bookshelf

The Laughing Trout

Name: The Laughing Trout
Author: Jim Ure
ISBN: 978-1481005326

A NOVEL OF FLY FISHING IN A MAD, MAD WORLD OF LOVE AND PANDEMONIUM.

by Jim Ure ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 17, 2013

Fishermen will love this book for its attention to detail and for seeing the humor in their obsessions, but a more general...

bookshelf

Fly-fishing enthusiasts turn a lazy fishing town into a madhouse as they try to become the first to snag an ugly trout for a big reward in this playful, good-natured insider’s sendup of the sport.

Ure (Leaving the Fold, 2000, etc.) previously wrote a fly-fishing memoir, but his first attempt at fiction is a community love note to the craziness that the fishing hobby can induce. Jud Buckalew, a trout-fishing guide living with his pet cat, Bob, in a tiny cabin in Last Chance, Idaho, only wants peace and quiet to pursue, à la Captain Ahab, the giant old trout he calls “The Pig.” Upset that his smarmy cousin Mark Bosham—who claims a childhood spent in Paris but neglects to mention it was Paris, Idaho—has been appointed the local fishing inspector, Jud calls on his old friend Rollo Pasco, a State Department employee, and asks him to send frozen samples of a hideous, fanged trout created in a failed gene splicing experiment. Jud convinces Mark that the fish are a new species found in the river, and Mark puts out a $50,000 reward for a live specimen that he could send for genetic analysis. The town residents and fish-seekers are broad caricatures—the crazy naked environmentalist, the older bass fisherman with a priapic medical condition, and the two guys who are amusingly depicted in their home environments as they catch the fish frenzy and try to hide their fishing adventures from their wives. But character interactions are often stilted and shallow, particularly the rapidly developed romantic relationship between Jud and Suzanne Hsu, visiting NBC reporter and “oriental mirage.” This struggle to make his characters play believably against one another means that even when all their stories come together at the river, the farce never really reaches a satisfying peak before scattering back into its component parts.

Fishermen will love this book for its attention to detail and for seeing the humor in their obsessions, but a more general audience may not quite get it.

Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2013

ISBN: 978-1481005326

Page Count: 216

Publisher: CreateSpace

Review Posted Online: Feb. 27, 2014

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

SPORTS & RECREATION

bookshelf

THEIR DAY IN THE SUN

WOMEN OF THE 1932 OLYMPICS

by Doris H. Pieroth ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1996

bookshelf

An oddly touching compendium of the female Olympic athletes of 1932, a year the author considers ``pivotal'' for female athletes. In 1931, the International Olympic Committee considered eliminating women's events. But the 1932 Los Angeles venue, and the participation of such star athletes as Babe Didrikson, helped establish the reputation of women's sports. Historian Pieroth here collects the stories of the 1932 female Olympians from the Olympic trials to the Los Angeles Summer Games. Some of their stories are vivid: Didrikson's formidable skill and her controversial victory in the 80-meter hurdles—as she crossed the tape, Babe held up her arms as a sign of victory, though observers and a still photo show her in a dead heat with teammate Evelyne Hall. Ever the favorite, Babe took the gold. Swimmer Helene Madison, confident of victory in the 100-meter freestyle race, casually strolled onto the pool deck just as the race was about to begin. The embarrassed swimmer won. Other stories are sadder: Black sprinters Tidye Pickett and Louise Stokes were not allowed to run in the 4 X 100 meter relay. Perhaps most interesting is the gender-based bias of the 1932 Olympic rules. American divers, lined up at the board, were sent back to the dressing room to don less revealing suits. In the high jump, women were expected to daintily hop over the bar in a sitting-up position. Didrikson, though the highest jumper, was fouled out of her gold when she jumped over the bar head first, as the men did. And it frequently took judges more than an hour to decide who had won a given running event and what the time was, since watches were inaccurate. Though the book is somewhat disorganized, and women's sports have become much more competitive in the last 64 years, Pieroth's admiration for these athletes is infectious, and their determination remains impressive. (24 photos, not seen)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1996

ISBN: 0-295-97553-9

Page Count: 208

Publisher: Univ. of Washington

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

SPORTS & RECREATION

bookshelf

FORWARD MOTION

HORSES, HUMANS, AND THE COMPETITIVE ENTERPRISE

by Holly Menino ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1996

bookshelf

A disarmingly limpid telling of days spent training horses for the highest levels of competition, from newcomer Menino. What is it about riding and training horses that sustains the people so engaged? For that matter, what sustains the horses? Menino, a horse fancier of amateur status, visited extensively with three pairs of humans and beasts—Olympic-caliber duos—to get a sense of what makes them tick: Lendon Gray in dressage, the ``art for art's sake school of horsemanship''; Anne Kursinski, a leader in the world of show jumping, ``a glittering place layered with money and celebrity and artifice,'' and lately littered with the corpses of horses murdered for financial gain; and young Keith Taylor, pretender to combined training status, a form of competition that requires purity of movement, agility and maneuverability, and sheer speed. Menino is particularly interested in the everyday stuff, the nitty-gritty that gets things done and defines a way of life. She walks the courses with Gray, Kursinski, and Taylor, asks what they demand, takes measure of their various obstacles; spends time with each rider as he or she hustles for money to support an equestrian avocation. We read of farriers and of horse chiropractors and physical therapists. Perhaps most cannily, Menino speaks of horses: their independence and gameness, integrity and confidence. The author delves into horse behavior- -friendship and herding and consciousness and the ancient, fearful chimes that ring in a horse's mind when it falls: ``A horse that goes down is subject to predators and is powerless. Falling is frightening and humiliating. It is deathy.'' And her examination of horse-rider communication is as subtle as the imperceptible shifts of weight, the slight movement of reins that mean everything to those involved. Reading Menino is like taking a horse's muzzle into your hands, bending close, and breathing deeply. Sublime, with grassy notes.