Native Waters: A Few Moments In A Small Wooden Boat
Here's what they're saying in the reader reviews!

A good story teller, a better teacher, August 16, 2005 3 out of 5 Stars
Reviewer: Eric P. Duplantis 
Roger Emile Stouff is a paradox. He lives in a modern world, full of computers, cell phones and jet-ski fools. He earns his living as a newspaper journalist, covering the unhappiness of contemporary America, with its incomprehensible crime and bickering. But, he has a secret which he shares with us. Like the fictional character Billy Pilgrim in Kurt Vonnegut Slaughter House Five, he somehow has learned to become unstuck in time. Unlike Billy Pilgrim, Mr. Stouff is a real person, and through his own strength of will and character, can control and direct his excursions back in time.

Mr. Stouff is part Native American (Chitimacha) and part Cajun. As he explains in this wonderful book, both sides of his heritage spring from thousands (on his Chitimacha side) and hundreds (on his Cajun side) of years of living on and from the water. While most of us are tied to the land, Mr. Stouff is tied to the water.

If you are a fisherman or a boat builder, this book will have special meaning to you as he explains the details of his exploits. However, if you are like me, neither a fisherman or a boat builder, Mr. Stouff provides a lesson not unlike that of Robert Pirsig in his Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. The search is not about building the best boat, or mastering the art of fly fishing, or acquiring some degree of proficiency in motorcycle maintenance. The search is about the quest for quality. Quality in life. Quality in memories. Quality in allowing yourself the ability to see the lessons learned or missed as life passes by.

Mr. Stouff is a great story teller. He tells stories of his Native American heritage that match the glory of Paul Bunyan. He tells great stories about his rejection of his Native American/Cajun heritage and flight away from his roots only to discover his future by looking back to his past. But he is an even better teacher. He can bring clarity to the foggy memories you have of your father or grandfather. The lessons they taught you and the lessons you failed to learn.

The book is told in one complete cycle of the earth, January to December. Winter to Spring to Summer to Autumn and back to Winter. The cycle of life, a circle so to speak. A circle that has no start and no end.

Writing you feel., March 9, 2005 5 out of 5 Stars
Reviewer: Garrett Lowell
This book arrived at my home with Tuesday's mail. By Wednesday's early hours, I had reached page 100, unable to set "Native Waters" down. Roger Stouff has a way of expressing those hidden thoughts and feelings in a manner in which few authors can, feelings that many of us never knew were there.
The writing in this book is writing you feel. Ghosts are everywhere. Self-examination is prevalent and insightful. Writing this honest, this poignant can only be uplifting and rewarding if only because you, the reader, must turn some small bit of light toward your own truths, examine your own roots and beginnings. For myself, I won't be finished with this book until I've read it over and over, across several seasons, maybe through many years. There is a prized spot reserved on my "favorite books" shelf for this novel, books I return to over and over, year after year. (Some other authors on this shelf are J. Conrad, E. Hemingway, Steinbeck, Fitzgerald, Dickens, Dumas, Twain, and Stevenson, just to mention a few) I wholeheartedly recommend this book.

Barbara Sandlin, A reviewer, March 17, 2005, 5 out of 5 stars
Snapshots of Life
This is the kind of book you can't put down. You want to see and hear more of the story. This is a multi-generational picture of a family from an insider's perspective. We hear the voices of various family members thru the years. We see striking visual images and watch as silent witnesses to wrongs that are committed. Injustices are mentioned in a matter-of-fact tone, a description of daily life as it is lived. The setting is the 'watery world' of the Chitimacha people in Southern Louisiana. A thoughtful, articulate writer captures brief snapshots of life. He portrays people, places, and moments with specific and concrete details to pull the reader into the scene. We see, smell, hear, taste, and feel with the characters. Daily scenes include boat building, fishing, and tours of the area occupied for thousands of years by the Chitimacha. The heart of the book pulses with the feeling you experience when he writes from the heart pulling at the gut feelings we would rather not think about. He is at his best when describing the things that matter the most - his family. This is a great book and is better with each reading.