Product Description

From the river in his backyard to the holiest waters of the fly-fisher's world, Thomas McGuane's obsession takes him to Ireland, Montana, Argentina, New Zealand and Russia. "The Longest Silence" shows what a life dedicated to sport reveals about life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #43883 in Books
• Published on: 2001-08-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Customer Reviews

Classic fishing and a love for nature make a great read
Thomas McGuane is known for his fiction: all american heroes loving freedom and independence and travelling trough love affairs, jobs ,places and landscapes with reckless pride.In "The Longest Silence", McGuane denounces where he has invested his personal slice of freedom: away from literary speculations and the ambition of fiction, in american and faraway trout rivers.
For McGuane fishing is a way of life, a way to discover the good things of life on earth.This is no fishing guide or the chronicle of an obsession.The author simply has interpreted what all lovers of fishing and nature feel when connected to the magic moments of their sport: oneness with life, the elements,the fauna and flora that surround us, and the conscience that all this is threatned, transient, fragile.
The great quality of this book- fishing scenes and technical expertise aside- is that McGuane manages to convey his outdoor passion in connection with friends, acquintances, communities and a general sense of belonging to this planet and of entitlement to fight for his preservation.Fishing is solitude and not loneliness, writes McGuane. In fact he takes us on a long trip through his best memories and that means a lot of travelling. In the end we come to think that the world would be a better place if we would all understand the beauty of catching and releasing a trout in some wild river somewhere.

Wonderfully written essays that capture the charm of fishing
This is a series of essays on fishing experiences throughout the life of the author. They are wonderfully written, and capture the charm and allure of fishing, of being out there in the great outdoors to 'go fishing' rather than merely to catch fish. McGuane is a wonderfully observant and expressive writer. This book has soul. If being out there, with or without fishing rod, appeals to you, I urge you to read this book...

Calming
An excellent fishing book. Not a 'how to..', but a rambling, gentle examination of the ethos of the sport. If you enjoy Gierach you'll probably like this (and vice versa). More saltwater topics - blues, tarpon and (particularly) permit - here than Gierach but all beautifully written. Recommended.