Early Love and Brook Trout: With Watercolor paintings by the author [Hardcover]

James Prosek (Author, Painter)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2000

This is a beautiful book of Prosek's paintings of brookies and woods wildlife, and his throughtful words.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Early Love evokes a sense of almost trespassing through one of James Prosek's sketchbooks. This fourth book by the precociously prolific author-artist is quite personal, rife with exuberance about fishing and falling in love, and, not surprisingly, the angst that comes with failed relationships. As a writer, he matures with each new work; as a painter, he adds a layer of visual immediacy with his watercolors to his already descriptive prose. Prosek intended this to be a "little book" that would range "lightly over my years from nine to twenty-four, trying to open a window to my thoughts during that time as a river's surface occasionally does to its depths." Like a pool beneath the surface, it yields its trophies: a lovely anecdote about catching tiger trout with his sister; the unabashed first crush in his early teens that leads to a special fishing trip; his description of an old Canadian salmon guide as "a fiction of himself"; and passages like this:

Whitney and I bathed together early one morning in the wild Amonoosuc River.... The river was clear and cold, with big round boulders. Tiny brook trout, elusive as early love, darted at the foot of our naked bodies.

Your heart would have to be awfully hard to want to throw that one back. --Jeff Silverman

From Publishers Weekly

In an elegant work of prose and painting, Prosek (The Complete Angler) dips freely into his past and recalls events ranging from notable hunts for brook trout--his favorite fish--to frustrated forays into teenage affection. Interspersed evenly in this coffee-table presentation are examples of Prosek's deft watercolor prints, which often speak just as effectively as the writing itself. Though muted and painterly, Prosek's watercolors render their subjects more crisply than photographs. Likewise, his writing at its best is simple, earnest and resonant, at times leaving readers with the quiet, meditative afterglow of the nature writings of Annie Dillard and Sigurd F. Olson. The book's flaw lies with the occasionally awkward variations on its central theme: the connection between the cherished brook trout and Prosek's amorous intentions can range from humorous to tenuous. "We shared a love for secret places," Prosek writes of a friend, "and imagined there were gnomes and trolls living in the rock ledge of his yard. This same sensibility translated into enjoyment of trout and, later, women." The correlation goes from unclear to uncouth with one chapter title, which is named after both a pond and a woman: "Kate's Hole." But such blemishes are not common, and Prosek's motif successfully conveys the depth of his passion for fishing. "I have written this little book," he says, "in order to capture something in myself that I never want to forget." Readers will have little doubt that he has made a lasting impression. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: The Lyons Press; 1st edition (June 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 158574039X
• ISBN-13: 978-1585740390
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 8.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #791,972 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

James Prosek is a writer and artist whose books include Trout: An Illustrated History; Joe and Me: An Education in Fishing and Friendship; The Complete Angler: A Connecticut Yankee Follows in the Footsteps of Walton; and Fly-Fishing the 41st. He lives in Easton, Connecticut.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Prosek and Passageshttp://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stor, September 4, 2000

By 

Kristina Holbrook (Bridgeport, CT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Early Love and Brook Trout: With Watercolor paintings by the author (Hardcover)

I have been a public school teacher since 1982, and I have taught in five different school systems.

Over the summer I read James Prosek's latest book on: Early Love and Trout. I found myself re-reading certain lines and smiling. I thought it was wonderful to find a book for Middle School and High School students that they can identify with at their present stage in life. The emotions and feelings James writes of, are theirs at this moment - the value of friendship, the excitement of new love and the pain caused by divorce. I think is particularly poignant how James describes how he dealt with that pain. Instead of anger, drugs and alcohol, James put all of his energy into nature. Finding new fishing places, and re-gaining his innocence, rather than becoming an angry and bitter individual.

Throughout the book, James's art compliments the stories like beautiful lyrics to a haunting melody.

I truly recommend this book as a gift or as an excellent choice as requirement reading for High School or Middle School Students.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Joy, pain, and nature, July 10, 2000

By 

A.D.Richardson - See all my reviews

This review is from: Early Love and Brook Trout: With Watercolor paintings by the author (Hardcover)

It's been said that no one below forty should write an autobiography. In "Early Love and Brook Trout" James Prosek has surely been the exception to the rule. As the title suggests, this book has skilfully joined accounts of his young life and early love with his other love - fishing, and more specifically fishing for that small aristrocrat , the brook Trout. Still in his early twenties, Prosek is now the successful author/illustrator of four books, all of which speak not just to the sportsman, but to the reading public at large for their account of a highly talented and deeply appealing young man. His travels and adventures seeking trout habitats around the world have brought him ever-growing maturity as both writer and artist. His style is deceptively simple - a voice for the young experiencing the delights and sometimes pain of relating to the opposite sex, for those older in whom it will conjure poignant memories of their own youth, for the naturalist and the fisherman to whom the outdoors is sacred As in his earlier books the illustrations are magically full of vigor, and in conjunction with the text make this a book to own and treasure.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Prosek and Passageshttp://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stor, September 4, 2000

By 

Kristina Holbrook (Bridgeport, CT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Early Love and Brook Trout: With Watercolor paintings by the author (Hardcover)

I have been a public school teacher since 1982, and I have taught in five different school systems.

Over the summer I read James Prosek's latest book on: Early Love and Trout. I found myself re-reading certain lines and smiling. I thought it was wonderful to find a book for Middle School and High School students that they can identify with at their present stage in life. The emotions and feelings James writes of, are theirs at this moment - the value of friendship, the excitement of new love and the pain caused by divorce. I think is particularly poignant how James describes how he dealt with that pain. Instead of anger, drugs and alcohol, James put all of his energy into nature. Finding new fishing places, and re-gaining his innocence, rather than becoming an angry and bitter individual.

Throughout the book, James's art compliments the stories like beautiful lyrics to a haunting melody.

I truly recommend this book as a gift or as an excellent choice as requirement reading for High School or Middle School Students.