I am a big fan of Ian Frazier's writing, so I snapped this up even though I am not an angler. The material is uneven, "spotty": some good, some indifferent. It contains essays previously published in magazines like the New Yorker and Outside magazine. In fact, if you've read either of those often you will be disappointed to find relatively few new material.

If not however, the anglers will like some pieces, the Ian Frazier fans will like others but tire of the fish stories. The one that is most successful on both counts, in my opinion, is the one about the fellow who ran an angler's shop near Grand Central Station. It is more a personality piece than a fishing piece but combines both of Frazier's great abilities (writing that is funny and generous in spirit, and...of course...fishing).

I'm not sure that anyone's ever adequately explained the fact that fishing, baseball, boxing, golf, and horse racing have produced nearly every page of worthwhile sports writing. Baseball has more truly great writing
than the others--from songs and poems, like Take Me Out to the Ballgame and Casey at the Bat; to daily journalism, like Red Smith's Miracle at Coogan's Bluff; to essays, like John Updike's Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu;
to classic novels like Bang the Drum Slowly; to even great B-movies, like It Happens Every Spring--but fishing literature offers perhaps the most consistently high quality of writing (I don't think it has many songs,
poems, or movies and only a handful of worthwhile novels).

The great Red Smith of course excelled in writing about all of these sports and his fishing essays are marvelous. Robert Traver--perhaps best remembered now for Anatomy of a Murder, with its fishing-mad
attorney--wrote a number of great essays, collected in Trout Magic and Trout Madness. Nowadays, John Gierach seems incapable of putting pen to paper without producing an amusing fishing tale. All in all,
there's an embarrassment of riches to choose from. It seems not too much to say that you can grab nearly any collection of fishing essays and find writing of a high standard. In fact, it may be looking a gift horse in the
mouth, but there's so much good writing about fishing that it takes on a certain sameness--all those magnificent trout rising to the mayfly hatches in Montana and Idaho start to blend together at some point. So,
though it seem perverse, it takes more than "just" great writing to get at least this casual fan to grab a new fishing book. An author'd better have a well-barbed hook, to haul us in.

Ian Frazier's writing reputation precedes him--author of such well regarded books as On the Rez and Great Plains--but what's most appealing about this collection of his essays, mostly from The New Yorker and
Outside, is that many of them, especially the early ones, concern the fishing in and around Manhattan. Mr. Frazier takes this unlikely environs and lets us see that its just as fish-happy as any stretch of the Big
Blackfoot River. There are also some really lovely reminiscences of boyhood, including a charming essay about his Dad, who would become so disturbed by the notion of his son catching and hurting a fish that today it
is those occasions when he gets skunked that remind Mr. Frazier most clearly of his father. For my tastes the book loses a little steam when Mr. Frazier moves his family out West. Suddenly we're back in the
familiar--to me overfamiliar--waters of Montana. But such quibbles are more than forgiven because of a few quite humorous essays that are mixed in. One on eating bugs is quite good and one, called Bad Advice,
has an opening scene that's as funny as anything I've ever read anywhere. I hope I'll be forgiven for quoting at length :

Some years ago, on a camping trip in the pine woods of northern Michigan, my friend Don brought along a copy of an outdoor cookbook
that appeared on the best-seller lists at the time. This book contained many ingenious and easy-sounding recipes; one that Don especially
wanted to try was called "Breakfast in a Paper Bag." According to this recipe, you could take a small paper lunch sack, put strips of bacon
in the bottom, break an egg into the sack on top of the bacon, fold down the top of the sack, push a stick through the fold, hold the sack
over hot coals, and cook the bacon and egg in the sack in about ten minutes.

I watched as Don followed the directions exactly. Both he and I remarked that we would naturally have thought the sack would burn;
the recipe, however, declared, "grease will coat the bottom of the bag as it cooks." Somehow we both took this to mean that the grease,
counterintuitively, actually made the bag less likely to burn. Marveling at the "who would have guessed" magic of it, we picked a good spot
in the hot coals of our campfire, and Don held the sack above them. We watched. In a second and a half, the bag burst into leaping flames.
Don was yelling for help, waving the bag around trying to extinguish it, scattering egg yolk and smoldering strips of bacon and flaming paper
into the combustible pines while people at adjoining campfires stared in horror and wondered what they should do.

That's just good stuff and, by itself, makes the book worth reading.

GRADE : B+

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.

I have read quite a bit of Native American history, but very little on contemporary Native Americans. This book filled that gap splendidly, particularly insofar as the Oglala Sioux are concerned. Ian Frazier is a wonderful author. His easy to read, conversational style reminds me a lot of John McPhee. Like McPhee, he has researched his topic thoroughly. His time spent on the Pine Ridge reservation and his intimate friendship with several tribal members allows the reader to experience a perspective that few writers could achieve. He lays out his topic in unvarnished terms. Native Americans face an extraordinarily unique set of problems to which no other ethnic group can lay claim. The picture can be dark and somber, but Frazier also manages to instill a sense of history, nobility and pride that can cut through the gloom. He conveys his fascination with the Sioux people and their struggle in an infectious and involving manner. Very highly recommended.

ON THE REZ will touch your heart with getting to know some of the Oglala Sioux who live on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. It will also make you angry with the cold, hard facts of what the U.S. Government did to an indigenous people and their lands, and open your eyes to what day-to-day life is really like for some of our Native American brothers. Ian Frazier's smooth writing style belies some of the stories that he relates, but, at the same time, he pulls you into Pine Ridge until you can taste the dust and feel its desolation. But so too can you learn about a proud people, and no amount of hard truth can erase their inherent dignity. A suggestion to all of our Junior and Senior High School teachers: buy Frazier's book, and read the story of SuAnne Big Crow to your students. Show them the likes of a true American hero, one who is their own age. We could, and should, all learn from her. Mitakuye Oyasin.

I find it hard to add anything new to what other reviewers have already posted. I bought the book because I visited Pine Ridge and Wounded Knee in 1974 and was curious what this author would have to say. The more I read the book the more enjoyable it became. Indians are often neglected when the subject of poverty comes up, but Ian Frazier brings it realistically to life in his book On The Rez. Also, we often don't think of Indians when the subject of racism comes up, but the story of SuAnne Big Crow prior to a high school basketball game in Lead, South Dakota, was very inspiring. It's too bad her life was cut short. She had so much to offer this country and she planned on using her talents home at Pine Ridge. This is a book I plan on donating to our high school library so other girls her age can benefit from her experiences. I know SuAnne would appreciate it.

Frazier is a brilliant stylist and the ideas behind his pieces are equally brilliant. I was thinking this morning that perhaps "Dating Your Mom" (the title piece itself) is making a point about the banality of evil in self-help books--that is, saying that self-help books encourage you to look out for number one without noticing what the cost may be, as epitomized by the earnest advice that one should date one's mom, perhaps the greatest taboo in Western culture.

Or maybe not. But the essays made me SCREAM with laughter and I used to re-read them every six months, dreaming that I might ever find something so funny again. "You've really kept your figure Mom, and don't think I haven't noticed." Perfection.

There is not a dud in here. I've loaned and given this book to so many people and every single one has come back to me raving about how hilarious it was. I consider this book to be right in the mainstream of the magnificent New Yorker humor tradition, and I'd recommend it to almost anyone.

Ian Frazier's "Dating Your Mom," despite its rather disturbing title, is an unparalleled collection of the author's early writings, most or all of which appeared in "The New Yorker." The book reels from essays reviewing the Bloomsbury Group's appearance at the Apollo Theatre to the delightful speculation on what kind of an airline pilot Samuel Beckett would have been. Although Frazier stumbles occasionally--one or two of the essays are rather banal--the overall effect is superb.

How many things can you say about this book? Until I got around to reading Fight Club, this was easily the strangest book I'd ever read. The title essay is pretty fun (if skewering the conventions of things like legalese makes you laugh; it works for me) but the real humor in the book comes from stretching things to their logical extremes. Where Frazier does that, it's funny. Where he doesn't, it often doesn't quite work (previously mentioned was the Satanist university president, an essay that fails to make sense even in Frazier's cockeyed world view).

So we see the traumatic aftereffects of the cancellation of one of the better-known classic sitcoms, part of La Femme Nikita's tax return, the concerns of a life insurance agency that deals with soap opera characters, and the comparison of a woman's laugh to brandy by firelight (really impossible to explain without reading it). There is also juxtaposition of extreme ideas; We see bank bureaucracy not merely run amok but deliberately driven off the rails. We see a mild-mannered Great Gatsby-ish short story suddenly invaded by a German Panzergruppe. We see the poetry of Don Johnson. We see a Martha Stewart-type character named Elsa disposing of incriminating evidence.

This is an excellent book, but with one caveat: it simply is not going to appeal to everyone, no matter how someone might try to sell it. Mr. Frazier's work here reflects a sense of the surreal more extreme than Monty Python, up in the range of Andy Kaufman or Emo Phillips, and that sort of edgy comedy makes your brain hurt. I like it, though.

Mr. Frazier may be hearing from my attorneys soon, as I may have ruptured something laughing at the title story. That alone would be worth the price of the book, but the rest of it, while not always gut-wrenchingly hilarious, should not be read in a hospital corridor.

If you are having increasing difficulty finding a book, movie or TV show which actually makes you laugh out loud, buy "Coyote vs. Acme." Even the most jaded of readers (me) cannot help but howl at the truly inspired and funny stuff Mr. Frazier includes, page after blessed page.

The art and craft of travel writing is exactly what it sounds like. The introduction

gives a brief layout of the chapters ahead. In the introduction the main points are presented for each section. Ian Frazier writing about the Great Plains presents many facts of the Great Plains, but the real story comes from his thoughts. The thoughts of his carving his name in the wall, is a fact of thought that brings you closer to him as a person. Frazier makes his story come alive with his personal experiences and quoted comments. Andrea Lee traveled to Russia to get the experience to write a book. She made extensive notes on each person she came in contact with. These people and the feelings of the country were to be her story. Throughout the time she lived in Russia Andrea recognized people living double lives. People living double lives are people relaying information back to their mother country. She was going after passion and empathy, but I do not believe she achieved her goal. Wrote the "The Peopling Landscape." The stand out story in this review was personal experiences between her father the amateur astronomer and herself at the age of seven years old. At the age of seven her father toke her and her bother to Virginia to see an eclipse.

If you are planning to travel and write about it afterwards, the message of They Went is that you can travel as an incomplete person and work out who you are by traveling to other places, or as a complete person who wants to see another part of the world. Adrea Lee and Vivian Gornick were reporters who were incomplete persons working out their own minds. Calvin Trillin and Ian Frazier went out to report on the United States with completeness in their every step. Mark Salzman and Tobias Schneebaum did their travels without an audience in mind. But Salzman wrote about where he visited, and Schneebaum wrote as a way of dealing with past events and "personal demons." All six authors include practical advice for travel writing, if you look for it. From Frazier you can see the example of visiting a place, reading about it, and revisiting it to see it more clearly. You can follow Frazier's advice to take the favorite things you want to write about most and put them together as a book. From Lee you can learn "to draw on whatever passion and empathy you can, based on your own experience, and then step back and stay out of the picture." From Salzman you can learn to string together "small, jewel like episodes" into chapters for your book. From Gornick , how to keep files on people you know and not let your subject get away from you. From Trillin you can learn how to "individualize by specific detail" in your writing, and from Schneebaum you can learn that you should use a journal to organize you experiences.