Crunch & Des: Classic Stories of Saltwater Fishing [Hardcover]

Philip Wylie (Author), Karen Wylie Pryor (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1990

Philip Wylie's immensely popular stories about saltwater fishing are filled with excitement, the thrill of marine sport, and shrewd character studies. This full and thoughtful collection was put together by the author's daughter, Karen Wylie Pryor.

These are marvelous, magical stories, told by a master story-teller - for all fishermen and for all old, and new, fans of Philip Wylie.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Crunch Adams, skipper of the trim cruiser Poseidon , and his partner Des Smith entertained readers of the Saturday Evening Post from 1939 to 1954 in these 22 tales about a charter-boat fishing business off Florida's coast. A unique treat for fishing enthusiasts, Wylie's jaunty stories are full of iridescent charm and rhapsodic prose that captures the tribulations and imponderables of fishing. While many are period pieces, the best of these romantic idylls have a timeless quality. Wylie ( Generation of Vipers ; Finley Wren ) is adept at quick, incisive sketches of Crunch & Des's customers, illuminating their foibles, dreams and the pressures they're trying to escape as they ply the indigo waters from Miami to the Keys. He also evinces sympathy for "fishing widows," like Crunch's sensible wife , women whose husbands are "at sea" in more ways than one.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"They don't write 'em like this anymore." --Sports Afield

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 388 pages
• Publisher: The Lyons Press; 1st edition (November 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558210806
• ISBN-13: 978-1558210806
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #490,268 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Karen Pryor is a behavioral biologist with an international reputation in two fields, marine mammal biology and behavioral phsychology. She is a founder and leading proponent of "clicker training," a training system based on operant conditioning (isolate wanted behaviors and ignore the unwanted) and the all-positive methods developed by marine mammal trainers. Clicker training is now in use world wide with dogs, cats, horses, birds, zoo animals, and increasingly with humans, in the teaching of sports and athletic performances and developing behaviors in autistics.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truly wonderful saltwater fishing short stories!, January 18, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Crunch & Des: Classic Stories of Saltwater Fishing (Hardcover)

If you like fishing, South Florida, good stories with a human interest slant, tales with a moral to be gleaned, adventure and solid humor, you will enjoy these short stories of two fishing guides, their clients and associates set in forties era Miami and in the waters outside. The fishing knowledge of the author is clearly authentic, as is the capability to make genuininely likeable characters and amusing story lines. His love of this locale is apparent, as is his capability to translate the mood of his settings to his readers. Most of the stories were first published in the Saturday Evening Post. This is a keepsake book you will want to reread

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Do yourself a favor and buy this book!, March 19, 2002

By 

Phillip H. Beard (Dayton, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crunch & Des: Classic Stories of Saltwater Fishing (Hardcover)

I don't fish. But the short stories told in this book are great. If you enjoy great writing and stories with good overtones, then you'll enjoy this book. First read it when I was about 15. I still pick it up and read it at least once every year. I'm mid-40s now.

Set in the 30s and 40s, these short stories chronicle the working lives of two charter boat sport fishermen and their customers who sail out of a Miami, Florida fishing dock.

A great perspective on life in those times and better days in this country. A feel good book even for someone who isn't a feel good kinda guy. I'd loan you my copy, but I don't want to part with it. A book I'd want my kids and their kids to read.

Filled with many personalities and twists, but always with a good ending.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great read: The smile on your face lasts after the last page, March 31, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crunch & Des: Classic Stories of Saltwater Fishing (Hardcover)

A delightful read that will make people looking at you wonder what is so amusing. Really captures the flavor of early saltwater sport fishing. Enjoyable whether you are a sport-fisher or not. Selected short stories from a larger list published in Sat. Eve.Post. Anxiously trying to find more by this fine writer.