Customer Reviews

Blues

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book was given to me late last summer after I had pulled a blue out of the waters of Chatham, Ma.. I am a year rounder on Cape Cod, but I hadn't caught a fish since I was a boy. I was positively giddy for days. The blues are a mean spirited fish. They'll bite a hook with no bait on it when they're feeding. Anyhow, I caught me a fighter (my tale is growing as I type!).

A week or two later, my birthday rolled around and I was given a copy of this book to whet my newfound appetite for angling. I read the book over the course of the winter, a chapter here, a chapter there.

Hersey's portrayal of a summer's worth of fishing trips with The Fisherman and The Stranger is charming, informative & humorous. I learned more than I think I'll ever get to employ about snatching a blue. The notion of the sea's natural progression through the seasons is held dear to The Fisherman.

The narrative format seemed a bit of a stretch at times. The Fisherman's long, fact-filled, oceanic diatribes were hardly conversational. I found myself shrugging this off easily though and accepting the info for what it was.

I guess it would be nice to have the time to fish everyday. Alas, I live a minute from the beach and can rarely find the time to enjoy it. The book inspired me to get back out there this summer and catch me another blue. This time it's going to be a maneater!

If you enjoy the sea, and the life within, you'll learn a little something by reading this book. Happy fishing...

John Hersey's book is a treasure. It is conceived as a series of conversations between an accomplished fisherman and a stranger, who, in the beginning at least, is predisposed to dislike fishing as a brutal pastime. But Hersey, page by page, chapter by chapter, lures the stranger (and the reader) into the deep mysteries of the sea and the complex world of ocean life that so many of us take for granted. The detail about the habits of fish, particularly the bluefish, is fascinating, but this is also a celebration of life and the way that man and sea are inter-dependent. Without being sentimental, Hersey teaches us what it is to love oceans, fresh air, and even the brutal cycles of life. If that is not enough, the book is sprinkled with anecdotes, poetry and recipes. A book that cannot but help you appreciate our oceans and John Hersey's skills as a writer.

A fisherman takes a stranger out bluefishing along the shore of Massachusetts. On his boat Spray, the fisherman explains to his guest the habits of bluefish, fishing tips, species of native flora and fuana, problems with invasion of non-native species of sea-plants, and chemical pollution. After each fishing trip, they both go back to the fisherman's house where the fisherman's wife prepares a different fish dinner (with recipes included for the reader). Each chapter of this book is followed by a fish-related poem, most of which are too dense for me to enoy.

For people who love fishing, this is a great little book. It offers new insights into a sport we love. The pace of the book is slow, though. For an action-packed adventure, this is not the book to read. However, it does contain a wealth of information. It's the perfect book to leave cozily tucked away for visitors of a beach cottage to find.

If you've ever caught a bluefish in The Race, this book will appeal to you. You can smell the bunkers and you feel the power of the fish. You also get a lesson on mankind's uncaring attitudes toward anything but our own selfish desires. He's a little long-winded sometimes, but still a good read.

When I picked up this book, I was a guest at a beach house in Edisto Island, SC. I have a habit of reading the criticism quips before reading, and I found one that fit it perfectly. It was something to the effect of "A book you expect to find in a beach house on a rainy August afternoon, binding mildewed by the ocean air, pages bent from frequent readings, and bits of sand between the pages." That described it exactly, only except it wasn't August. As I said, I picked up the book one day and couldn't put it down. At first, the psuedo-dialogue bothered me, but it really grew on me. The whole premise of the book allows for a real education on fishing, naturalism, and the ways of the world. I have not bought the book, but that is soon to change.

I found this book on the shelf of a vacation rental in Nantucket and found it to be perfect for the mood and locale. Having the book take place during the same period of summer took me easily into the story. Hersey has a subtle appreciation of the art and life of fishing. If you're into fishing or eating seafood or boating or Martha's Vineyard, you will enjoy this book.

Another title for this book could be "Zen and the Art of Blue Fish Fishing." Thoroughly enjoyable and is an easy read. A must for all people who fish.

Although technically a novel, as it portrays a conversation that did not really happen, John Hersey's Blues feels more like non-fiction because it is one of the most educational books I have read in recent years. I came away from it with a new appreciation for the fisherman--and the fish.

Composed almost entirely of a conversation between two characters referred to only as Fisherman and Stranger, Blues is a portrait of a fisherman passing his knowledge and love of the catching and eating of the bluefish. Hersey's prose is easily conversational and full of information. Scattered throughout are poems from the likes of John Donne and Robert Penn Warren further illustrating the current topic.

Reading its bound-and-printed form, Blues is a bit stilted. I greatly preferred the Recorded Books reading by Norman Dietz, whose craggy voice perfectly suits the seasoned angler, and, when raising it an octave, portrays the excitement of the stranger during his learning experience.

I found myself wanting to go fishing--and wanting to have fish for dinner--while reading about the different methods of how to cook fish in order to get out the ideal flavor--using varying degrees of simple items like butter and mayonnaise. I never thought I would like a book about fish--and I put off reading this for months--but John Hersey's Blues has once again proven that surprises lurk around every corner, if you're willing to keep an open mind and try new things. I may even seek out Izaak Walton's The Compleat Angler--the fishing classic--after reading this.

There are a number of interesting books written by, and about, a prominent group of New York people who lived part of their lives on Martha's Vineyard during the last half of the 20th century. John Hersey was one, as were writer and playwright Lillian Hellman, humorist Art Buchwald, journalist Mike Wallace, among others. Hersey and Hellman (and Buchwald and Wallace), neighbors along the west shore of the little bay called East Chop, are reported to have wandered in and out of one another's kitchens in search of cocktail shakers and such as if the neighborhood was one big commune.

I once walked along the shore drive there to orient myself to the many landmarks encountered over the years in books that were set in or referenced Martha's Vineyard. After reading Blues the same summer I had read Jackson R. Bryer's Conversations with Lillian Hellman I was struck by the notion that the unidentified 'fisherman' in Blues might have been Hellman. In her final years she is reported to have gone fishing near Hersey's dock almost daily in search of bluefish for her evening meal.

Far fetched? So what. To me Blues is less about fishing, chock full as it is of fascinating information about bluefish and the sea rhythms that drive them ever onward, than it is about long-time friends coming to terms with their mutual mortality. Just a few yards seaward of those island retreats churns that never-ending cycle of life from which they had emerged and that ultimately claimed them once again. It would be just like Hersey and Hellman to have sailed out to meet it in a flat-bottomed boat, fishing poles in hand. Blues is an elegant little book.

Hersey's Blues is an excellent fishing, science, cooking and philosophy of Blue fish. Great images of Martha's Vineyard - a delightful book. Informative and easy reading.