Synopses & Reviews
From a "born storyteller" (Seattle Times), this playful and moving bestselling book of essays invites us into the miraculous and transcendent moments of everyday life.
When Brian Doyle passed away at the age of sixty after a bout with
brain cancer, he left behind a cult-like following of devoted readers
who regard his writing as one of the best-kept secrets of the
twenty-first century. Doyle writes with a delightful sense of wonder
about the sanctity of everyday things, and about love and connection in
all their forms: spiritual love, brotherly love, romantic love, and even
the love of a nine-foot sturgeon.
At a moment when the world can sometimes feel darker than ever,
Doyle's writing, which constantly evokes the humor and even bliss that
life affords, is a balm. His essays manage to find, again and again,
exquisite beauty in the quotidian, whether it's the awe of a child the
first time she hears a river, or a husband's whiskers that a grieving
widow misses seeing in her sink every morning. Through Doyle's eyes,
nothing is dull.
David James Duncan sums up Doyle's sensibilities best in his
introduction to the collection: "Brian Doyle lived the pleasure of
bearing daily witness to quiet glories hidden in people, places and
creatures of little or no size, renown, or commercial value, and he
brought inimitably playful or soaring or aching or heartfelt language to
his tellings." A life's work,
One Long River of Song invites readers to experience joy and
wonder in ordinary moments that become, under Doyle's rapturous and
exuberant gaze, extraordinary.
Review
"A posthumous collection of
stunning mystical prose....so expansive and dripping
with visceral detail that even the briefest vignettes are often a
wondrous adventure." Kirkus (Starred Review)
Review
"A generous, posthumous
collection [with] the rhythm of poems and the lyricism of
songs...infused with qualities of spirit, goodness, and grace. Doyle was
a wonderful stylist...he is generous, almost profligate in filling his
work with [love]....readers will be equally grateful for this lovely book
and its beautiful contents." Michael Cart, Booklist (Starred Review)
Review
"Doyle's curiosity is
insatiable and his self-described Celtic-mystic disposition spots the
transcendent regularly....This 'best-of' should
enlarge his circle of admirers." Publishers Weekly
Review
"Dazzling....Doyle's writing bursts with vivid descriptions...a renewed opportunity
for more readers to discover the insight and humanity of his
work....Doyle's brand of theology will appeal to fans of the work of
writers like Anne Lamott...readers fortunate enough to discover the many
pleasures of Brian Doyle's work here will be grateful, too, for that
encounter." Harvey Freedenberg, Shelf Awareness
About the Author
Brian Doyle (1956-2017) was born in New York and attended the University of Notre Dame. He worked at
U.S. Catholic Magazine,
Boston College Magazine and, up until his death, was the editor of
Portland Magazine. He wrote a number of novels and works of nonfiction, and his essays appeared in the
New York Times,
Atlantic Monthly, Harper's Orion, American Scholar, America Magazine,
and many more. He won the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in
Literature, the 2017 John Burroughs Medal for Distinguished Nature
Writing, the Oregon Book Award, three Pushcart Prizes, among others, and
had multiple essays included in
Best American Essays.