The Fish's Eye: Essays about Angling and the Outdoors

Almost As Much Fun As Fishing Itself

Anyone who's ever been on vacation should be able to appreciate Ian Frazier's hilariously dry parody of fishing brochures in "Guiding Guys," one of the seventeen essays collected here. The fictional Pools and Riffles outfitter service promises "crime-free streams" and plenty of "fishing and laughing in a particular way just all the time." The guides are Bunyanesque and will insult your casting, and the fishing, even at its worst, is never less than "great."

The promise of the outdoors yielding anything so predictable is understandably suspect to Frazier, whose dreams of fish materialize behind the local tire store or in urban streams littered with potato chip bags. These essays, written over the last twenty years, are not simply recollections of pursuing fish but short, engaging thoughts inspired by the rhythms and processes of fishing. The repetitive motions of casting remind Frazier of television and how brains work; the bad advice from bait stores illustrates the "abundant ignorance" with which we've recently taken to the outdoors.

Though books about fishing invariably suffer from not being as fun as fishing itself, "The Fish's Eye" compensates by covering a lot of terrain. Frazier torments his brother and misses his father. He drives golf balls into the East River. He eats bugs. There is refreshingly little hallowed ground here. Just the richness of the angling landscape, wherever Frazier finds it.

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