Bamboo Fly Rod Suite: Reflections on Fishing and the Geography of Grace [Hardcover]

Frank Soos (Author), Kesler Woodward (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1999

After he was handed an old broken-down bamboo fly rod, Frank Soos waited several years before he cautiously undertook its restoration. That painstaking enterprise becomes the central metaphor and the unifying theme for the captivating personal essays presented here.

With sly wit and disarming candor, Soos recounts fly-fishing adventures that become points of departure for wide-ranging ruminations on the larger questions that haunt him. Coming to terms with his new rod in “On Wanting Everything,” Soos casts a skeptical eye on the engines of consumerism and muses on the paradox of how a fishing rod that becomes too valuable ceases to be useful. “The Age of Imperfection” begins as a rueful account of his botched repair work but soon changes into an insightful reflection on the seductiveness of perfection and finishes as an homage to the creative power that comes from mistakes. In “Useful Tools” Soos takes a decidedly pessimistic look at the age-old quest to combine the good with the beautiful and concludes with an eloquent appreciation of a good tool put to an unintended use. “On His Slowness” offers fresh new perceptions about the human costs of the ever-accelerating pace of contemporary life and the increasingly hard work of resisting it. More than a meditation on suicide, “Obituary with Bamboo Fly Rod” engages the issue of individual human responsibility and the ultimate question of “How to be” with equal parts humility and wonder.

This elegant volume is handsomely illustrated with the full-color paintings of Alaskan artist Kesler Woodward. Rich in wisdom and physical appeal, Bamboo Fly Rod Suite is a distinctive and rewarding book with wide-ranging appeal.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Where does [this] book belong? Carried in a fishing creel for streamside reading. On a night stand or a coffee table. Anywhere within easy reach of anglers and nonanglers caught up in the currents of a fast culture and looking for lovely, reflective moments of grace."--Eugene Register-Guard

"A vivid account . . . Lays open in the hand as neatly as an elegant English fly box and would handily fit in the outside pocket of a fishing vest."--Chelsea

"[A] wry, graceful book . . . one of the most tellingly illustrated books I have seen recently."--Gray's Sporting Journal

"Soos combines fishing and philosophy in a graceful style that will appeal to wide variety of readers."--Georgia Library Quarterly

"This book would appeal to philosophical fly fishermen, but to a wider audience as well—particularly individuals who relish the idea of a reflective life."--Baton Rouge Advocate

"A beautiful volume—with strong, original essays."--Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“Captivating essays—on living simply and living well.”--International Angler

"Bamboo Fly Rod Suite is interesting and engaging. The linkages among the pieces, the thematic echoes from one essay to another, and the concentric meditations that grow outward from the central fact of the bamboo fly rod are thoughtfully imagined and deftly executed."--Ted Leeson, author of The Habitat of Rivers

About the Author

Frank Soos, a native of Virginia, is the author of Unified Field Theory, which won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction. He is a professor emeritus of English at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 80 pages
• Publisher: University of Georgia Press (April 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0820320641
• ISBN-13: 978-0820320649
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 6.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,214,431 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars an eyes-open meditation, January 20, 2001

By 

R. Baker (Athens, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bamboo Fly Rod Suite: Reflections on Fishing and the Geography of Grace (Hardcover)

I opened this book expecting a quick read: another warm-and-fuzzy meditation on the art of fly-fishing, and by extension a meditation on life (and how to live it). I didn't get what I was expecting, except for the quick read part. Frank Soos's little book is actually much better than that. Soos indeed does provide the fishing/life metaphor for our consideration, but he honestly deconstructs much that's held sacred in both. What is the good of this bamboo fly rod? he asks. By every objective measure, graphite rods are better. But while most fishing writers would, at that point, verge off into some squishy promenade through the lore and rhetoric of fly-fishing, Soos deconstructs these easy answers as well. And, by extension, he deconstructs some of the sacred beliefs most of us hold onto because we believe we must. In the end, Soos might agree with us, but not because he's taken the answer for granted. The meditation I expected from this book was one of silence, stillness, darkness, the meditation of a disciple sitting erect and cross-legged on a mat in the corner. Instead, this is a meditation hiked to, stumbled in, slipped across, cast about for, and otherwise sought fully and honestly. Please do read it. Also, I was very impressed with the beautifyl illustrations by Kesler Woodward. They seem mildly incongruous with the subject at times, but close and comfortable enough not to be distracting.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fly-fishing for poets, September 30, 2004

By 

Sharon Upchurch (Canton, Missouri United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bamboo Fly Rod Suite: Reflections on Fishing and the Geography of Grace (Hardcover)

If you have never read a fly fishing book, please read this one! This is one of the best books I have read in a long time. I am NOT a fisherman. I am the long-suffering wife of a fisherman, though. I got the book for my husband thinking it was about repairing/collecting bamboo fly rods. I opened it intending merely to scan the first page. I couldn't put it down until I had finished. Professor Soos' command of the English language is awesome. His language is poetic. This isn't a book Ernest Hemingway could have written. Soos doesn't spare his words. He uses them freely and musically. This book is not particularly about bamboo fly rods. It is about life, philosopy, religion, human relationships, and the places where some or all of those things intersect. The book consists of several longish essays each loosely based on Soos' experiences acquiring, owning, and using an antique bamboo fly rod. Soos is an English professor living and working in Fairbanks, Alaska. A life-long fisherman, he acquires a bamboo fly rod from a friend. For the uninitiated, a bamboo fly rod is a sacred thing to fly fishermen. In the first essay Soos explores the power of the rod and his own worthiness to own it in spite of it's dilapidated condition. From the very beginning of the book I couldn't help but be reminded of Norman Maclean's story, "A River Runs Through It". In the last essay Soos, himself, refers to Maclean's work extensively. Like Maclean, Soos' work is full of memorable phrases and gentle humor. My husband loved this book as much as I did. It is the kind of book you want to own so you can re-read it in the spring on one of the first warm days. And every time you read it, you find some new turn of phrase or quirky thought you'd never noticed before.

5.0 out of 5 stars This Is A Great Book, May 9, 2010

By 

Dr. Cardinal "Cardinal Bound!!!!" (Free of the Mountains!!!!!) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bamboo Fly Rod Suite: Reflections on Fishing And the Geography of Grace (Paperback)

This is a great book about the meaning of a fly rod. It does not tell you how to make one, it offers no advice on how to fish one, but rather it offers advice on how to look at this particular tool. The bamboo rod is more than just a rod, according to the book's author, it is a reflection upon a previous way of living, one in which slowness is not held against an individual. It is a world in which nature is loved because it is nature, and not something artificial or something for sale. All in all, this is a very, very good read.