I’m almost ashamed how much I loved it because I GET life’s not like this. True? True. Good things don’t always come to good people, I (sorta) outgrewI’m almost ashamed how much I loved it because I GET life’s not like this. True? True. Good things don’t always come to good people, I (sorta) outgrew believing in all that karma crap years ago. Whatever, I finished this with a big smile on my face and a tingly feeling of hopefulness. Beating that pessimist back was hard work. It’s quintessential Quick, trying to think of another author who can pull off a story about poverty “I sleep on a school bus. I’m a freak” , addiction (raging alcoholic for a Mom) and depression and make it so damn upbeat and funny, and I’m drawing a blank here… Similar to The Silver Linings Playbook this time with a messed up teen girl - again the uber positive attitude “swinging for the fences, believing that things are going to work out, that everything is worth fighting for, and that I am brave and strong enough to change my reality.” Again a bizarre competition - starring role at the Senior Home's “Wednesday Afternoon Battle between Hope and Pessimism.” Brilliant. Her life may be a MESS but at least she knows how to work a room. Great story and characters; Joan of Old “the brittle broad you love to hate”, Private Jackson a Nam vet addicted to haikus ”hiding in his cocoon of poetry.” Father Chee who doesn’t pretend to know the answers to any of the hard questions. Interesting how she tapped into a mixture of both Christian & Zen principles. Cons: First half was weird but believable, too bad Quick doesn’t understand the value of restraint. True? True. By the grand finale it’s gotten downright cheesy and so obviously written to play the big screen. (view spoiler)[ right down to the singing and dancing routines, throwing in The Sharks from the Westside Story a nice touch BTU, with everyone living happily ever after (hide spoiler)] Can you blame him? Made a gazillion on the movie rights last time, just unnecessary. Push comes to shove enjoyed it way too much to get hung up on that so 4 ½ rock stars:)
“I spread hope. I’m a hope spreader. I guess that’s what I do—licentiously—that’s why I’m still circling the big flaming ball in the sky. That’s the sun—sucka!”...more
Raised in Ontario, Canada as a kid I hated swimming. Mom never learned, she preferred to stay safely on shore and shout out dire warnings about snappiRaised in Ontario, Canada as a kid I hated swimming. Mom never learned, she preferred to stay safely on shore and shout out dire warnings about snapping turtles & eels. At least the snappers swam on the surface, I'd see them coming but the eels? Horrible, slimy creatures of the night that slithered unseen in the dark murky water. I still shudder! It opens with “The eel is not an easy fish to like” No kidding… Read it hoping I’d get over my fear, finished it creeped out as ever - and utterly fascinated.
• Monstrous: The Europeon conger up to 10 ft long weighing in at 240 lb. • Ancient: Some have a lifespan of over a hundred years and don’t produce offspring till they’re over 60. • Deadly: A tiny amount of eel blood is enough to kill you, pass on the eel sushi... • Mysterious: They migrate en masse, in the Catskills “The run corresponds with the new moon and floods brought on by the hurricane season, when the sky is at its darkest and the river at its highest” Yearly millions of eels around the world migrate from rivers to oceans, among the "greatest unseen migrations of any creature on the planet” Just picture this! “On wet nights, eels are known to cross over land from a pond to a river by the thousands, using each other’s moist bodies as a bridge, to climb moss-covered vertical walls forming a braid with their bodies.” • Illusive: We’ve yet to find a spawning adult or witnessed a freshwater eel spawning in the wild. For eel scientists, solving the mystery of eel reproduction remains a kind of holy grail. All they know is they spawn somewhere in the Sargasso Sea in the heart of the Bermuda Triangle – yeh, the infamous Bermuda Triangle, how spooky is that? • Mystical: Why this book sang for me - his passionate quest to understand the mystical role, the spiritual importance that Eels play in so many native cultures. • Most Frightening: That they're gone and I had no idea "The St. Lawrence River feeding into Lake Ontario once comprised the single largest nursery in North America. Now almost no eels are returning at all." Damn those dams. My poor planet - death by a thousand paper cuts.
10 years in the writing Prosek outgrows some of his arrogance. Liked that this Yale grad formed a lasting and respectful friendship with "old river rat" Ray who works an eel weir in the Catskill Mountains. Ray chose a life most would write off as too hard, too lonely. "I told Ray I admired the way he lived. “Don’t look up to me, kid,” he said “look with me.” and Prosek did. 4 ½ slimy stars and a big thanks to Will for the review that led me to it.
CONS: Think Carlos Castaneda obsessed with fish. His writing is kinda all over the place, shifts without warning between fact and folklore. Fine, I enjoyed it - just wish he’d been a little clearer. FYI: Eels don’t bark like dogs, nor do they cry like babies…trust me, I googled it:)...more
It’s the supporting characters that make this book so memorable. Her distracted mother with the ocean eyes, her friend Ruth who’s soul she continues tIt’s the supporting characters that make this book so memorable. Her distracted mother with the ocean eyes, her friend Ruth who’s soul she continues to touch from her heaven; her eccentric alcoholic grandma Lynn; her brilliant sister Lindsey; but most poignant of all her father Jack Salmon who just doesn’t know how to let go of his little girl. Imaginative, original, thoughtful; just a great story.
"Our only kiss was like an accident- a beautiful gasoline rainbow.” ...more
Florence (Lefty)
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