by Jim Harrison
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Product Description
"It used to be Cliff and Vivian and now it isn't." With these words, Jim Harrison sends his sixty-something protagonist, divorced and robbed of his farm by a late-blooming real estate shark of an ex-wife, on a road trip across America, armed with a childhood puzzle of the United States and a mission to rename all the states and state birds to overcome the banal names men have given them. Cliff's adventures take him through a whirlwind affair with a former student from his high school-teacher days twenty-some years before, to a "snake farm" in Arizona owned by an old classmate; and to the high-octane existence of his son, a big-time movie producer in San Francisco.
The English Major is the map of a man's journey into—and out of—himself, and it is vintage Harrison—reflective, big-picture American, and replete with wicked wit.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Forward, 2008-12-27
The 60-year-old protagonist of Jim Harrison's latest novel, The Engligh Major, decides that a road trip might be the best way to move forward after his wife of 38 years divorces him, and he loses the family farm in a scheme that she managed. I laughed often at Cliff's adventures and peculiarities. The title refers to Cliff who was both an English major and a high school teacher before he landed on the family farm he inherited. As Cliff drives west, he decides to rename every state bird, and he tosses a puzzle piece from the car every time he crosses a state line. His adventures become amplified when Marybelle, a former student, and 17 years his junior, joins his trip and both releases and increases sexual tension. She and Cliff become especially energized when they arrive in San Francisco and Cliff's affluent gay son, Robert, provides them with a well-needed respite. Throughout the road trip, waitresses play a big part in Cliff's adventures, especially one who recognizes his identity as an English major. The English Major is quirky, funny and entertaining.
Rating: Three-star (Recommended)
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
He writes, 2008-12-24
like Jack Nicholson acts. You know who it is the whole time. They don't become characters they just use props and Cliff is Harrison's prop. If you want to read about a sixty year old man forced to make changes and recontemplate life and what he goes through...this isn't for your. Read Mr Ive's Christmas by Oscar Hijuelos who writes like Harrison used to.
This is filled with all kinds of witty sayings and quotes including his own quotes. The thing is full of in jokes that I'm sure entertain him and his friends. I've read Harrison since he first started as a poet...I don't know why I continue. His book Farmer was actually pretty good. I guess I continue to read him the same way I continue to read tired old Dave Robicheau novels.
If you have few hours and are open for mild entertainment then this is your book which is more than I can say for his memoir. In this one you get to personify in Cliff the Harrison of his food essays...travelogs...literary twitterings...dog lore and so forth. I did discover a writer I hadn't read so it wasn't all mild entertainment. Do you care about Cliff? Not for a moment. Will you think about him? What's to think about? I wonder if Harrison has anything left in him?
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 I'd Like a Sequel!, 2008-12-22
As you can see, the reviews of Jim Harrison's "The English Major" run the gamut. Well for my two cents, I thoroughly enjoyed it; laughed out loud many times, and would love to see a sequel where Cliff continues his odyssey into the southern states. Amazing and humors adventures could surely befall this geezer on a trek into Dixie!
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 A tired cliche, 2008-12-19
I've never read anything by Jim Harrison and probably wouldn't have picked this up if it weren't for my neighbor who's a Harrison lover. By page 5 or maybe 10 I knew exactly what I was in for. I was actually an english major and I immediately recognized the genre, a bildungsroman in reverse, instead of a young man's journey we have an old man's journey. The best thing I've ever read along the same lines and far superior to this tired production was, "Blue Highways," although non-fiction. There may be a story here, but I'm never going to know, my instincts told me this wasn't going to be worth reading. Just another commercial read by an established author. I might enjoy some of Harrison's wry, raunchy observations, but I have a feeling he's been doing the same thing for a long time and its worn out.
Its a shame when an author keeps doing the same kind of thing, or had to because he has a contract, I guess its the money. Thank God I didn't buy this.
0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
I"m sorry, but I was an English major, 2008-12-16
Although it had amusing moments, I am having a really difficult time with an author of a book called "The English Major" who misuses infer for imply. Yes, I'm was English major, and that is one of my pet peeves with language mistakes. Garrison Keeler, are you listening? I heard you endorse this book on your show just yesterday. Shame on you!
There are alot of charms to the book, and it is worth reading with that caveat.
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