Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
Torday, PaulWhy does Mr Alfred Jones feel as though something is missing in his life? He has many reasons to be content. His job as a fisheries scientist is satisfactory and he has just celebrated his twentieth wedding anniversary. When he is asked to help create a salmon river in the highlands of the Yemen, Fred rejects the idea as absurd. But the proposal catches the eye of several senior British politicians. And so Fred finds himself forced to figure out how to fly ten thousand salmon to a desert country - and to persuade them to swim there. [Taken from book cover.]
Comments from Groups
We all thought it was an excellent, entertaining and thought provoking read. We discussed all the questions at length. We loved the political satire through the characters, and really enjoyed the different writing styles. Great! We all really loved the sheikh! Queenstown 010 .... We all appreciated the structure of the story using email, interviews and diary entries. The variety kept the story flowing. A few found the continuous farce hard to read in one sitting, whilst others chuckled and enjoyed it from start to finish.... Hokitika 001 Some of the group found that the style of writing made it difficult to follow the storyline. Everyone found the ending rather depressing! It apperaed that the main characters were in a worse place than when the story atarted. Tauranga 034 All mambers enjoyed the book, alot. Discussion was vigorous - covering the characters, politics and religious aspects. Highly recommended. Ashburton 012
Pages
330
330
Year
2007
2007
Reviews
25-01-2023
All enjoyed the book but thought the ending was unimaginative.
25-01-2023
Most of us enjoyed this though those of us who had seen the film were surprised at the ending of the book compared with the feel-good ending of the film. We had to agree that probably the book ended more realistically. We particularly enjoyed the fun poked at the machinations of the political characters, wanting to get any glory that ensued but washing hands of any disasters, which, in the book, certainly eventuated. The premise that faith was enough to make things happen didn't convince us but we enjoyed observing just what it could accomplish...
25-01-2023
Very good discussion as there were so many aspects to the book. Fascinating how effectively the characters were developed through letter, emails, diary notes, and although they were almost all quite extreme in their characteristics, they were recognisable features of acquaintances. Some of the group had seen the film so the discussion of changes for that medium were interesting.
19-01-2023
Most enjoyable book. Plenty of scope for discussion.
19-01-2023
Didn't like the ending or the way it had lots of emails through it. Preferred the movie.
19-01-2023
The group was split on the enjoyment of this book. The clever writing style of the author made for much discussion.
19-01-2023
Funny, insightful and a good read. What a shame the film makers messed about with the ending.
19-01-2023
Mixed feelings on the book. Some found it very funny, others not so. Most had seen the movie and compared the book to it, but all agreed the book was more amusing. It was compared to present day N.Z. - with sheep to Saudi deal!
19-01-2023
What a "fun" story. We all enjoyed it, with some interesting discussion.
19-01-2023
We liked the book. Found it very light and easy to read but wouldn't recommend it to people.
19-01-2023
All enjoyed the book but most thought the ending was unimaginative.