In stories told with humor and honesty, we get a glimpse of Gus, the endearing narrator in Duncan’s novel The River Why, as Duncan takes us to the banks of sacred trout streams high in the Bitterroot Mountains of Montana and shares the virtues of a well-caught fish. He travels to the headwaters of the Blackfoot River and tells of the voluntary activism of Montana residents that saved it from becoming a cyanide heap leach gold mine. He takes us to where Celilo Falls once fell into the Columbia River, to the mourning of lost salmon by tribes who used to fish there.

Duncan balances an activist rant about environmental devastation in the West with descriptions of these places that read like poetry. In the spirit of Terry Tempest Williams’ Red and Rick Bass’ The Book of Yaak, Duncan advocates saving and restoring western waters for the love of salmon and all humankind — and for the simple pleasure of holding a magnificent animal for a moment, then returning it to the river.

My Story as Told by Water seems to come from a place of love and it’s hard not to walk away from this book both angry and hopeful.