Customer Reviews

Trout Fishing in America

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
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What a strange, strange book. Don't know how to classify this thing -- it's not a novel, not a string of related short stories, not nonfiction. And what about the style? It's kind of like magical realism, but not really.

Trout Fishing is one of those works that you end up describing in a circumscribed, roundabout, what-it's-not kind of way. The title of the book is used many times over -- "Trout Fishing in America Shorty"; "Trout Fishing in America Terrorists". And Brautigan seems to love scatalogical references, many of the hilarious chapters talking about outhouses and toilets. I can't help but to think that this work is the result of being under some external influence, i.e., drugs or alcohol, probably the latter since Brautigan was known to be a boozer.

One thing for sure, I've never come across a work like this, and I'm not sure if I ever will. I'm not exactly sure what I was supposed to "get" out of this book, but it sure was an enjoyable read. Brautigan's concent may be strangely warped, but his writing is clean, crip, and sometimes quite beautiful. The best chapters:

Red Lip

The Kool-Aid Wino

Trout Fishing in America Terrorists

The Shipping of Trout Fishing in American Shorty to Nelson Algren

The Hunchback Trout

Room 208, Hotel Trout Fishing in America

Trout Fishing on the Street of Eternity

Footnote Chapter to "Red Lip"

The Cleveland Wrecking Yard

I first read this book in the ninth grade and felt that it was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. A book of beauty, hilarity, poetry, and fishing; it's a mood, a song, a lazy afternoon by the Tom Martin creek. Some favorite quotes:

"I remember mistaking an old woman for a trout stream in Vermont, and I had to beg her pardon. 'Excuse me,' I said. 'I thought you were a trout stream.' 'I'm not,' she said."

"'F__k you,' I said to the outhouse. 'All I want is a ride down the river.'"

"We watched the first-grader walk away with 'Trout fishing in America' written on his back. It looked good and seemed quite natural and pleasing to the eye that a first grader should have 'Trout fishing in America' written in chalk on his back."

" 'Quick, let's hide behind these garbage cans.'"

"He was careful to see that the jar did not overflow and the precious Kool-Aid spill out onto the ground. When the jar was full he turned the water off with a sudden but delicate motion like a famous brain surgeon removing a disordered portion of the imagination."

what else can be said.

the title describes the style. brautigan would cast his line in and pull out an interesting specimen;each time holding it in the sunlight for us to see it's glistening body. each short chapter in this cunningly crafted book is like that. brautigan's use of the english language was imaginative and pure. his observations are refreshing,sometimes madcap,sometimes surprisingly poignant but always originating in left field. there is nobody quite like brautigan;an original in every way. don't be fooled by those who would consign him to a specific era;for his work, especially this book,is timeless.

With the possible exception of Donald Barthleme, Richard Brautigan was the most inventive of a decade that saw inovative writers like Kurt Vonnegut, John Barth, Robert Coover, Stanley Elkin and others change the expectations of the novel (this is a novel; the author himself is the plot) and how language relates to real-world representation and the reading experience. I think if Derrida had written a novel, it would have been something like TROUT FISHING IN AMERICA. This novel can be read both for itself as a form of creative play or as a representative example of a time in history and the boom generation.

This book influenced my life as a young man. My best pick-up line was "Excuse me; I thought you were a trout stream." I named my cat 208 after a cat in the book.

Highly recommended. Also, I have some trout stream for sell on eBay, if you are interested--no extra charge for the fish.

This is one I pulled from beneath a stack of books at a used book store recently. I must admit to have had word of it a number of years ago, all positive, but have never had the opportunity to buy it for less than a dollar. That and an endless reading list, I kept putting if off...you know the story, etc. etc. I must say, it was money well spent and I do wish I had gotten around to reading it sooner. I note that this work had the same impact on me that it had on several reviewers. It is a difficult work to describe. I have to admit that I found myself laughing out loud several times and I did enjoy every word of it. I like others, suspect there may have been some sort of substance behind some of the words here, but hey, I am not here to judge that, only the work. I highly recommend you find a copy of this one and give it a shot. It is well worth the read.

It is easy to want to rate Brautigan's most famous novel higher for pure influence and originality. It is easily a "10" in either category. But the book, (which was rejected by publishers for years before it became a runaway sensation) is in actuality a kind of hodge-podge of inventive mind games; all of which revolve either around actual trout fishing, or people named things like "Trout Fishing in America Shorty." Not a real novel in the traditional sense, it is more a collection of short stories based on a theme. Some of these are hilarious, thought provoking, or steeped in emotional remembrance, (The "Kool Aid Addict" probably being my personal favorite). But far too much of the book is simply inventive rambling, which ceases to be interesting after awhile. Check it out, though, as its importance easily outweighs its noodling

I first read this book in 1971 long before I ever saw San Francisco or California, and I still re-read it from time to time. It is the sweetest book I've ever read. It's actually poetry, and it's about living on the edge and compassion and nature. If you read it, you will have to make a trip to see the statute of Ben Franklin in Washington Square and it's greeting, "Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome," inscribed at its base at the request of Mr. Cogswell who gave it to the citizens of San Francisco. There are many subtle threads in this book, and conservation of the wild is at its heart (although some readers may disagree). You can still venture over to the Cleveland Wrecking Yard

(see page 102) to browse for a section of trout stream ... but most of the good parts have been purchased and carted off in BMWs by rich folks heading for Montana. God bless you Richard! PS: Don't miss the Mayonnaise Chapter.

an american classic, from the list of inverted american classics. this book manages to condescend and applaud american literature at the same time. brautigan had it all; he was a genius and a lunatic, and both are evident here. after all, the line is quite fine anyway. this book is as clever and cute as it is warped and disturbed. my favorite of all time.

I first read this book in 1971 long before I ever saw San Francisco or California, and I still re-read it from time to time. It is the sweetest book I've ever read. It's actually poetry, and it's about living on the edge and compassion and nature. If you read it, you will have to make a trip to see the statute of Ben Franklin in Washington Square and it's greeting, "Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome," inscibed at its base at the request of Mr. Cogswell who gave it to the citizens of San Francisco. There are many subtle threads in this book, and conservation of the wild is at its heart (although some readers may disagree). You can still venture over to the Cleveland Wrecking Yard (see page 102) to browse for a section of trout stream ... but most of the good parts have been purchased and carted off in BMWs by rich folks heading for Idaho. God bless you Richard! PS: Don't miss the Mayonnaise Chapter.

I love Richard Brautigan's adventurous "Trout Fishing in America." Never before have I seen so many unique and interesting lines in short a short span of pages. Never before, have I been able to pick up a book and go to any old random page in the book and be entertained without a care of order or what the previous chapters talk about. It is prose that takes you into the randomness of the United States, and occasionally Mexico. It is truly a book of poetry disguised as a novel.

His angle on San Francisco, New York city in the Summer, and small and often obscure areas of the US is fun, intriguing, and playful to read.

What I hate is how I really cannot explain why it's such a remarkable work of art. I just love how Brautigan writes from his fun, adventurous spirit, wit and the very realms of his spontaneous genious.