The Fish's Eye: Essays About Angling and the Outdoors

From Barnes & Noble

Celebrated humorist and nonfiction author Ian Frazier, whose books have ranged from hilarious essays on pop culture to serious works about the plight of Native Americans, switches gears with this eloquent, delightful book on the joys of fishing. Written over a period of about 20 years, the essays that comprise The Fish's Eye find the author in a variety of locations -- from the Adirondacks to the Rocky Mountains -- in search of a bite. Frazier achieves a tone that is both lighthearted and introspective, a quality that will appeal to anglers of every stripe.

Ron Hansen

Extraordinary...one thinks of such American originals as John McPhee, Wallace Stegner, Edward Hoagland, Peter Matthiessen, and Evan S. Connell.
— Washington Post Book World

Publishers Weekly

All 17 of the angling pieces Frazier (On the Rez) has written over the last 20 years have now been preserved in one volume. Attentive readers of the New Yorker over the last two decades will have caught most of these pieces before, but anglers and essay fans (not to mention Frazier devotees) should be glad to revisit gems like "An Angler at Heart," his 1981 profile of a Manhattan tackle dealer. Frazier's sharp eye and self-implicating wit is at work in these charming but unsentimental pieces, whether he's describing his penchant for mayflies in "It's Hard to Eat Just One," a family fishing trip in which his kids prefer a drainage ditch to the trout stream in "A Lovely Sort of Lower Purpose," or a Central Park pond where the fishermen are as likely to catch empty potato chip bags as catfish in "Anglers." Many of these essays are, in fact, about fishing in the city, and Frazier often wrings more suspense and meaning from a muddy stream that runs "From Wilderness to Wal-Mart" than some outdoor adventure writers get from an expedition through Nepal. His paeans to the angling experience set the standard in this subgenre, yet will amuse many who've never set foot in a tackle shop. (Apr.) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Booknews

Neither love for nor even familiarity with fishing is required to enjoy this collection of Frazier's essays published over a couple of decades in and other magazines. Frazier's writing betrays a habit of compulsive observation. His essays on fishing in the city, for example, describe the people fishing, their conversation, their bait, their catch, and the flotsam that floats by, named by brand. All these observed details create an undercurrent in the narrative on America's stuff, geography, city life, and people, that accompanies the history of fishing and stories of fishermen, streams, fording, and choice of flies. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Kirkus Reviews

Much-praised nonfiction author Frazier (On the Rez, 2000, etc.) gathers together 20 years of musings on fishing in one slim but entertaining volume. In "An Angler at Heart," fishing-tackle expert Jim Deren defines the essay's title phrase as describing someone who understands "the call of the wild, the instinct of the hunt. It's a throwback to the forest primeval." Frazier makes no claim to this distinction, but his profile of Deren and his shop, the Angler's Roost (closed for about 20 years now), makes vivid the great passion fishing can inspire and provides a touchstone for the entire collection. The mostly short essays find Frazier awaking before dawn in Brooklyn to make it to the Jersey shore in quest of stripers, sweating in his chest waders as he battles through clouds of black flies in search of trout in the Adirondacks, and breaking through underbrush to get to just the right deep pool. Throughout, he describes his surroundings and relationships. "Fishing Without Dad" is a sweet riff on Frazier's softhearted father, who hated it when Ian actually managed to hook anything. "On Urban Shores" is as much a portrait of the wilds of Manhattan as it is a story about catching a fish. "Five Fish" shows the author attempting to play casually with his kids at the water's edge before he is driven to drop them off at home and race back to the river, shaking with the need to get to his favorite angling spot in the lee of a fallen cottonwood tree. Through it all runs the rill of self-deprecation and light humor so necessary to the fisherman's sanity in this solitary and frustrating pursuit. A must for literary fishing enthusiasts; a pleasant diversion for the rest of us.

From the Publisher

“Extraordinary...Reading [Ian Frazier] one thinks of such American originals as John McPhee, Wallace Stegner, Edward Hoagland, Peter Matthiessen, and Evan S. Connell.” —The Washington Post Book World

“Trust Ian Frazier to break new ground in the literature about fishing...his humor and imagination infuse the seventeen essays...with the manic enthusiasm few anglers can ever explain.”—The New York Times Book Review

“[Frazier] is a keen observer and a genuine lover of nature. On every page is a description that brings the air, sky, water, rocks, flies, and fish stunningly, startlingly to life.” —The Boston Globe

“The Fish’s Eye deserves a place in every tackle box on every creek bank in America....A prodigious but casual genius... Frazier’s also a whale of a reporter.” —San Francisco Examiner

“Deliciously bent outdoor essays, most of which involve a fly rod.” —Men’s Journal

“It’s hard to imagine a more heartfelt book, or one more lovingly rendered.” —Booklist

“[Frazier’s] such an incredible writer that even readers who don’t care much about fishing will find in The Fish’s Eye a welcoming spot to sit and cast about pondering the depths of life.” —Los Angeles Times

“Witty, insightful...This gem belongs in waterproof pockets and urban backpacks.” —New York Post

“A great read...[He] is a kindred spirit whose writing has the warmth and humbleness of an old friend.” —Big Sky Journal