The River You Touch: Making a Life on Moving Water

Praise for The River You Touch “[The River You Touch] explores what it takes to live a meaningful life in a rapidly changing environment. Dombrowski’s work offers a fresh take on Montana, not just as a playground for sport but as a nurturing home.”—Debra Magpie Earling, The New York Times  "In prose you could sharpen a knife on, Dombrowski has followed his masterful Body of Water with a brilliant memoir. I can't do justice to a book as perfect in tone as this, so generous in pace and written with the inviting but dangerous intensity of rivers."—Christopher Camuto, Gray’s Sporting Journal  “A poignant rumination on marriage, parenthood, friendship and what it means to connect with nature.”—USA Today “Montana-based poet and fly-fishing guide Chris Dombrowski tells a deeply personal story about his life on rivers, raising a family in a wild place with wild yearnings to live on the edge. A lyrical memoir and ode to trout and riparian ecosystems, every sentence of this book sings.”—Outside Magazine “There’s enjoying nature, and then there’s the ability to write well about it. The River You Touch is a love song that readers with the same musical taste are sure to admire.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune “The River You Touch is an excellent memoir about family, fatherhood and fishing from the wordsmith, Chris Dombrowski.”—Forbes “A heartfelt memoir of life and fatherhood in Big Sky country . . . Through a collection of vignettes, the author shares his concerns for the environment, the effects of the appropriation of land from Native inhabitants, and the emotions the landscape stirs in him. ‘The angler standing in the river is not so much absolved of time as disburdened of it, able to shirk its weight’ . . . Nature lovers will be captivated by Dombrowski’s lyrical descriptions of the land and its wildlife, while parents are sure to relate to his familial challenges and sacrifice. A beautifully and poignantly written tribute to a beloved landscape and its spirit.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review “The River You Touch, Chris Dombrowski’s second nonfiction book, will change the way people see the world. . . . Equally weighted in this admirably woven memoir by a poet, teacher, river and fly-fishing guide, is the quotidian struggle of staying afloat in fast moving streams of financial hardship, environmental concern and creative ambition . . . Dombrowski raises the bar for all of us by casting light on maternal-male instincts. He torches the narrative of the single solitary man, gritting it out by himself, conquering the mountain, killing prey or whatever. He rightfully acknowledges the vital power of community that makes a great man toughened by his own vulnerability.”—BOMB Magazine “The River You Touch is a personal guide like no other . . . a lyrical, visually rich, once-in-a-lifetime river trip. . . . Packed with thought-provoking narrative that may guide you to being a better human.”—Montana Quarterly “A lyrical exploration of a beloved place and lifestyle steeped in the natural world, by a writer for whom quality of life supersedes the need for financial security. Will appeal to readers who relish memoirs that skillfully intertwine nature, the American West, and fishing.”—Library Journal “Dombrowski’s prose is familiar and inviting… it’s a subtle craft, this translation of outdoor commitment onto the page, extending leaves of solidarity to audiences unknown.”—Christopher Schaberg, Flyfish Journal “Heartfelt, moving, and gorgeously written, The River You Touch is a love song to the rivers of Montana, a love song to a way of life. Dombrowski writes with tenderness and insight and with a deep, personal gratitude to the rivers that have taught him who he is—a husband, a father, a fisherman, a poet, a person who loves the earth as well as mourns it. What a tremendous achievement.”—Emily Ruskovitch, author of Idaho  “Midway through The River You Touch, poet and naturalist Chris Dombrowski tells us, ‘To truly fathom a river, is to know it from its headwaters to its mouth…’ To truly fathom a life—one’s place, community, family, history, purpose on earth—is the sacred pursuit of this moving and beautifully written memoir. Here is the story of a man attempting to reckon with his cultural inheritance, his vocation, his past, and his responsibilities to family, land, and history. Along the route, he continuously encounters reminders of his own mortal smallness and, simultaneously, the numinous interconnection of all beings.” —Lisa Wells, author of Believers “You won’t soon read a more beautiful book, nor one so earthy, wise, delicious, and alive. This is not a book about fish or rivers or Montana or parenting. This is a book, to paraphrase another poet, plain and simple, to break open the frozen sea within.”—Rick Bass “In the way a fable points us toward rightness, so The River You Touch leads us to a necessary truth: that deep knowledge and love of a place shapes us in all the ways we will need to survive. With poetry, vulnerability, and crisp storytelling, Dombrowski takes us into a wild, river-thrummed Montana, and into the stormswept territory of marriage and family. It’s a journey with a guide who knows the country at a cellular level, and whose bafflement and wonder renews our own. The magic of the book is that I came away convinced that learning to love a trout, or an autumn snowfall, or a wolf crossing a river, would teach me to love a friend or a partner in pain—and so to love and be connected to all beings. Damn.”—Peter Heller, bestselling author of The Dog Stars, The River, and The Guide “With The River You Touch, Chris Dombrowski has established himself at the forefront of American writers of place. This beautiful, clear-eyed, tender memoir is as intimate as a love letter, brimming with wise observations on family, parenthood, home, duty, and passion. The Montana within these pages is wild and rugged, yes. But it is also as gentle as a cold stream running through your fingers or a child sleeping in your arms. I loved this book.”—Nickolas Butler, bestselling author of Godspeed and Shotgun Lovesongs