life, both of which are now lost.

Plot Summary

Set primarily in the summer of 1937, this semi-autobiographical work describes the summer before Paul’s death. The plot moves back and forth in time, as Norman, the narrator and protagonist, recounts family history and events that underpin what is happening in the present day. Maclean tells his tale through family stories, fishing techniques, and the philosophy surrounding fly fishing. The natural world forms an essential motif in the novella, symbolizing spiritual power and healing fellowship.

Written when Maclean was in his seventies, the novella attempts to immortalize a time, place, and people, now lost to the author. This time was more brutal yet innocent, and against an unspoiled landscape, his brother’s uncanny talents for fishing and trouble and their father’s love, support, and guidance come to life. Told from a first-person limited point of view, Norman speaks nostalgically, but not sentimentally, of the events that have most shaped his life in order to understand and celebrate them.

Paul, three years younger than Norman, is charismatic and charming. He is a hard-living drinker who gambles and works as a reporter. Paul lives in Helena, Montana. Norman, more serious and steady, is married to his great love, Jessie. He lives with his wife’s family in the tiny town of Wolf Creek, Montana. Their parents have retired to Missoula, Montana.

During the summer of 1937, Norman and his parents watch helplessly as Paul’s life careens out of control: he is arrested for public drunkenness and brawling, and they suspect he has large gambling debts that he cannot pay. Norman tries to intervene by taking Paul fishing. This shared activity is the only way he can connect with his brother and access the grace and camaraderie only available to them when they fish together.

Jessie Maclean has brother troubles of her own. She convinces Norman to take her brother Neal, also an alcoholic, fishing. The fishing expedition is a disaster; Neal gets drunk after stealing all of the group’s beer, and he defiles the beauty of the river by having sex with a prostitute on a sandbar while he is supposed to be fishing with Norman and Paul. Like many comedic episodes in the novella, this incident is both funny and deeply sad.

Later that summer, Paul and Norman experience a perfect day while fishing with their father. Though Paul and Norman connect over their shared love for fishing and their father, Norman is unable to reach his brother to talk to him about the gambling debts or his drinking.

The next May, Paul is beaten to death with the butt of a revolver in a drunken brawl. The whole family is devastated but unsurprised. Rev. Maclean strives to accept what has happened to his son, and he and Norman help each other deal with what has happened; they love Paul without understanding him. The end of the novella communicates this message of love. To Maclean, we must be our brother’s keepers: even when we believe we cannot help them, we must still try, even if all we have to offer is our love.