"The Same River Twice" by Chris Offutt

“The Same River Twice” by Chris Offutt is a memoir of Offutt’s own experiences throughout his life.  The stories, or actual events more or less, are interesting, serious at times, and hilarious during others.  His imagery, and the emotions that he is able to convey to the reader are quite admirable.  I was especially struck by the passage where Offutt decides to go skydiving:

“Ten million years of genetic conditioning screamed in outrage and protest.  Every molecule in me forbade the jump.  I gripped a handle beside the door and closed my eyes.  The plane was shaking and so were my knees, but I was too scared to be a coward.  I leaned through the hole.  Open fields flashed below.  Free-fall lasted all of four seconds, but they were long ones, rushing to earth at thirty-two feet per second.  I yelled and the rush of air kept my mouth wide.  The chute jerked open with a hard thump, and I squeezed the ropes as tightly as possible.  There was a brief period of intense joy in which I realized that the only way to increase the feeling was to jump from higher up.  Briefly I wished we had.  I was already half way down, and instead of wafting like a leaf, I seemed to be dropping at an incredible rate.  Some huge mechanism was pushing the land rapidly in my direction.”

The memoir alternates between two very distinct points in the author’s life.  One in which he is very adventurous, roaming the country (which he compares to a life like Daniel Boone’s) and finding jobs when he needs the money, at one point he is a dishwasher, and at another he is chipping mortar off of bricks.  The other is a point where Offutt is about to become a father and is worried about his qualifications to be the role model of a child.  As a reader, I find the first point in the authors life much more exciting, and much more relatable.  As I make my way through the memoir, I am captivated by Chris Offutt’s humor through out his tale.  My favorite quote thus far is: “hillbilly was what the people in town called us at home; that and worse—hick, ridgerunner, redneck, inbred ingrate, and my personal favorite, pigfucker.  My mother is my sixth cousin.  My brother and sister are also my cousins but nobody in my family ever seduced a hog.”  I literally laughed out loud when I read this line.

Aficionado (pg 63) - a person who is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about an activity, subject, or pastime.