Maclean releases big one, "Home Waters"

SEELEY LAKE – "Home Waters, a Chronicle of Family and a River," written by John Maclean, will surely have a deep and personal impact with readers of this newspaper, the Pathfinder. Nationwide reviews fit well the summaries of what this reviewer had intended to say. But soon after its release, the accolades from the national reviews, e.g. The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, Barnes and Noble, Publishers Weekly and the Washington Post, rushed to give the chronicle an exemplary thumbs up!

That inherent recognition of place and personal emotions by readers familiar to the landscape or the author also need to be recognized and put in special light. Local readers and those close to any of its characters of this book will find a commonality and shared sense of being present that is rarely put into such eloquent prose. It carries us in quiet serenity back to those places and experiences we treasure most. Why we have roots in this place and how families grow complex, diverse and sometimes stray from a valued center.

Unknowingly, John did a lifetime of listening, recording and researching his family's history. His long career as a reporter for The Chicago Times allowed John to stay objective as he contradicted his own father's record of Paul's death but valued and respected the reasons his father wrote it. John's closeness and respect for his father brought his father's longing for Paul to light and uncovered the tender heart of his dad's actions. Norman simply bestowed a better death on Paul, a golden act of trying to honor a brother.

John stated in his book, "Memory can and should be more than a bridge to the past. It's also a way to see yourself as a thread in a broad fabric long in the making."

John: "Many years later my father would come down from the cabin to the lake in the evening when the world had turned to gentleness, and I would sit on the bank watching for a fish to rise. Without acknowledging my presence, but knowing I was there, he would call out 'Paul! Paul!' his face nearly incandescent with the light of remembrance and expectation."

Norman: "A River Runs Through It is not so much for my sake as for the memory of my brother whom I loved and still do not understand and could not help." Paul's death was replayed in a form that was more honoring – that is what family and love can do.

Believing that "Home Waters" is the "backstory" to a "River Runs Through It" is unjustified. It can stand entirely on its own but together both are inherently stronger and more impactful.

"Home Waters" began as a story about a fish, but the parallel of the fish story to the family blended and added clarity to the religion of fly fishing. John tied it up strong, just like his friend, George Croonenbergh, a fly tier with a special art- all cementing multi-generational attempts to catch the Blackfoot's largest fish. To date, John caught it – but with it did also manage to release another big one – "Home Waters!"

John will read from his new book Sunday, Sept. 5 at 1 p.m. at the Double Arrow Homestead. This free event is sponsored by Alpine Artisans' Open Book Club and funded by the Seeley Lake Community Foundation and Humanities Montana. Signs along Whitetail Drive next to Cory's Valley Market will lead you to the Double Arrow Homestead.