Chattooga

Having previously explored the river, Lane returns to journey the entire length of it, describing its natural beauty and danger as well as pausing to view it through the prism of Dickey’s book. . . . Lane artfully applies his poetic sensibility to the river itself. . . . Lane’s own writing and observations are good enough to stand outside of Dickey’s considerable shadow.

Lane’s book is a personal narrative that skillfully navigates the contemporary cultural and ecological history of its subject. . . . A writer who would obviously rather paddle first and theorize later, Lane prefers to let the river speak for itself.

His narrative provides a kayaker’s soggy-seated perspective, describing the river’s sucking hydraulics and breath-stealing drops. . . . Lane writes with muscle and insight.

In this readable meditation, Lane convincingly demonstrates that Dickey’s disturbing and powerful vision exists only ‘on the shelf and on the screen.’ The reality is much more complex.

* Mobile Register *

Lane hikes alongside the Chattooga and kayaks down its waters. He explores the literature of the river and fishing and weaves in the history of the area. . . . Like all good nature writers, Lane adds his personal history to the natural history and human cultural history of the river.

At places, Lane’s descriptions cause you to pause and take it all in, to eddy out in the reading and savor the flow of memories you have of rivers. If you’ve ever spent time in a boat without a motor, you’ll enjoy reading the coincidence of feelings and shared conversations you’ve had on the water.

While the book skims the surface of Dickey’s and Boorman’s brutal world, Lane is at his strongest when writing about his own observations of the river and the people who live along its banks. . . . Despite using Deliverance’s cultural hook, readers will discover—through Lane’s vivid descriptions, smooth prose and obvious passion for the environment and the Chattooga—that the author has charted a course all his own, one where the wild and scenic river is one of the strongest characters.

* Charlotte, NC *

Throughout this book we meet not only the Chattooga, but we meet as well a man who can write with the force and power of the currents he describes. Lane not only has the descriptive talents to give us the river and the geography of the river, but he also gives us wonderful, short, and accurate descriptions of those whom he meets. Lane has the eye and the knowledge of craft to bring to life a scene in just a sentence or two, to capture a personality in just a few words.