Richard Brautigan

A Novel

Trout Fishing in America

Trout fishing in America

Colton Ray

This reminded me of a more experimental cousin to Mark Twain's folksy style, updated to the 1960s instead of the 1880s. That said, there were large chunks of this that just sounded like pure nonsense to me, and I certainly got tired of reading the word trout on every page. There were several fun anecdotes that made me smirk a bit, but overall, I can't recommend this to many people unless you're really into the Beat Generation. I don't know, it may make more sense while on some kind of substance.

Here's a journey that begins at the foot of the Benjamin Franklin statue in San Francisco's Washington Square, wanders through the wonders of America's rural waterways and ends, inevitably, with mayonnaise. With pure inventiveness and free-wheeling energy, the counterpoint to all those angry Beatniks, Brautigan tells the story of rural America, and the hunt for a bit of trout fishing. Funny, wild and sweet, Trout Fishing in America is an incomparable guidebook to the delights of exploration - of a country and a mind.

Weird, fun, jazzy. I’m still trying to figure out what Trout Fishing in America represents, seems to be something different every time. This book took me a month to read because it scrambles your brains. 

Pat G.

Jason Porterfield

Peculiar, at times amusing, often disturbing, and oddly time-consuming. I had to take breaks from this little book just to clear my head. Probably my least favorite of the Brautigan works that I've read, but still ingenious and worthwhile.

Shelby Doherty

** spoiler alert **
           Likes:
- Weird and quirky. Something that I wanted to figure out and "get"
- Some scenes I really liked (i.e. the cat named 208, the first graders, and the stream for sale by the foot)
- Liked that some scenes took place around Oregon

Dislikes:
- What the heck... I can't even begin to understand this book
- So disjointed and surreal. I was waiting for some sort of closure or for things to come together/click but it never did.

Richard Brautigan's wonderfully zany, hilarious episodic novel set amongst the rural waterways of America.Here's a journey that begins at the foot of the Benjamin Franklin statue in San Francisco's Washington Square, wanders through the wonders of America's rural waterways and ends, inevitably, with mayonnaise. With pure inventiveness and free-wheeling energy, the counterpoint to all those angry Beatniks, Brautigan tells the story of rural America, and the hunt for a bit of trout fishing. Funny, wild and sweet, Trout Fishing in America is an incomparable guidebook to the delights of exploration - of a country and a mind.

Trout Fishing in America A Novel

Reviews