Old Fish Hawk Audio CD – June 18, 2011

I met Mitch when he retired from the Dillards that most of you know as the Darling family from the Andy Griffith show. He retired back to the Ozarks that he loved. Mitch was a very talented guy. When the movie from this book came out in Hollywood logic it was just released in New York. It then went straight to vcr. When Mitch got his copy he excitedly brought it to the store for us to watch. So as a personal friend of Mitch I had to have the book. I was overwhelmed that the one I got was a first edition and if Mitch were still with us I would get it autographed. You have to read this book by one of the least known great authors that ever lived. The seller was prompt in shipping and it was well packed.

Classic literature that really shows the long term damage of manifest destiny. One of the most moving books that inspired one of the most moving films!!!

book was in better condition that I thought it would be. Love it!

Received the book. It is in good condition.

Love Mitch Jayne s writing!

I just finished probably the best audio book on cassette that I have ever heard. Though it didn't belong to our library's collection at the time it so intrigued me, it has now been generously donated to our branch for everyone to enjoy. Read by the author, this tale of an old Osage Indian, known by all as Fish Hawk, is a dramatically moving story that will bring tears to the eyes of anyone who has a special place in his heart for the beauty/cruelty of nature and for the less advantaged living among us. The last of a vanishing breed, Fish Hawk had lived on the fringe of the white man's world for many years but, weighed down by the burden of feeling useless, he was ready to return to the land of his ancestors to live out the last years of his life. Only with the help of a young white boy was he able to regain the sense of dignity and respect it took for him to complete his journey home. "Old Fish Hawk", written and vividly narrated by native Ozarkian Mitch Jayne, was enhanced even more by the accompaniment of the flute, mandolin, fiddle, harmonica, banjo, accordion, and guitar. It's an audio book that you'll not want to come to an end, and a story that you'll never forget.

Is this one of the most underrated American novels of all time? I can't find another that comes close. Jayne surpassed himself in this novel. It is his truly great work and in it he put everything he loved and helps us to love it too: a log farmhouse on a rainy day, the feel of wet moccasins on boggy ground, the terrible high human cry of pain of a hurt bear and above all Autumn in the Ozarks which is the sublimely evoked setting for the brilliant and moving climax. Jayne's straightforward and evocative natural details are worthy of the best Japanese Haiku poets. The beauty is on every page of this book and yet it is a genuine page-turner! The structure of the novel is brilliant - a touching character from early on coming back near the end to become part of the final climactic story. At first glance at this book, I expected some phony PC 'Native American' fantasy but the old Osage man, Fish Hawk, is a universal figure perfectly realized.

I have been a voracious reader for fifty plus years. I've probably read and re-read Old Fish Hawk twenty plus times over the last decade or so. The writing is so good you find yourself lost in the deep woods, can see the world through the eyes of that old boar, feel the frost on the air. When the spell finally ends you are left with a sense of longing for a simplier time, for the ability to always do the right thing, of admiration for an old uneducated man who has the ability to salvage his life and live his dream. This is without a doubt one of the best books I've ever read.