Fly Fishing the River of Second Chances: Life, Love, and a River in Sweden (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "THE 2 A.M. PHONE CALL rang me right out of a dreamless sleep..." (more)
Key Phrases: baking cottage, second windbreak, wading staff, Lars Olsson, Yellowstone Park, Gim River (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Olsson's second chance comes in the form of an invite to fish and guide on Sweden's Idsjastramen River. Although married, she falls in love with Lars, the Swedish riverkeeper, leading Olsson to pull up stakes in Montana and move with her young son to the small village of Gilmaden, Sweden. Despite the title, Olsson's memoir only shows brief glimpses of life on the river and her field of expertise, fly fishing. Instead, she concentrates on the nuances of Swedish culture. Her contact with and descriptions of Swedish plumbing, home design, social life, family interaction and food ("Swedes eat a lot of white food") range from humorous to touching. Her insights into Swedish character are also astute. For instance, during Sweden's miserable mosquito season, she points out rather coyly that the use of any kind of repellant indicates a "weakness of character." Unfortunately, Olsson explains little about Lars, her son or any of the Swedish characters she comes to know, and this makes the book less emotional and interconnected than one might expect from a memoir that involves a cross-cultural love affair. Still, Olsson's writing is perceptive enough to allow each chapter to stand on its own, making this book the kind of travelogue that can be read streamside. Illus. not seen by PW.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Some people have mastered fly fishing. Some have mastered writing. Very few have mastered both. Jennifer Olsson is one of those rare people. In this delightful book, she weaves a humorous, courageous tale of romance into a tapestry of fishing and family. Her courage in following her heart, even to a remote cabin with no plumbing in a faraway land, makes for an inspiring story. Not to mention really, really funny."
---Judy Muller, author of Now This: Radio, Television...and the Real World

"Jennifer Olsson serves up rural Sweden and the delightful impracticalities of midlife romance in a fresh, sweet voice. Fly Fishing the River of Second Chances is a wonderful sun-lounge companion."
---Laura Hengstler, editor of Big Sky Journal
-- Review

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (October 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312313152
• ISBN-13: 978-0312313159
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,688,506 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #82 in	Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Ethnic & National > Scandinavian
  #90 in	Books > Travel > Europe > Sweden

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Waiting for the Sequel..., November 29, 2004

By	S. Schedin "NJSwede" (Sweden & New Jersey) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Jennifer Olsson's Fly Fishing the River of Second Chances is not so much a book about fly fishing as it is a travel memoir of the secrets of Sweden as seen through an American's eyes.
Jennifer's chapters are pieces of the simplistically complicated Swedish life. She comes to this rural area above Stockholm with her son to start a new relationship with a Swedish fly fisherman. She has to adjust to this culture in a rental cottage that lacks the most basic necessities. Her choices are few at the local store but Jennifer learns this is a metaphor for all things Swedish, that fewer choices are better. Jennifer writes with the cadence of Swedish life - uncomplicated and unhurried. She describes the people whose lives she enters with the same casualness that Swedes have toward one another. Swedes like to know everything about everyone without letting on they know. Jennifer knows and she tells us. Mrs. Olsson does take us fly fishing occasionally. But the reader will not learn any fishing secrets from this professional fisherwoman. Her observations are of the beauty of the grayling, an indigenous fish to the waters of Gimdalen, and to the unusual Swedish characters who fish Lars and Jennifer's stream.
It is good to read that not all things Swedish are likable to Jennifer Olssen no matter how ingrained in this Scandinavian life they are, as her experience with eating surströmming reminds us. We cheer when she is invited to go moose hunting but refuses to carry or shoot a gun, and we empathize with her at the death of calf as she strokes its warm head. She takes us to a barn dance where dating rituals are a throwback to a time before. We walk with Jennifer through the pine forests across beds of fir needles and bathe in the silence and the beauty. We hunt for berries and mushrooms, and battle mosquitoes the Swedes are naturally resistant to. After finishing this book, I hope that Jennifer Olssen takes us back when she returns to her renovated cottage to uncover the next layer of life in Gimdalven.

As for the review by gunnarswede, he must be Norwegian.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Another Swede speaks out, January 29, 2006

By	Anna Lindgren (Tiburon, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Gunnar's (a typical Swede) review criticized this book for being narrow-minded, critical and cliché about Swedes and for encouraging stereotypes about "bipolar herring-munchers who live deep inside the forest in little red houses without indoor plumbing."

Well, I'm Swedish, and I had a completely different reaction. Reading it made me feel like I was at home - it brought back so many wonderful memories and I felt it truly captured the Swedish spirit. Where he saw criticism of Swedes from the author, I instead saw respect and admiration. Swedes are different than others, but that's not necessarily a negative thing.

And I completely disagree that there should have been more about the son. As a matter of fact, I could have done without the emotional drama and lovey-dovey bit all together.

All I need is some good fishing, and to feel like I'm back in Sweden at Midsommar.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Honest and funny, November 19, 2003

By A Customer

This book is a lovely memoir. It's honest, funny, poignant and filled with great details about life (and food!) in rural Sweden. It is also supremely optimistic--about the possibilities of love and the possibilities of rehabilitating a stream that had been damaged by years of logging abuse. This is a story about restoration, personal and environmental. A very enjoyable read.