The English Major / by Jim Harrison

"It used to be Cliff and Vivian and now it isn't" (p. 2)

At 60, Cliff is having a post mid-life crisis of sorts. A retired school teacher and part-time farmer in rural Michigan, he's currently having a devil of a time coming to grips with his wife leaving him, the seemingly inevitable foreclosure on his farm, and, perhaps most devastating, the recent death of his beloved dog Lola. So what better time to embark on the great American road trip? Figuring that he can reconnect with his Kerouac-ian soul and perhaps tie up some loose ends with his wife in Arizona, son in California and a former student he's always been drawn to, Cliff heads 'wagons west' (his car is a Ford Taurus station wagon) anticipating some exciting new horizons. What begins as a soul-searching quest for closure quickly becomes a joyride to sow up some wild oats which may have been bypassed in his youth. Cliff's liason with his married former student, Marybelle, is far more lurid than what Cliff (and the reader) could have imagined, the pair getting to know each other so well that Cliff's attraction becomes aversion by the time he drops her off in Montana. And any embittered--though spitefully gratifying--notions of Vivian's coming back to him are confirmed by her high-minded attempts to reconcile things; even though Cliff knows she's only angling to get some money out of his soon-to-be sold-off farm. Still, there's lessons learned along the way. One being that the best things in life may well be free, but they aren't always so great all the time.

This book is largely an embodiment of the "be careful what you wish for . . ." notion, entertaining the reader with quirky characters, instances of assumptions gone haywire, and nostalgia turned on its head, not to mention lots of intimately sordid details. While protagonist/narrator Cliff is refreshingly down-to-earth, he's also somewhat of a dirty old man. Which is why some readers may not be so appreciative of Cliff's detailed rendering of he and Marybelle's exploits and the flirtatious ways in which he entertains his thoughts about other loose female acquaintances (i.e., every waitress, barmaid, hotel clerk, etc.). There's fun to be had though, following Cliff as he geographically connects the dots and patchworks the various facets of his life, always ready to bear his lot even if he's not so keen on what it gives him. (FIC HARRISON)