Deliverance

This was made into the 1970s film with Burt Reynolds and John Voight but my goodness, the writing! So poetic. I knew there was something special about his writing when I first started to read and when I checked up on him, discovered he was also a poet. Believe me - his evocative passages shines through, something you can't really appreciate in the film. Supberb!!

Although the film version is better known, Dickey’s gut-wrenching saga of four men who decide to take one last canoe trip in the remote North Georgia wilderness is one of my favorite novels of all time. I love Dickey’s vivid prose, which is at times poetic but never obtrusively so.

Simply put, To me, this book represents thriller storytelling at its finest.

You are stronger than you think you are. Your primary limitations are not physical; they are in between your ears. In this novel, the inflection point the protagonist faces is not due to past mistakes or poor choices; it’s just life. It happens to all of us. In this novel, the protagonist finds his limits, and then he transcends them. The movie was pretty good, but the book is on another level. 

I reread this book every once in a while, and I feel like I learn something new from it every time. The plot is very simple, but what… show more.

I love to travel and frequently wonder how I’d react if an ordinary trip suddenly turned dangerous. In this novel, I learned that survival could mean being forever haunted by the experience.

Instead of a beer swilling weekend and white-water recreation, four suburbanites endure a Homeric odyssey into malevolent American darkness. Dickey’s story chronicles more than a dangerous adventure. It is extreme. It can be so extreme it challenges the reader’s tolerance.

And that gave me a powerful lesson in storytelling: do not shy away from breaking the boundaries of readerly comfort.

Since we’re already talking about intense river journeys, there’s no better book for my number two pick than Deliverance. Even if you’ve seen the movie and instantly recognize the theme song, this book is worth your time. In this classic action and adventure story, four men on a Georgia whitewater canoe trip face the trials of the river, but when they’re attacked, their challenge becomes one of primal survival. This book is often listed as one of the best of the twentieth century. 

The part of Texas where I grew up has quite a bit in common with the part of Georgia where this book takes place. I’ve also spent a fair amount of time hunting, fishing, and roaming the woods, and have bow-hunted enough to empathize completely with several of the most intense, exciting scenes. Strange and savage things happen in the woods. People revert easily to ancient instincts and behaviors. It doesn’t take a lot to bring the inner cave-man roaring back, as the four friends in Deliverance soon learn. This is a book of high adventure that reminds me that,… show more.

I’ve had many occasions where life has tested me. Sometimes I passed with flying colors. Other times, well, the less said the better. And this story deftly illustrates that the toughest tests in life are ones you can’t prepare for, because they typically arrive unexpectedly.

In this literary novel, four middle-aged men who lead soft, suburban lives, go on a canoe adventure on a roaring river out in the wilderness. Out in the wilds, they will be tested both by nature and by evil.

They barely survive a rough set of rapids that destroys one of the two canoes. But… show more.