This is a "coming of age" story and as usual, it builds on the worn-out theme of a child on the verge of adulthood suffering a disillusionment ending in death. I am prompted to ask Why? What is there about becoming an adult that demands a young person be subjected to losing faith in the one person he/she cares for and looks up to and then further losing that person through death? in Old Yeller and A Day When No Pigs Must Die, and numerous other books, this theme is repeated. Is it that once an adult, there is no illusion, that becoming a grown-up is all about disappointment and the death of all dreams?Is there no way a child may grow up, meet adversity, and live past it without always suffering loss? 16-year-old Culver's father drowned when he was a child. His mother remarried a man who worked for the railroad and thus they move about a lot. Finally, Culver's mother, fed up with all the moving, disappears, only to reappear a few days later with his father's brother, come to leave her husband and to take Culver away. They return to Gateway, a city in an unnamed Midwestern state. Riley's stepfather, in retaliation for being deserted, burns down his home and the railway siding where he lives and becomes a fugitive, to pop into their lives at intervals and stir up trouble.Back in Gateway, Culver's mother gets a job and intends to further herself. She begins dating while trying to overcome some unknown animosity to her former brother-in-law, Jake, who is a fishing guide and runs a sporting goods store. Culver works in the store prior to the beginning of school and gets to know the various characters who hang around, as well as some of the Native Americans in the area.There are deaths and mishaps as Culver learns from his uncle about fishing and hunting, but there is always the shadow of his father's death hanging over them. Culver looks up to his uncle and sees him as a surrogate father. It is during a devastating fire that Culver learns the truth about his father's death, that his mother and his uncle both blame each other and themselves for what happened. When a short time later, there is a flood during a winter blizzard, Nature, as a kind of avenging god, demands payment for this crime, whether real or imagined. (Call this a Spoiler, if you wish.)Though Culver's mother isn't described in the most flattering terms, the fact that Jake is drawn as a very likable character makes the end even more poignant.This was a well-written book, and a PNBA award winner, but I still found fault with the premise, as stated above. It was slow-moving and wordy as it followed Culver day-by-day in his slow journey toward manhood. The story is told in flashback by an adult Culver so we know he arrived at his destination, but the events bringing it about were dissatisfying as far as this reader was concerned. 4 stars for writing; 3 for the dissatisfaction it left behind.This novel is owned by the reviewer and no remuneration was involved in the writing of this review.
Do You like book The Sky Fisherman (1996)?
I read this my freshman year as a required reading. It was long, tedious, and had very little direction that I could tell. The writing style was fine, it was plain but clear and forward, but what bugged me the most were the characters. They were essentially constructed from nicely fashioned cardboard. A few had some shallow depth to them. They were all sorta different. But our main character moved without any depth at all. He felt invisible, as if he wasn't really even present in the scene. He had very little opinions or thoughts about anything. He mostly observed the world without partaking in it. He didn't care for anything, and he didn't like anything. He just requested information to keep this book going. He didn't change from the beginning of the book to the end. (Unless the increase of swearing counts as development.) When the characters are dull, it makes anything that happens to them pretty dull too. Nothing really changed throughout this book. Maybe I just need to reread this book with older eyes, but I don't think I will. In general, I learned nothing except that old uncles sometimes like to take their nephews out fishing. And Native Americans occasionally tag along.
—Shalene
