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The river peter heller summary5/22/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() With its numerous zen-like fishing scenes, The Painter is a dark relative of David James Duncan’s The River Why. For the rest of the story, he hides in plain sight from the police, from those who wish to exact revenge, but most of all, from his own conscience. One night, when a rage born from unspeakable loss takes over, Stegner kills a local criminal in cold blood. But his connections with women are genuine, and varied, even long lasting. His leading lady is spirited, though lacking in an agenda of her own. Devout in his recovery from alcoholism, Stegner is somewhat of a womanizer, and with James Salter-like swagger he dives into an Ocean of Women, some of whom (feminists beware!) burst forth like gunfire and fade just as fast. His quirkily shamanic paintings come to acclaim after he crushes the hand of a radio host during a live interview. Stegner is a once jailed, twice divorced artist who fishes often and lives quietly between Colorado and New Mexico. And so are you.Īnd so is Jim Stegner, in Peter Heller’s second novel, The Painter. ![]() This is to say, I am somebody’s anti-hero. An unfunny, insensitive, none-too-bright, all-around Bad Person. A morally-questionable hurter of feelings. My enemies might think of me as a self-promoter with more ambition than talent. ![]()
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