Guiding Elliott [Hardcover]

Robert Lee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1997

Full of raucous humor and great fishing lore.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Robert Lee's comic creation, Donnie Phillips, is a Montana fly-fishing guide with a few issues--such as his belief that no woman should be allowed on a trout stream. Guiding Elliott is an epistolary novel that allows Donnie plenty of room to make his hilarious, misguided casts as he endeavors to pass on a little small-town wisdom to folks in the Manhattan chapter of Trout Unlimited. Like all buffoons, though, Donnie also manages to impart some solid sense amid the pratfalls and malapropisms.

From Kirkus Reviews

As told by Donnie Phillips, Lee's debut novel about fly- fishing in Montana is bestrewn with glorious malapropisms: ``I have a good vocabulary for a fishing guide, but I know I ain't no Rogue Scholar, so when I come upon a new word I study on it some.'' The main new word Donnie studies is piscatorial, as in ``Dear Piscatorial Partners,'' which is how he opens the letters that comprise this epistolary novel and that he sends to Manhattan Chapter #6 of Trout Unlimited. This opening, further, lets him avoid mentioning women (``effeminate females,'' as he would have it) in his discussions of the men-only (as he would have it) art of trout fishing. Piscatorial derives from the Roman Empire, where a local angler, seeing women fishing, remarked, ``Ain't that a piss- cutter!'' Says Donnie: ``The empire collapsed soon after that, and historians have misinterpreted the remark and decided that `piscator' was a Latin term meaning fishermen.'' When New Yorker Elliott, separated from his wife back in the city, arrives to teach English and creative writing, he hires Donnie as a guide to show him some fishing water--which he does, though forever twisting other people's superior abilities, including Elliott's graceful and accurate casting, in his own form of one-upmanship. Meanwhile, Donnie is somehow married to Nancy, who has a degree in psychology and sociology and works for a local home where they help people who are really messed up. When Donnie's boss Wally fires him and hires Elliott to replace him, Elliott's girlfriend Beth, suggests that she, Elliott, Donnie, and Nancy build their own B&B lodge for fishing guests. Before Donnie knows it, a whole passel of fisherwomen from New York have their eye on the lodge-to-be. Good fun and steadily amusing, though it seldom plucks at the heartstrings as does, say, Ring Lardner, the master of authoritative stupidity and lingual description. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: The Lyons Press; 1st edition (September 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558216030
• ISBN-13: 978-1558216037
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,160,075 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

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Captivating ... can't wait to see what's on the next page!, July 24, 1998

By 

Valerie Aarne (Rochester, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Guiding Elliott (Hardcover)

I haven't fished in 30 years ... yet, as a non-fisherman ... I found this book to be very enjoyable. The characters were true to life ... and the candid events held my interest. I found myself laughing out loud ... and at other times, had tears rolling down my face. Robert Lee did a beautiful job with this .... Bravo!!!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Relaxing read (every time!), July 24, 2003

By 

Johan Terblanché (On the water, somewhere warm.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Guiding Elliott (Hardcover)

Great book, very funny and whitty. It feels like you know "Number Three" halfway through the book and, despite his politically incorrect views and simplicity (or maybe because of it), he endears himself to the reader in double quick time!

I would highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys the sport of flyfishing and the characters that go with it - Robert Lee penned a little gem!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars VERY FUNNY, October 18, 2001

By 

T. Pearce (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Guiding Elliott (Hardcover)

I loved every minute of this book. I read it while I was fly fishing in Montana for rainbow. It was the perfect book to settle into every night before getting up early to fish again the next day. The characters are wonderful. I felt like I knew them personally. The author has a great sense of humor. Even though this book was very funny, it has a moral to the story. I hope Lee writes another one.