Customer Reviews

The Complete Angler: A Connecticut Yankee Follows in the Footsteps of Walton

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

 

 

This book tries very hard to be "deep" and insightful; it is neither. This is not a book about the human condition; it is a book about a privileged young man fishing with privileged old people.

Prosek does lovely paintings, but the bottom line is that his writing lacks maturity. He violates many rules that should have been drilled into his head during "freshman comp" class. He doesn't show, he tells. He overuses flowery adjectives. And he can be melodramatic to the extreme.

There is no shortage of books about flyfishing that are filled with overblown prose, books that try to make flyfishing something it is not. This book is one of them.

Comparisons to Izaak Walton abound. This gets old after a while. So do the many "characters" Prosek fishes with, who we are told are very interesting and "quite delightful," but most seemed to be pompous, bland individuals.

For some reason, the trip itself bothered me. He got to fish many rivers only because he was a young man of privilege. Everyone he meets is awed by him, mainly because he is an Ivy Leaguer with the right connections. He then makes sure we know that the class-obsessed people he meet complimented him on his "class" and "character." He seems to revel in this, never examining his privilege. Many times I wanted him to quit rhapsodizing over trout and start examining his own life.

I was very disappointed in Prosek as a writer. It lacks the depth of a good travel book (like Fen Montaigne's "Reeling in Russia"). And he can't compare to sporting writers like McGuane, Bodio, Tom McIntyre and Robert F. Jones, all writers whose books reflect fierce joy, love, pain, conflict, and ambiguity.

I understand Prosek is now writing about love. Be very afraid.

Let's face it, this is not a very good book. There is a tendency among those who fly fish to readily accept any ink put to paper as elegaic, contemplative and downright superior. Young Mr. Prosek is a fortunate lad, having pulled the wool over the eyes of the academic sachems at Yale to bless his fly fishing vacation in England as the subject of his thesis. He wraps the proposal in the esteemed pages of Izaak Walton's The Compleat Angler, the most purchased and least read book in the history of print. Prosek forces us to wade through a number of English rivers and some tedious prose, and in this respect he does resemble Walton. His constant comparisons of himself to Walton tend to bog down his writing. He ruminates on how he is standing in the same water that Walton once stood, the worst kind of conceit. You don't even stand in the same river yourself when you happen to be standing in one! The only redeeming feature of this volume is that it is beautiful book, with Prosek's watercolors generously peppered throughout. He is a gifted painter and his first book is one of my favorites. This volume, however, has more of the red herring about it than the noble trout. I admire a good con job, I just hate it when it's pulled on me.

James Prosek has crafted three books around trout fishing. I'm not a fisherwoman, I'm a birdwatcher, card carrying enviro-lobbyist with complex affinities for hunting and fishing. I bought his first book because he was supporting a cause I cared about and it was a pleasure to look at. Prozek's renderings of trout are jewel toned. Fascination will strip away all pretensions because it feeds so greedily. Hypersensitive, you seek all nourishment to supplement the core hunger. James Prozek in his youth celebrates his fascination for trout, and the art of troutfishing. I am now trying to learn how to watch fish. The Compleat Angler: A Connecticut Yankee Follows in the Footsteps of Walton finds Prozek searching further. He's looking for his place in space, senses heightened by his passion for troutfishing and the need to make his way in the world. His affinity with Izzak Walton is natural. Izzak Walton, in uncertain times (17th century England) used his fascination for fishing to make sense of his world. This book is savory with the manchild's gleanings of people and life in a familiar foreign land. It's a good thing he is in love with life, because he notices so many things: food, architecture, gardens, dairy maid, weather and people with a generous spirit. The book is fun to read because he is always 'there' - diffident and cocky, smart and rueful, testing and accepting. History and always fishing provide the backdrop to each vignette...encounters that inevitably lead to the next pool. The book's few faults have to do with the youth of the author, so they really can't be faults now. Prozek works hard and is productive. His watercolors are gorgeous. He is growing and I will watch for his future boooks as benchmarks. Spend some time with this young man; stray with him. Reaffirm that the nature around us is the foundation for the condition of all things human.

I enjoyed this book. I was one the people who had heard (quite a bit, actually) of Izaak Walton's "Angler", but had not read it. Prozek's work was the motivation for me to dive into the 17th century for a few hours and read the book. So, if for no other reason, I'm grateful to Prosek. There is a lot here to remind the reader that this is an effort made at the beginning of a literary career; some undisciplined gushing here; a bit of bragging there. But it's hard to deny that there was real effort involved. Prosek has worked on understanding both his subject and himself enough to win me over, even though I'm jealous that he (at least by his account) catches way more fish than I do.

This book is false advertising and the name should be changed. Prosek is capitalizing on the name recognition of a classic. Walton's book is about fishing, respect for nature, and ultimately about how these parallel Christianity and Christian virtues. Prosek's book is about a privileged college student fishing in highly restricted areas in England, on someone else's nickel. Worst of all, Prosek makes it very clear that he does not believe in an afterlife, that he is not a Christian at all, and that fishing is his religion. Not a mention of ethics or conservation. Even if you are not a Christian (like Walton) it is clear that this book is an agnostic's attempt at flowery language, baseless earth worship, and self-fulfillment at other's expense. Walton would consider this book absolute bologna and consider Prosek a spoiled, self absorbed, pseudo-intellectual heretic. While reading Prosek I continually wondered how he could completely miss the point of the original. Walton's book is about fishing and how it parallels Christianity, Prosek's book is about fishing and how he does a lot of it at other's expense.

I give this book two stars for two reasons. First, it elaborates to the reader the current state of the classic waters in Walton's book. Unfortunately they are in a sad state of being enjoyed only by the super rich. Second, by reading this book maybe some will be encouraged to read the real item.

James, I love you man but please stick to painting.

Having read Prosek's other two books (and having thoroughly enjoyed them, and given copies as gifts), I really look forward to reading this one - long anticipated. This young man has unusual talents, and (at least as of a couple of years ago) possesses another rare quality today - humility and politeness.