DDC/MDS
| 813 |
Publication
New York : Dell publishing company, inc., 1967.
Original publication date
1967
Description
In its first time in audio and with an introduction written and read by poet Billy Collins, Trout Fishing in America is an indescribable romp, by turns a hilarious, playful, and melancholy novel that wanders from San Francisco through America's culture.Richard Brautigan's world is one of gentle magic and marvelous laughter, of the incredibly beautiful and the beautifully incredible. Trout Fishing in America is a pseudonym for the miraculous. A journey which begins at the foot of the Benjamin Franklin statue in San Francisco's Washington Square, which wanders through the wonders of America's rural waterways, and which ends, inevitably, with mayonnaise. Funny, wild, and sweet, Trout Fishing in America is an incomparable guidebook to the delights of exploration-both of land and mind.Richard Brautigan was a literary idol of the 1960s and 1970s whose comic genius and iconoclastic vision of American life caught the imagination of young people everywhere. His early books became required reading for the hip generation, and on its publication, Trout Fishing in America, considered by many as his best novel, became an international bestseller.With it Brautigan caught the public's attention and became a cult hero. By 1970 Trout Fishing in America had become the namesake of a commune, a free school, an underground newspaper, and more.… (more)
Status
Available
Call number
Collection
User reviews
LibraryThing member Banoo
This is the first time I've met Trout Fishing in America. And although I fished almost everyday in my youth and caught hundreds of Trout, I never realized that the guy with me was Trout Fishing in America. We'd always stop at Ledet's Supermarket and buy bread, ham, and a small jar of mayonnaise on
This book is a travel book of sorts. It reintroduced me to America. And streams. With trout. In another time. Trout Fishing in America is alright.
I remember mistaking and old woman for a trout stream in Vermont, and I had to beg her pardon.
'Excuse me,' I said. 'I thought you were a trout stream.'
'I'm not,' she said.
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our way to the trout rooms. We'd sit in our small boat with corks bobbing in the room and eat ham sandwiches. We'd look at the sky and see rabbits, angels, or toaster ovens in the clouds. And we'd appreciate the freedom to sit in a little boat with corks bobbing and eating ham sandwiches... with mayonnaise.This book is a travel book of sorts. It reintroduced me to America. And streams. With trout. In another time. Trout Fishing in America is alright.
I remember mistaking and old woman for a trout stream in Vermont, and I had to beg her pardon.
'Excuse me,' I said. 'I thought you were a trout stream.'
'I'm not,' she said.
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LibraryThing member Sean191
I feel the need to somewhat defend this book. Yes, it didn't always make sense. In fact, it rarely did. But I did laugh at more than a couple of passages and it was interesting even if I did have to question Brautigan's sanity (and I felt like mine was in question after a bit of reading). But I
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don't feel robbed spending the time I spent reading it. It clocks in at just over 100 pages, so it's maybe an hour or two read, so you don't have much to lose. Plus, the ending of the book has to be one of the odder, funnier endings I've read in a long time, if ever. Even better, he indicates a page or two previous that he's ending the book in just that way. That alone is worth the price of admission to me. Show Less
LibraryThing member elenchus
Brautigan offers up a modern form of the novel in that there is no linear plot and the character of both people and events includes absurdist elements. The cumulative effect is a critique of American myth, especially the collision of frontier archetypes and market consumerism. Brautigan's take on
It scans quickly, nevertheless includes nice turns of phrase and whimsical description. Reminiscent of some Robbins and Pynchon in narrative voice (or given the timeline: anticipates those writers). Nice primer for one of Brautigan's poetry collections.
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this countercultural critique is to present it with humour: his amusement seems no less sincere than his criticism, aimed both at himself and fellow citizens. His sense of the absurd also works, the primary example being that Trout Fishing in America appears in episodic chapters as, by turns, the book itself; an elliptically described character; a hotel; an archetypal activity of the self-made man, wresting life from nature; and juvenile graffiti.It scans quickly, nevertheless includes nice turns of phrase and whimsical description. Reminiscent of some Robbins and Pynchon in narrative voice (or given the timeline: anticipates those writers). Nice primer for one of Brautigan's poetry collections.
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LibraryThing member kirstiecat
Similar to In Watermelon Sugar, after a while I will admit I got a little sick of hearing about trout in this one. Other than that, there are again some great insights here and again it made me think of some of the more recent Tao Lin novels I've read. It is interesting how trout, trout fishing,
Favorite quotes:
pg 5 "There was nothing I could do. I couldn't change a flight of stairs into a creek. The boy walked back to where he came from. The same thing once happened to me, I remember mistaking an old woman for a trout stream in Vermont, and I had to beg her pardon.
"Excuse me," I said. "I thought you were a trout stream"
"I'm not," she said.
pg. 22 "He learned about life at sixteen, first from Dostoevsky and then from the whores of New Orleans.
The bookstore was a parking lt for used graveyards. Thousands of graveyards were parked in rows like cars. Most of the books were out of print, and no one wanted to red them any more and the people who had read the books had died or forgotten about them, but through the organic process of music the books had become virgins again."
pg. 24 "There was nothing else I could do for my body was like birds sitting on a telephone wire strung out down the world, clouds tossing the wires carefully."
pg. 40 "But after a few more days trout fishing in America disappeared altogether as it was destined to from its very beginning, and a kind of autumn fell over the first grade."
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and trout fishing in America becomes a sort of malleable metaphor. Again, very sad and poetic stuff...and quite a short one but some of these ideas in short snippets of prose certainly stay with you.Favorite quotes:
pg 5 "There was nothing I could do. I couldn't change a flight of stairs into a creek. The boy walked back to where he came from. The same thing once happened to me, I remember mistaking an old woman for a trout stream in Vermont, and I had to beg her pardon.
"Excuse me," I said. "I thought you were a trout stream"
"I'm not," she said.
pg. 22 "He learned about life at sixteen, first from Dostoevsky and then from the whores of New Orleans.
The bookstore was a parking lt for used graveyards. Thousands of graveyards were parked in rows like cars. Most of the books were out of print, and no one wanted to red them any more and the people who had read the books had died or forgotten about them, but through the organic process of music the books had become virgins again."
pg. 24 "There was nothing else I could do for my body was like birds sitting on a telephone wire strung out down the world, clouds tossing the wires carefully."
pg. 40 "But after a few more days trout fishing in America disappeared altogether as it was destined to from its very beginning, and a kind of autumn fell over the first grade."
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LibraryThing member kcshankd
Funky, Burroughs-esque riff on 1961 America. Read over a nightshift, found in Hilary's office. Explains much.
LibraryThing member jeroenvandorp
Maybe it is too short a time between Trout Fishing in America and today. Reading it led people back in the Sixties to say " Wow, man, groovy". Today it can lead to eyebrows raising. What is this hippie idiocy? A gigantic LSD-trip? A sit-in with all participants on high?
And yet the book is charming.
It's difficult to describe what the book is about. It's about America when Richard Brautigan was young. It's about America when Richard Brautigan was on a fishing trip with his wife and kid in Idaho. It's about America when Richard Brautigan was living in San Francisco. All that and more. A bit of poetry, a dollop of sarcasm, and a cast of weird people with weird behavior who are real nevertheless. Even if they happen to be a statue.
It's short and sweet. It'll make you laugh and frown, sometimes even on the same page, reading the same short chapter. You understand?
It's like " Wow, man, groovy." You know what I mean.
And yet the book is charming.
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It has a flow, it has a nice but critical undertone. It doesn't belittle American society of that time, but observes it with humor and a bit of sarcasm. It is a trip indeed, but a fun trip through contemporary history. A trip without nasty afterthoughts.It's difficult to describe what the book is about. It's about America when Richard Brautigan was young. It's about America when Richard Brautigan was on a fishing trip with his wife and kid in Idaho. It's about America when Richard Brautigan was living in San Francisco. All that and more. A bit of poetry, a dollop of sarcasm, and a cast of weird people with weird behavior who are real nevertheless. Even if they happen to be a statue.
It's short and sweet. It'll make you laugh and frown, sometimes even on the same page, reading the same short chapter. You understand?
It's like " Wow, man, groovy." You know what I mean.
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LibraryThing member ecataldi
It's been close to a decade since I read this gem and I was not disappointed when I re-visited it. This book freaking holds up. Zany off the wall humor perfect for Vonnegut fans; this collection of short recollections, stories, and essays is sure to leave readers grinning. From the Kool Aid Wino to
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The Hunchback Trout, these stories stick with you. Most are related to the author's childhood and fishing habits and I'll be damned if they're not funny and reminiscent of a very different world (this was written in the seventies). It's a quick, funny, and charming. Essential American reading. Show Less
LibraryThing member amelish
I liked it as a work on its own, but also get the sense it's inseparable from its era. Brautigan sparks my interest in others; Gary Snyder, Abbie Hoffman, etc.
LibraryThing member AntT
I read it. I liked it. I forgot about it.
LibraryThing member sanddancer
The book is made up of a series of short essays (for want of a better word) that are all vaguely around the idea of “Trout Fishing in America”. In some “Trout Fishing in America” is more or less what you would think it means, tales of fishing across the USA, but more often the phrase turns
There were parts of it that I enjoyed but other parts I found frustrating. Brautigan can obviously write and I would have liked to see his talent used in a sustained way rather than the fragmented style here.
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up to mean something completely different. It is often the name of a person, it is the name of hotel in one place and in my favourite story, it is a slogan written on school jackets.There were parts of it that I enjoyed but other parts I found frustrating. Brautigan can obviously write and I would have liked to see his talent used in a sustained way rather than the fragmented style here.
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LibraryThing member MSarki
Though I do believe this book was extremely important in its time I am not convinced it is any longer. I did enjoy rereading it as it brought back old and pleasant memories of a time first-called The Generation of Love. Richard Brautigan, after years of writing poetry and learning how to write a
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good sentence, made this first stab at composing a version of what he would come to call his very first novel. This first work made the rounds of many publishers and was pretty much shelved for other titles of Brautigan such as his second novel A Confederate General from Big Sur that was loosely based on a friend of his and was more "plot driven" than Trout Fishing in America. Of course, we all know that this, his actual first novel, is what made him famous and led to his enormous fame and fortune that could not last nor endure his depressive state that was never far from present throughout his entire life of forty-nine years. A clever first book, often brilliant in spots, with sounds resembling the best lyrics of a young Bob Dylan who was also in process of finding his own voice in that same time along the by-ways of America. Show Less
LibraryThing member RandyMetcalfe
More often spoken of in reverential tones than read, I suspect. So it comes as some surprise to me on finally reading Richard Brautigan’s fish tale to discover that it is entirely readable, playful in the extreme, and refreshingly undated. Of course it is entirely likely that the book has had so
What exactly Trout Fishing in America is remains open to debate. It may not be a conventional novel, but there are so many books out there that aren’t conventional novels that its unconventionality hardly distinguishes it. What stands out is that it is filled to bursting with what you might call left-turn similes, i.e. similes that appear headed in one direction and suddenly take another tack. It is also, surprisingly, filled with a lot of actual trout fishing. So that must put it in the running against Moby Dick as one of those books that come to define America.
And so, gently recommended.
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much influence on the two (or three) generations of writers that came after it that all of its eccentricity and absurdist turns just look like old hat these days. Not entirely. I definitely think it is still worth reading and shall endeavour to speak of it in reverential tones myself in order to promote that activity.What exactly Trout Fishing in America is remains open to debate. It may not be a conventional novel, but there are so many books out there that aren’t conventional novels that its unconventionality hardly distinguishes it. What stands out is that it is filled to bursting with what you might call left-turn similes, i.e. similes that appear headed in one direction and suddenly take another tack. It is also, surprisingly, filled with a lot of actual trout fishing. So that must put it in the running against Moby Dick as one of those books that come to define America.
And so, gently recommended.
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LibraryThing member comfypants
A collection of moments and observations by someone who enjoys trout fishing.
3/4 (Good).
It's prose poetry, not a novel. It's a nice book, if you go in knowing that, not expecting a story (or clarity). His style isn't quite there yet; it's quirky and pastoral, with no weight to it.
3/4 (Good).
It's prose poetry, not a novel. It's a nice book, if you go in knowing that, not expecting a story (or clarity). His style isn't quite there yet; it's quirky and pastoral, with no weight to it.
LibraryThing member basedguy
Horribly stupid and a real slog to read.
LibraryThing member scottcholstad
A classic I was "supposed" to like but which never quite resonated with me...
LibraryThing member Ken-Me-Old-Mate
This was the first book that really showed me how a writer can make reality take a left turn while everyone else kept straight on. There is a childlike beauty and simplicity in these pages and even though it is a few years since I read it, it is never far from my mind.
The sight of a trout river,
I recently read about Richard Brautigan's sad end by his own hand and how his body lay unfound for many months. In my mind I can put those two things together. It is like he used up all his magic in one book and when he ran short many years later he had no choice but to end it all.
If only he had known that his name would still be spoken many years later and his books still read.
Such a beautiful book and such a sad man.
The sight of a trout river,
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(in New Zealand there are many. many such rivers) a picture of a trout, someone wearing one of those shorty green fishing vests and sometimes just the idle fancy.I recently read about Richard Brautigan's sad end by his own hand and how his body lay unfound for many months. In my mind I can put those two things together. It is like he used up all his magic in one book and when he ran short many years later he had no choice but to end it all.
If only he had known that his name would still be spoken many years later and his books still read.
Such a beautiful book and such a sad man.
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LibraryThing member paroof
Profoundly odd and yet lovely. Maybe more like poetry than book - maybe. A peek into another era.
Only recommended for those who are truly curious about the book, author, or era.
Only recommended for those who are truly curious about the book, author, or era.
LibraryThing member kylekatz
1967. This book rocks out. It is occasionally about trout fishing in America, but mostly not. It reminds me of Donald Barthelme a little. Perhaps a little drug-inspired. It hasn't got a plot; it's more like a string of episodes in the mind of someone who has done too much LSD. If you could bring
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that unhinged LSD feeling of knowing and understanding everything, but kind of not being able to quite put your finger on it, or explain it, it's kind of like that. It's a nirvana-inducing book. It unhinges you from reality for a second and let's you see the universe. Yeah, it was that good, but it was uneven to me. Some chapters were over-the-top, unimaginably good (my personal favorite is "The Cleveland Wrecking Yard"), while some missed a little or at least they didn't do it for me. Go read it. Now. Show Less
LibraryThing member gazzy
A thin little volume that fascinates for its imaginative and accurate depiction of a time (1975) and place (pacific northwest) as ephemeral as this novel.
LibraryThing member whbiii
Jesus deliver me from Mainstream American Experimental Fiction!
Birdie Jay: “It’s so dumb, it’s brilliant!”
Benoit Blanc: “NO! It’s just DUMB!”
Tedious and tiresome, and the vituperation against Nelson Algren bizarre and dumb. (The Man with the Golden Arm is a better book than this.)
I
Birdie Jay: “It’s so dumb, it’s brilliant!”
Benoit Blanc: “NO! It’s just DUMB!”
Tedious and tiresome, and the vituperation against Nelson Algren bizarre and dumb. (The Man with the Golden Arm is a better book than this.)
I
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feel like I owe William Burroughs an apology. Show Less
Subjects
Awards
Physical description
112 p.; 21 cm
Local notes
1st appearance, 10th printing
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