Salmon Fishing in the Yemen |  | Author: Paul Torday
Publisher: Mariner Books
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
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Seller: books24seven
Rating:  26 reviews
Sales Rank: 288617
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Pages: 352
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.6 x 0.8
ISBN: 0156034565
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780156034562
ASIN: 0156034565
Publication Date: April 21, 2008
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Amazon.com Review
British businessman and dedicated angler Paul Torday has found a way to combine a novel about fishing and all that it means with a satire involving politics, bureaucrats, the Middle East, the war in Iraq, and a sheikh who is really a mystic. Torday makes it all work in a most convincing way using memos, interviews, e-mails, and letters in clever juxtaposition. Dr. Alfred Jones is a fisheries scientist in Great Britain who is called upon to find a way to introduce salmon into the desert in Yemen. The Yemeni sheikh will spare no expense to see this happen. He says: It would be a miracle of God if it happened. I know it... If God wills it, the summer rains will fill the wadis... and the salmon will run the river. And then my countrymen... all classes and manner of men--will stand side by side and fish for the salmon. And their natures, too, will be changed. They will feel the enchantment of this silver fish... and then when talk turns to what this tribe said or that tribe did... then someone will say, "Let us arise, and go fishing." Such is the sheikh's vision. He tells Alfred: "Without faith, there is no hope. Without faith, there is no love." Alfred has no religious faith and has been mired in a loveless marriage for twenty years, so these words seem fantastic to him. Alfred and Sheikh Muhammad connect immediately through their mutual love of fishing, despite Alfred's misgivings about the viability of the project. The Prime Minister's flack man tells Alfred that he must persevere and succeed because Great Britain needs some positive connection to the Middle East, something other than a failing, flailing war. These kinds of political alliances are always shaky at best, and when things start to go sideways, allies have a way of disappearing. Alfred soldiers on, with the help of the lovely Harriet, Sheikh Muhammad's land agent, and the project is readied for opening day, when the Sheikh and the Prime Minister will have a 20-minute photo op. All of the faith and good will in the world cannot overcome the forces ranged against them, bringing tragedy to everyone involved. Despite all, Alfred's interior life is changed immeasurably. He says in the end: "I believe in it, because it is impossible." --Valerie Ryan
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 26
 "Salmon fishing in the desert sounds more of a minority sport." July 5, 2007
Mary Whipple (New England)
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
(4.5 stars) One of the most delightful and original satires I've read in ages, this debut novel pokes fun at every aspect of British society, from government spin-meisters and crass politicians to marriages of convenience, TV interview programs, consumerism, and the belief that many of the world's problems would be solved if only other people were "more like us." This satire is particularly refreshing, however, since the author writes it with a smile on his face, preferring to prick balloons with his witty needling, rather than wield a rapier in a slashing attack.
The absurdity begins on the first page, when mild-mannered and unimaginative Dr. Alfred Jones, a fisheries specialist, receives a letter asking for his participation in a project to introduce Scottish salmon and the sport of salmon fishing into the wadis of the Yemen during the yearly rains. Alfred finds the whole idea ludicrous and ignores the letter, until the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and eventually the prime minister weigh in. The PM's office favors this effort for its "environmental message," the new links it will forge to a Middle Eastern country, and not incidentally, the huge, positive news story that may push stories of Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabia off the front page.
Through letters, e-mails, memos, diary entries, newspaper articles, records of the House of Commons, interviews, and even intercepted al-Qaeda e-mail traffic, the story of Alfred's efforts to create a suitable environment for salmon in the mountains of western Yemen unfolds. Gradually, Alfred becomes intrigued with the research possibilities of the project, and his contact with His Excellency Sheikh Muhammad ibn Zaidi bani Tihama, an avid salmon-fisherman who lives part of the year on a Scottish estate, broadens his vision and stimulates his imagination.
Within the framework that includes the salmon project, Alfred's love life (or lack of love life, since his wife lives in Geneva), and the sheikh's broad vision of a more peaceful world achieved through fishing, the author pokes fun at modern life--government officials who take credit for all Alfred's work, foreign policy which reflects the belief that the Middle Eastern poor hate the British because they do not have TV and material benefits, and even a communications expert who proposes a "Voice of Britain" TV channel with a quiz show in which poor Iraqi contestants can win dishwashers. Not even the British army's "Bereavement Management Center" escapes the author's sharp eye.
As Alfred accepts the sheikh's "belief in belief," he grows emotionally, and when the prime minister insists on going to the Yemen for the first release of ten thousand young salmon into the wadi, the scene is set for a grand finale. Filled with timely observations, an entertaining cast of characters, and a unique and well-developed story line (though the conclusion is a bit weak), this novel breaks new ground. There are not many satires that can be called "charming," and there may be even fewer novels about salmon fishing that can completely captivate those of us who have never climbed into a set of waders. n Mary Whipple
"I believe in it, because it is impossible." July 17, 2007
K. M. (California)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Certainly the idea of establishing a viable salmon run in Yemen is, if not impossible, pretty darned close, and normally staid and compliant British biologist Alfred (Fred) Jones isn't shy about telling his superior so when his fisheries agency is approached to formulate a plan to do just that. Yet, Fred is dragooned into designing and overseeing the project anyway. His wife, Mary, is so preoccupied with her time-consuming career in finance, that she isn't the slightest interested in hearing about salmon in Yemen, so neglected Fred begins to form a confiding friendship with a younger woman, Harriet Chetwode-Talbot, the agent for the sheikh who is the creator and the bankroller of this salmon fantasia. Harriet opens Fred's eyes to the basically petrified habits of his life with her charm, her femininity, and her vulnerability. At the same time, both Fred and Harriet are changed by the "almost holy" Sheikh Muhammad ibn Zaidi bani Tihama, the Islamic visionary whose own belief in belief rubs off on them.
SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN is a smart, bittersweet send-up of bureaucracy, politicians, marriage, international relations, and fly fishing, among other things. So many books published these days can easily be fitted into genres and follow numbingly-familiar formulas. Paul Torday, in this, his first novel, demonstrates that deft, thinking-outside-the-box fiction is all-getout enjoyable. Although a few lesser plot points play out predictably enough, unpredictability wins the day where it counts. And although this isn't a pat alls-well-that-ends-well yarn, it leaves the reader (this one anyway) satisfied and enriched. This is satire, yes, but not a an lightweight "fish story." This a tender tale of adult growing pains and quasi-spiritual advancement. If unassuming and unimaginative Fred can learn to believe, can't we all?
Anglers, dreamers, and everyone else, treat yourself!
"It was such fun to be going off to fish for our country." September 23, 2007
Mary Whipple (New England)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
(4.5 stars) One of the most delightful and original satires I've read in ages, this debut novel pokes fun at every aspect of British society, from government spin-meisters and crass politicians to marriages of convenience, TV interview programs, consumerism, and the belief that many of the world's problems would be solved if only other people were "more like us." This satire is particularly refreshing, however, since the author writes it with a smile on his face, preferring to prick balloons with his witty needling, rather than wield a rapier in a slashing attack.
The absurdity begins on the first page, when mild-mannered and unimaginative Dr. Alfred Jones, a fisheries specialist, receives a letter asking for his participation in a project to introduce Scottish salmon and the sport of salmon fishing into the wadis of the Yemen during the yearly rains. Alfred finds the whole idea ludicrous and ignores the letter, until the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and eventually the prime minister weigh in. The PM's office favors this effort for its "environmental message," the new links it will forge to a Middle Eastern country, and not incidentally, the huge, positive news story that may push stories of Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabia off the front page.
Through letters, e-mails, memos, diary entries, newspaper articles, records of the House of Commons, interviews, and even intercepted al-Qaeda e-mail traffic, the story of Alfred's efforts to create a suitable environment for salmon in the mountains of western Yemen unfolds. Gradually, Alfred becomes intrigued with the research possibilities of the project, and his contact with His Excellency Sheikh Muhammad ibn Zaidi bani Tihama, an avid salmon-fisherman who lives part of the year on a Scottish estate, broadens his vision and stimulates his imagination.
Within the framework that includes the salmon project, Alfred's love life (or lack of love life, since his wife lives in Geneva), and the sheikh's broad vision of a more peaceful world achieved through fishing, the author pokes fun at modern life--government officials who take credit for all Alfred's work, foreign policy which reflects the belief that the Middle Eastern poor hate the British because they do not have TV and material benefits, and even a communications expert who proposes a "Voice of Britain" TV channel with a quiz show in which poor Iraqi contestants can win dishwashers. Not even the British army's "Bereavement Management Center" escapes the author's sharp eye.
As Alfred accepts the sheikh's "belief in belief," he grows emotionally, and when the prime minister insists on going to the Yemen for the first release of ten thousand young salmon into the wadi, the scene is set for a grand finale. Filled with timely observations, an entertaining cast of characters, and a unique and well-developed story line (though the conclusion is a bit weak), this novel breaks new ground. There are not many satires that can be called "charming," and there may be even fewer novels about salmon fishing that can completely captivate those of us who have never climbed into a set of waders. Mary Whipple
Hilariously Accurate Insight Into How Governments Work March 7, 2009
John Joyce (Dublin, Ireland)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
As a former state fisheries scientist myself, I have to say that Paul Torday's book provides a hilariously accurate account of how governments actually work in the best traditions of the "Yes Minister" TV programme.
Torday's story of how a project, which is considered to be scientifically impossible by reclusive expert Alfred Jones, can be catapulted into an absolute priority by political intervention, is frighteningly accurate, as is the actual fisheries science quoted by the author.
The characters involved are also a delight - ranging from the introverted Dr Jones, to the visionary multi-billionaire shiek and the troubled project manager Harriet Chetwode-Talbot. But best of all, the Prime Minister's PR advisor and compulsive Blackberry user, Peter Maxwell is a wonderful comic creation who leaps off the page and has the reader skipping ahead to pages where he next appears.
Highly recommended for anyone who wants a good laugh, as well as an insight into the way things ARE actually done in the corridors of power.
Delightful August 15, 2009
Jedidiah Palosaari (Fes, Morocco)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A novel full of whimsy and delight, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is a must-read for every fisheries biologist who also happens to be an Arabist. Paul Torday fills his book with intriguing information, both on the nature of salmon recruitment and ideal oxygen levels, and daily cultural life in the Yemen, like references to the untouchable Yemeni class of the Akhdam. (And it is a very rare book indeed that even acknowledges that they exist.) I read this book while I was traveling through Yemen, and was enthralled with the accurate references to life I saw around me.
But the novel is engaging purely on the story level. Torday has an ingenious method of getting the reader's attention through a serious of progressively revealing emails, and then you are full bore into the lives of the protagonists, anxious to find out what happens next to Dr. Alfred Jones. Torday continues the correspondence method, but you don't feel like you're reading letters, press releases, and inquisitions; you forget as you listen to the play-by-play conversations and developing emotions. And though there is romance here, it doesn't develop at all as one might expect- nor, at the end, is the true romance with whom you expected.
And for those who are interested, Torday has something to teach as well- in a purely non-overbearing manner. There is religion, and there is spirituality, and not always are the two divided. There is a knowledge of God, and the knowledge of one's Lord that comes from intimacy. And contrary to what we often here in stereotypes of the world's religions, that intimacy can show up in some of the most surprising places.
I have no reservations in declaring this the finest Yemen fish novel I've ever read. (And that actually says something- I found it slightly better than the other great Yemeni marine biology work, Pirates, Bats, And Dragons: A Science Adventure (Science Adventures).) If you love the Middle East and you love fishes, you will love this book.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 26
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