All of this did what for me is a cardinal sin for a writer of fiction – it disturbed my willingness to suspend my disbelief. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday | Book Review, Top 10 In Five Years Quotes by Rebecca Serle from the Book, The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith | Book Review, A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki | Book Review, Best Shakeel Azmi Poetry in Hindi that Everyone Must Read, A Song for Issy Bradley by Carys Bray | Book Review, Make your Book Blog Look Pretty with these FREE Blogspot Templates, Zakir Khan Poetry, Poem and Shayari All at one Place, Best Jaun Eliya Poetry – 22 John Elia Shayari You Must Read, All Best WordPress Plugins for Book Bloggers, 35+ Book Blog Post Ideas that will bring Visitors. Learn how your comment data is processed. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Queen’s speech an insult to most Britains, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen – Book Review, Why you should consider joining the National Secular Society, Book Review – ‘You Beneath Your Skin’ by Damyanti Biswas, Pandemic of Lunacy – Why we could be getting it wrong on Covid-19. Perhaps my taste in comedy is somewhat unusual. It's true now, and it will have been true in 2007, when Salmon Fishing in the Yemen was … What didn’t work so well for me was the conceit of telling the story from the perspective of the main characters through their letters and emails, through their responses to questions while being interviewed, and in the case of the protagonist, through his diary entries. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday is what you get when you follow the bizarre plot, with twist and turns, and does not listen to any writing advice. And the remarkable thing is that a book about so deeply serious a … Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. In my defence, I have read some genuinely funny novels (I would recommend anything by Douglas Adams or Ben Elton). Salmon Fishing in the Yemen ( 2011) Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. Although, at first glance, neither of these conceits sound particularly exciting. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (Book) : Torday, Paul : HoughtonDr. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (Book) : Torday, Paul : HoughtonDr. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen Critics Consensus Quirky and a little reserved, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is nonetheless a charming little romantic drama sold by some strong central performances. Like telling their story through one day – the same day – of every year in the lives of their characters (that one didn’t work for me either). But then, I’ve read so-called ‘comedy novels’ in the past without realising what I was reading was intended to be comedy until I’d almost finished. Alfred Jones is a henpecked, slightly pompous middle-aged scientist at the National Centre for Fisheries Excellence in London when he is approached by a mysterious sheikh about an outlandish plan to introduce the sport of salmon fishing into the Yemen. I don’t know, maybe I’m too uptight, but if an author tells me they’re giving me a piece of business correspondence, I kind of expect it to read like a piece of business correspondence. So if you haven’t already read it, I would recommend the book. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (Book) : Torday, Paul : When he is asked to become involved in a project to create a salmon river in the highlands of the Yemen, fisheries scientist Dr Alfred Jones rejects the idea as absurd. Last modified 13/02/2020, Your email address will not be published. Summary; Film adaptation; See also; References; External links; Torday was 59 when the book was published. ( Log Out /  Learn why I think the film adaptation of "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen" is better than the book! I don’t know if that’s because my sense of comedy is lacking, or a damning indictment of the quality of comedy in so-called comedy novels. The Guardian described the book at the time as "lampooning the … To avoid the book being either dull, or a prolonged stand-up routine, the author had a cunning plan. He cheated. With so many books being published, it’s no surprise that publishers are always on the lookout  for something new – something that will make a book stand out. The novel begins with Harriet Chetwode-Talbot, working for a private financing company contacting Jones on behalf of Sheikh Muhammad of the Yemen. For me, one of them was more successful than the other. If it launches into an explanation of how the writer’s marriage is going wrong, complete with real-time dialogue exchanges, then I can’t help noticing that’s just not how business correspondence works. Coming back (eventually) to the comedy value; I would say the book is rather more mildly amusing than full-on comedy. Diary entries, correspondence and answers to interview questions are all just thinly disguised narrative. by attempting to write within some narrow, quirky gimmick. Contents. Author Paul Torday makes his debut with this clever absurdist novel. The Prime Minister in the book is certainly Tony Blair. Do I recommend Salmon Fishing in the Yemen? Change ). Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (Book) : Torday, Paul : A middle-aged scientist working at London's National Centre for Fisheries Excellence, Dr. Alfred Jones takes on the outlandish--and ill-fated--task of introducing the sport of salmon fishing into the Yemen River at the behest of a mysterious sheikh. I did enjoy the book, but it could have been so much better had it been written straight. The first is the bizarre subject matter (salmon fishing in the Yemen?!) Alfred Jones is a henpecked, slightly pompous middle-aged scientist at the National Centre for Fisheries Excellence in London when he is approached by a mysterious sheikh about an outlandish plan to introduce the sport of salmon fishing into the Yemen. The story is based around a Yemeni sheik who loves salmon fishing, and enlists the (initially rather unwilling) help of a British fisheries expert to bring salmon to a river in the Yemen. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Credits summary… Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. I’ve never seen them chatty. Fisheries scientist Dr. Alfred Jones is approached by an extravagantly wealthy sheik with a novel plan. Torday was 59 when the book was published. Your email address will not be published. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! A visionary sheik believes his passion for the peaceful pastime of salmon fishing can enrich the lives of his people, and he dreams of bringing the sport to the not so fish-friendly desert. Paul Torday’s debut novel has not one but two characteristics that differentiate it from most other novels. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is the first of British author Paul Torday's six novels to date. Learn why I think the film adaptation of "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen" is better than the book! To foster goodwill, the sheik would like to introduce salmon fishing to Yemen--the same Yemen that is largely a desert- … I can’t see what the problem is with telling a story straight, without gimmicks. Written when he was 59 years old at the end of a successful business careeer, the book reportedly allowed him to write about what he knows best (as every teacher urges in Creative Writing 101). Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. Enjoyed your review, the book I did not enjoy. With so many books being published, it's no surprise that publishers are always on the lookout for something new - something that will make a book stand out. I had empathy with the main character, even if he is a bit dense at times. Copyright for the cover of ‘Salmon Fishing in the Yemen’, in the absence of a credit within the book, presumably belongs to the publisher. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (Book) : Torday, Paul : Dr. Alfred Jones is a henpecked, slightly pompous middle-aged scientist at the National Centre for Fisheries Excellence in London when he is approached by a mysterious sheikh about an outlandish plan to introduce the sport of salmon fishing into the Yemen. Sheikh Muhammad has a vision of importing the noble sport of salmon fishing to his native Yemen, and decides to throw some of his considerable fortune towards bringing it about. Paul Torday’s debut novel, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is the absurdist tale of a downtrodden Everyman finding his voice. I’m quite sure that if Paul Torday had wanted, he could have written it as a fully credible serious piece. Anyway, back to SFINTY. Not only the plot of the book (as you can understand from the title) is odd, the way Paul Tordy tells this funny story is itself peculiar. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. So Harriet, a woman who works for the company that look after his many estates, enlists the help of fisheries expert Dr. Alfred Jones to plan the project and make it work. Compare book prices from over 100,000 booksellers. They ask; ‘Which world comes out with most credit, do you think?’ There is a growing strand of mysticism as the book progresses, but though the conflict between different outlooks and lifestyles is addressed, it isn’t pushed too hard – the author leaves the reader to think about it themselves. Emily Blunt interviewed in 2012 about Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. That said, I did enjoy SFINTY, even if the author did cheat with the format. The book is about a project where the UK gets involved in a project that aims at introducing Atlantic salmon in the Arabic country Yemen, which is probably most known for its unfortunate role in terrorist enrolling and education as well as some less flattering involvement in the trade of rhinoceros horns used for handles on tribal knives. The … The story is slightly ridiculous at times, but that’s because the book is a comedy, and the story is played for comedy value (I’ll come back to that later). I managed to put my difficulty with the format to the back of my mind, and I did enjoy the book, although there were a few times when it became  bit tedious (such as the extracts from the Prime Minister’s Press Secretary’s unpublished memoirs). ( Log Out /  Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (Book) : Torday, Paul : Dr. Alfred Jones is a henpecked, slightly pompous middle-aged scientist at the National Centre for Fisheries Excellence in London when he is approached by a mysterious sheikh about an outlandish plan to introduce the sport of salmon fishing into the Yemen. The reading group notes emphasise the contrast portrayed in the story between the secular west, and the faith-based societies of the middle east. Find Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (9780753821787) by Torday, Paul. Caught by Harlan Coben | Book Review | Accidental Death, The Most Notorious Jailbreakers by Abeer Kapoor | Short Book Review, To Skies and Waters by Sirjandeep Ubha | Book Review with Spoilers, If You Could See Me Now By Cecelia Ahern – Unique Fairy Tale, Jihadi Jane by Tabish Khair | Book Review | Inspired Fiction, Time Crawlers by Varun Sayal – Short Story Collection. 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