Yellowstone Autumn: A Season of Discovery in a Wondrous Land (American Lives)
Approaching his fifty-fifth birthday, Wetherell felt he needed to take stock of his life and that Yellowstone National Park was the place to do it. Bringing an asset to the task—authorial skills honed in his novels, short stories, and nature writings—Wetherell also brought along his fishing tackle and a penchant for solitude. As he roams the park for three weeks in fall, he lets the landscape and its human history sink into his reflections about his life personally and aging generally. Wetherell’s marriage, his son and daughter, and his father cross in Wetherell’s ruminations with his venturing into Yellowstone’s trout streams to find, he offers somewhat diffidently, a meaning in the scenery. Wetherell’s caution about what he’s trying to learn about himself on his getaway imparts a subtle momentum to his prose. Literary stylists will appreciate Wetherell’s techniques for expressing youth’s passing, while readers acquainted with his essay’s backdrop should savor his descriptive passages of Yellowstone’s autumnal flora and fauna. A fine companion for the fireside, perhaps at the Old Faithful Inn itself. --Gilbert Taylor