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Ian Frazier

The Fish's Eye: Essays about Angling and the Outdoors Hardcover – April 15, 2002

by Ian Frazier (Author)

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In The Fish's Eye: Essays about Angling and the Outdoors, Ian Frazier explores his lifelong passion for fishing, fish, and the acquatic world. He sees the angler's environment all around him-in New York's Grand Central Station, in the cement-lined pond of a city park, in a shimmering bonefish flat in the Flordia keys, in the trout streams of the Rocky Mountains. He marvels at the fishing in the turbid Ohio River by downtown Cincinatti, where a good bait for catfsh is half a White Castle french fry. The incidentals of the angling experience, the who and the where of it, interest him as much as what he catches and how. The essays (including the famous profile of master angler Jim Deren, late proprietor of New York's tackle store, the Angler's Roost) contain sharply focused observations of the American outdoors, a place filled with human alterations and detritus that somehow remains defiantly unruined. Frazier's simple love of the sport lifts him to straight -ahead angling description that are among the best contemporary writing on the subject. The Fish's Eye brings together twenty years of heartfelt, funny, and vivid essays on a timeless pursuit where so many mysteries, both human and natural, coincide.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

All 17 of the angling pieces Frazier (On the Rez) has written over the last 20 years have now been preserved in one volume. Attentive readers of the New Yorker over the last two decades will have caught most of these pieces before, but anglers and essay fans (not to mention Frazier devotees) should be glad to revisit gems like "An Angler at Heart," his 1981 profile of a Manhattan tackle dealer. Frazier's sharp eye and self-implicating wit is at work in these charming but unsentimental pieces, whether he's describing his penchant for mayflies in "It's Hard to Eat Just One," a family fishing trip in which his kids prefer a drainage ditch to the trout stream in "A Lovely Sort of Lower Purpose," or a Central Park pond where the fishermen are as likely to catch empty potato chip bags as catfish in "Anglers." Many of these essays are, in fact, about fishing in the city, and Frazier often wrings more suspense and meaning from a muddy stream that runs "From Wilderness to Wal-Mart" than some outdoor adventure writers get from an expedition through Nepal. His paeans to the angling experience set the standard in this subgenre, yet will amuse many who've never set foot in a tackle shop.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

So what did Frazier do for a break while researching and writing major works like Great Plains and On the Rez? Obviously, he was off fishing.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Near the beginning of "From Wilderness to Wal-Mart," an essay describing, from source to mouth, a stream that runs through a Montana town in which the author once lived, Frazier confesses: "I can watch flowing water for any amount of time. Also, I like to mess around creeks." As it turns out, those are excellent credentials for writing absorbingly about fishing and related topics. Frazier makes no claims at all to being the world's most knowledgeable angler, and that's only prudent. He returns from far too many of his excursions with nothing to show for his efforts but the memories of the country through which he passed. That's enough. Though he may not so much as wet a fly, Frazier unfailingly communicates an infectious fascination--a passion, really--for woods and water and fish. It's hard to imagine a more heartfelt book, or one more lovingly rendered. Dennis Dodge
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

Essays on fishing from "A Great Storyteller" (Newsweek), One of the "American Originals"--The Washington Post Book World

About the Author

Ian Frazier lives in Montclair, New Jersey. He is a frequent contributor to the New Yorker, among other publications. His previous books include Great Plains, On the Rez, Family, and Coyote V. Acme.

Product details

Hardcover: 176 pages
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 1st edition (April 15, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0374155208
ISBN-13: 978-0374155209
Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.7 x 8.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Customer Reviews: 9 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,593,069 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1740 in Sports Essays (Books)
- #3014 in Fishing

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Two+Six

I don't know the first thing about fishing, but I loved this.

Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2020

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I read this collection of essays just because what I know about fishing could fit on the end of a tiny, size-28 hook, and I particularly dared the author to interest me. Beginning to read an essay is one way of expressing hope, of putting faith in the writer’s ability to inspire the reader to think of things differently or to consider new things. His style of writing did both, and made me curious about the people and places he wrote about. Frazier was the fish of his book’s title and his perspective the eye, but his experiences took me from one end of the country to another, from major rivers to a minor brook. I got the idea that one thing that keeps fishermen coming back year after year is the hope of catching that one, glorious fish. I guess they are hanging their hopes at the end of their fishing wires, just like non-fishermen do metaphorically with other things in life. We keep going, keep working, keep tying on flies, keep casting out to eddies in the river where the big fish circle. So, yes, I liked Frazier’s book a lot. The further I got into the book, the less it seemed about merely fishing, and the more it seemed about life.

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John C. Hembruch

Comments on "The Fish's Eye"

Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2010

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Until recently, I didn't know that Frazier could write "fish." In fact, he does it with great wit and humor. What a surprising range of experiences, and not all strictly fishing: there's getting to the right water, shopping for gear, listening to advice, even tasting the bait. I enjoyed every essay, though would give a special nod to Frazier's journal of discovery related to the spring melt along Montana's Pattee Creek. And, as a character study, you'll rarely find anyone more memorable and interesting than Jim D. in "An Angler at Heart."

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William H. Jordan

The truth about fishermen

Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2018

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

The author is a great story teller in an unvarnished way with insight and humor
about the travails of sport fishing. Makes a good gift for any angler.

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N. Stock

Great Deal

Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Just as described. Price was right. Proud to give as a gift. Would buy from this source again. Thank you!

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R. Shaff

Fish tales....and other cornucopia

Reviewed in the United States on May 8, 2002

Format: Hardcover

My father has been passionate about fishing for as long as I can remember. I never have been. I didn't have the patience and lets face it, if you're not catching fish, then you're standing there holding a stick dangling string into a monumental body of water. As I've gotten older (and wiser?), I try to fish with my father whenever possible and, preconceived notions aside, I'm really enjoying myself. Consequently, when I ran across Ian Frazier's new offering, THE FISH'S EYE, I immediately purchased a copy for both my father and myself (reading is a passion we share). I thought I might glean some insight into an experienced fisherman's psyche as I read this set of 17 essays and thus, a snapshot of my father's fishing experiences. The essays, written by Mr. Frazier over the last 20+ years and presented in chronological order, present the reader with Frazier's experiences in the fishing life....and his experiences have been wide and varied.
As an incredible admission, this reader had no clue that there were people who actually fished in New York City proper (it just didn't seem to fit) but Frazier sets this misnomer to rest in his first essay, "Anglers." Here, he describes his experiences of observing and listening to a few of those throwing their lines into one of six ponds in the City's park system near Harlem Meer.
One of the better and more detailed essays is "An Angler at Heart." This essay details the story of Jim Deren, the owner of Anglers Roost, in none other than New York City! Frazier tells of his many conversations with Deren as he frequents The Roost. This 47-page essay is actually several essays rolled into one, all featuring Deren and his experiences in the fishing life. At one point in the essay, Frazier spends nearly two full pages informing us of the different types of lures one would be confronted with when visiting Angler's Roost. In this reader's opinion, if there is one essay epitomizing the spirit of this book, it would be this particular one.
"Guiding Guys" is a hilarious spoof on fishing guide services. Frazier describes the "guarantees" one receives in the propaganda distributed by many of these services. In this essay, Frazier writes from the point of view of a guide making just such guarantees of outings ranging from great fishing to extremely great fishing. And, he provides the reader with several different guides to choose from. There's Craig, 6'7" and 275 lbs. who grunts and answers in one-word sentences; Potter, who will never stop nagging you the entire outing as to how badly you're doing; and, last but not least, former President Jimmy Carter. Now, you have to pay a little extra for Mr. Carter but its well worth it as the former President will regale you with tales of his Presidency as you sit around the campfire.
Perhaps the most poignant essay for me was "Fishing Without Dad." This essay is specifically dedicated to Frazier's memory of his father, who never liked to fish and moreover, thought it was cruel. This particular piece details Frazier's penchant for fishing while growing up but without the fatherly advice and companionship he seemed to yearn for. This is probably the most touching piece in the book.
The only downside to this collection of essays were those pieces that had absolutely nothing to do with fishing. This fit more into the life stories portion of the book. "In The Brain" has almost nothing to do with fishing but regales how Frazier tormented his brother (as brothers will do) on family vacations. "It's Hard To Eat Just One" describes Frazier's experiences with eating his bait, specifically bugs. In my opinion, these pieces (and a couple others) should have been modified or removed as they had very little if anything to do with fishing.
Frazier's penchant for spinning a story is outstanding. That said, anyone who loves fishing will enjoy THE FISH'S EYE; anyone who isn't a fisherman at heart will most likely find these tales slow and possibly boring.

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