Customer Reviews

Vermont River: The Classic Portrait of a Man and His River

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I liked this book and have recommended it to friends. It's very well written, but it is a bit languid and literary in style. Although I read quite a bit, I generally do not enjoy "literature" -- or a well crafted book for its own sake. I am a fly fisherman and Wetherell's great love for the sport shines through this book. But I'm not sure I could have finished it if the book was about archery, or some sport that I do not share the author's enthusiasm, as the book's reverence for the sport and the river might seem maudlin for some. The book is very well written, and if you like that sort of thing, you will like the book regardless of topic. In short, I recommend this book, but think it helps to either be a fly fisherman (or think you might be) or someone who reads and enjoys literature. Vermont River: The Classic Portrait of a Man and His River

Wetherell is very good at avoiding overstatement as in each of his essays he muses on the joys of flyfishing. This is as much a book about a writer as it is about an avid fisherman. There is range here, and humor, and research, one of my personal favorites being the essay where he delves into which writers were fishermen and seldom wrote about the sport, and which writers and poets such as Chekov and Yeats wrote about the sport with elegance.

Wetherell is not a self-indulgent type of flyfisher. For him the joy is in the being there, and being part of the life that brings fishing to reality.