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Fen Montaigne

Reeling In Russia: An American Angler In Russia Paperback – April 15, 1999

by Fen Montaigne (Author)

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In the summer of 1996, award-winning journalist Fen Montaigne embarked on a hundred-day, seven-thousand-mile journey across Russia. Traveling with his fly rod, he began his trek in northwestern Russia on the Solovetsky Islands, a remote archipelago that was the birthplace of Stalin's gulag. He ended half a world away as he fished for steelhead trout on the Kamchatka Peninsula, on the shores of the Pacific.

His tales of visiting these far-flung rivers are memorable, and at heart, Reeling in Russia is far more than a story of an angling journey. It is a humorous and moving account of his adventures in the madhouse that is Russia today, and a striking portrait that highlights the humanity and tribulations of its people.

In the end, the reader is left with the memory of haunted northern landscapes, of vivid sunsets over distant rivers, of the crumbling remains of pre-Revolutionary estates, and a cast of dogged Russians struggling to build a life amid the rubble of the Communist regime.

Print length

304 pages
Language

English
Publication date

April 15, 1999
Dimensions

6 x 0.66 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

031220809X
ISBN-13

978-0312208097
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Wonderful...a vastly entertaining and edifying work.” ―The Washington Post

“A passionate and beautifully written memoir...a vivid, compelling...portrait of a country that remains an enigma to most Americans.” ―The Chicago Tribune

“Think of Montaigne as a Tocqueville with a fly rod who uncovers Russia in the raw.” ―Sports Illustrated

“A first-rate book...[with] memorable writing...Mr. Montaigne...has netted a darkly comic tale in which he is the picaresque antihero.” ―The Wall Street Journal

About the Author

Fen Montaigne is a journalist and author whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, National Geographic, Outside, Smithsonian, and The Wall Street Journal. A former Moscow bureau chief of The Philadelphia Inquirer, he is the author of Reeling in Russia and has co-authored two other books. For his work on Fraser's Penguins, Montaigne was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2006. He now works as senior editor of the online magazine Yale Environment 360.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ St. Martin's Griffin; 1st edition (April 15, 1999)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 031220809X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0312208097
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.66 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,671,818 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #301 in General Russia Travel Guides
- #2,883 in Fishing
- #4,362 in Russian History (Books)

Customer Reviews:
22 ratings

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N. R. Gawlak

Dream killer

Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2015

Verified Purchase

This is interesting reading. It is a bit off beat and is about a very personal experience, so it's slanted. But, even so, its a real eye opener for us US citizens who've read the travelogues and ads about the "unspoiled" "spectacular" trout fishing to be had in wild Russia and dream about going there. When the author described his experiences fishing the Kola penninsula, it sounded a lot like trout fishing in the States including the criminal behavior of the local yahoos, the littering, polution and all the rest. Hardly "unspoiled". Oh, yeah, and the rich buying up all the good water for their private benefit and forcing the rest of us onto overcrowded public waters which keep on diminishing. Sam old, same old. , If you want to keep your dreams and innocence, don't get this book, even if it is pretty good reading.

Helpful

G. McClintock

Excellent book on modern Russia

Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 1999

Verified Purchase

In 1996 Montaigne, with fly rod in hand, traveled 7,000 miles overland across Russia. Fly fishing is one of his passions, and through fly fishing Montaigne encountered a fascinating array of post-Communist Russians and was granted a unique look at the turmoil and complexity of that society. And believe me, this was no pre-packaged tour of the Kola or Kamchata Peninsula (although he does visit both places.) This is a trek into the most remote and unwesternized reaches of Russia. Being fluent in Russian and possessing a well developed affection for adventure, Montaigne takes the reader into the real world Russia of today, a unique and exotic place full of surprises. Along the way he fishes for everything from steelhead to salmon, from grayling to taimen. To top it off he accomplishes this with wit and a writing style as finely tuned as Theroux. The great travel writers humanize the exotic. Reeling in Russia puts a face on the disturbing and difficult lives of the vast majority of Russians. The characters here become as knowable as neighbors and their concerns as human as our own.
Obviously, I loved Reeling in Russia. It is real pleasure to recommend it.
Grant McClintock

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Stephen Packard

Reeling in Russia

Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2006

Verified Purchase

The author crosses 14 time zones searching for the perfect place to practice his fly fishing hobby. Traveling off the beaten path, he encounters and effectively describes life in post-Soviet Russia. Poverty, lethargy, crime, and an occaisional instance of hope for the future. An easy, sometimes humorous read.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Marteinn

Great fishing and travel book

Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2013

Verified Purchase

I love fishing and I also love travel books ... and good stories ... and this book has all three. It came recommended to me and I'd be happy to pay it forward ....

Helpful

Christian

Gripping tales. Fen's adventure should be a movie with Liam Neeson

Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2014

Verified Purchase

Gripping tales. Fen's adventure should be a movie with Liam Neeson ... the stakes of extinction + pollution are higher: the wealthier plutocrats enjoying The Camps ...

Helpful

Jack Donachy

The Fishing is Lousy and the Subject is Often Depressing - But You Won't Put it Down

Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2015

Fen Montaigne doesn't claim to be a highly skilled fly fisherman and despite the title this is not really a fishing book. (Is it Reeling as in a fishing metaphor for "gathering in" the vast land he explores, or Reeling as in being caught in a dizzying whirlwind of unfamiliar experiences? The title's play on words works both ways.) Rather, the fishing - most of which isn't particularly interesting in the polluted, fished out, heavily-poached waters of post Gorbachev 1990's Russia - serves as a backdrop for a cultural trek across a country where people are trying to figure out themselves and their country in the wake of the collapse of Communism. Montaigne takes the reader on a seat-of-the-pants, no frills cross country trip complete with white knuckle boat rides through storms and early morning rides in barely functioning vehicles driven by often inebriated, barely functioning hosts. Between the lousy fishing, the routine alcoholism, the poverty and good old fashioned Russian nihilism this is at times a depressing read. But, as other reviewers have remarked, the reading is interesting, and you have to admire the author's courage as he ventures into a land and culture seldom visited by outsiders. It's now 17 years since Reeling in Russia was published; I was left wondering how much might have changed.

Helpful

Glimpse into today�s rural Russia

Reviewed in the United States on October 7, 2003

This book is a travel journal that takes us through the far corners of rural Russia, from Murmansk to Kamchatka. Montaigne's fly-fishing hobby takes him well off the beaten path, to explore the wilds of the backwoods and streams. Along the way, of course, he must pass through small towns and stay with friends and acquaintances in tiny villages. Most of the text is a very vivid, journalistic description of conditions in small town Russia and Siberia today, almost 10 years after the fall of Communism. His analyses of conditions on the ground are comparable to those of other travel-journalists, such as Robert Kaplan. However, he visits places that are unknown for even people like Kaplan, since he avoids the big cities altogether. What struck me while reading this book was how much backwoods Russia is a poor, developing country, with no running water or functioning government services. This makes aspects of Montaigne's travel journal quite comparable to those of writers visiting Nepal or India. Yet, one rarely reads of travel adventures in a European Third World, making this book very unique.
All of the prose is not about people and their problems, however, since this is after all, a fishing trip. Montaigne does an admirable job of describing his efforts at fly fishing. Through reading this book, I began to get an inkling for the first time of what the sport of fly fishing is all about. I'm much more interested in culture and travel than fishing, but Montaigne's fishing episodes were written well enough to hold my interest. On the other hand, serious fly fishing enthusiasts may be looking for more about fish than this book provides.

2 people found this helpful

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