Trout Fishing In America

Bought this to replace a lost copy. One of my favorite books of all time

I approached this piece as something I felt I had to read. Something that would give me a sense of the experimentation of the era and maybe a little nuance of the culture. What I did not expect was the immense humor and joy that would arrive from attacking conventions. I suppose I've learned if a person is set out to do this, of course they should do it laughing and swinging the most absurd and set of imagery and imagination that this story contains. This book is a good time. I think it is a must read no matter where you stand.P.s. I forgot to mention mayon(n)aise

This is one of the best stories of Richard brautigan and this book has great condition.You can't believe it's for 12 years ago, clean and well shape like a new book. I'm happy with it.

This book is what we might call "experimental" today -- and exp. essay collection. But really it's all about Brautigan's stunning metaphors. Examples in the photos.

The book is interesting, however strange it may seem. Glimpses and thoughts ramble through the book, a few pages and simple stories create the sketch of what a normal book would include but that's why this works. It's the pieces not directly related but still connecting that can pull you along through the book.

We know what he was saying, but we don't know what he was taking. The counter culture of not so long ago seemed scary now looks like grown people playing with dolls.

5 stars for the number of smiles it put on my face. Which were more than 5 but less than a row of phone booths from here to over there.

Had this book years and years ago, wished I'd kept it so glad to see I could purchase it again. Different cover from the original edition but contents are the same

I don’t really know what Trout Fishing in America is about. Then again, Brautigan would probably ask why it has to be about anything. It’s a hippy or pre-hippy book that did for literature what liberal viewpoints did for sexual identity and social norms during the 1960s. The vaguely post-structuralist developments that deconstructed music, sexuality, social politics and other domains during that period required deconstructive authors to make that also happen in literature. Books with no beginnings or endings. Books with little structure or plot. Books that streamed consciousness. Books that said what they wanted, when they wanted. This book ends with the word mayonnaise, seemingly only because Brautigan always wanted to end a book with that word. From one point of view, Brautigan’s mutilation of the standard novel format is somewhat overrated. If somebody wants to trample over the boundaries of the novel into another land, in favour of a more chaotic blend of part fictitious recollections and magical observations, what do I care? OK, there is life beyond the regular novel. Fine by me. But to the extent that Brautigan did help to diversify the mind of literature, then credit to him.Brautigan may not have been a truly great author or genius wordsmith. His phrasing and literary melodies were not polished or elegant. His language was often unpretentious, childlike, and sometimes redolent of Hemingway, albeit without the plot and character development. Brautigan was also apparently influenced by the emerging drug scene, or he at least came to be viewed in that way. However, surely of equal note is the potential influence of his humble, often chaotic upbringing and desperate family life. This book opens a peculiarly-shaped window into the mind of an author as much as into the things and people he saw and wrote about. Brautigan’s view of the world is funny, aloof and distant from a reality that he recast into poetry, magic and madness. Often amusing and unfailingly surreal and metaphorically bizarre, Brautigan, like Kerouac and others, delivered his own kick in the teeth to the unnecessarily structured and disciplined world that he had little regard for. But like a physician that could not cure himself, and also like Kerouac, alcoholism and an early death was his reward in his late 40s (Brautigan committed suicide by a single .44 magnum gun shot to the head). He did not leave a note. Or perhaps it was all a note.

I chose this book for my reading group and it will be very interesting to see what they made of it. It is not really a novel - more a collection of short pieces held together by the words of the title of the book. Sometimes it's a place, sometimes a character. Written in the early 1960s, it is of its time and I think all the more interesting because of that. It is quite short and well worth investing the time to read it, even if only to try something different.

Excellent, this describes both Richard Brautigan's book and the service from Amazon.Service from Amazon: fast, extreme value for money and totally reliable, Amazon have always delivered greater than my expectations. I'm looking forward to purchasing Richard Brautigan's daughter's book on Richard's chosen departureRichard Brautigan's book "Trout Fishing in America" intriguing, thought provoking,inspiring and challenging in equal measure. Opened my eyes to more creative literary characterisation. The book also paints seemingly simple but beautiful word pictures of landscapes and situations.Highly recommended for those who are ready

I read this book in the early seventies and revisited it with some trepidation. But I needn't have worried, it is really a classic yet unusual account of mood sixties California and is well worth a read.

He can be hard to follow sometimes but is always a good tead