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Salmon Fishing in the Yemen | 
 enlarge | Author: Paul Torday
Publisher: Harvest Books
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  20 reviews
Sales Rank: 451849
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.3 x 1
ISBN: 0156034565
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780156034562
ASIN: 0156034565
Publication Date: April 21, 2008
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Condition: New book
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Amazon.com Review
British businessman and dedicated angler Paul Torday has found a way to combine a novel about fishing and all that it means with a satire involving politics, bureaucrats, the Middle East, the war in Iraq, and a sheikh who is really a mystic. Torday makes it all work in a most convincing way using memos, interviews, e-mails, and letters in clever juxtaposition. Dr. Alfred Jones is a fisheries scientist in Great Britain who is called upon to find a way to introduce salmon into the desert in Yemen. The Yemeni sheikh will spare no expense to see this happen. He says: It would be a miracle of God if it happened. I know it... If God wills it, the summer rains will fill the wadis... and the salmon will run the river. And then my countrymen... all classes and manner of men--will stand side by side and fish for the salmon. And their natures, too, will be changed. They will feel the enchantment of this silver fish... and then when talk turns to what this tribe said or that tribe did... then someone will say, "Let us arise, and go fishing." Such is the sheikh's vision. He tells Alfred: "Without faith, there is no hope. Without faith, there is no love." Alfred has no religious faith and has been mired in a loveless marriage for twenty years, so these words seem fantastic to him. Alfred and Sheikh Muhammad connect immediately through their mutual love of fishing, despite Alfred's misgivings about the viability of the project. The Prime Minister's flack man tells Alfred that he must persevere and succeed because Great Britain needs some positive connection to the Middle East, something other than a failing, flailing war. These kinds of political alliances are always shaky at best, and when things start to go sideways, allies have a way of disappearing. Alfred soldiers on, with the help of the lovely Harriet, Sheikh Muhammad's land agent, and the project is readied for opening day, when the Sheikh and the Prime Minister will have a 20-minute photo op. All of the faith and good will in the world cannot overcome the forces ranged against them, bringing tragedy to everyone involved. Despite all, Alfred's interior life is changed immeasurably. He says in the end: "I believe in it, because it is impossible." --Valerie Ryan
Product Description
DEBUT FICTION UK BESTSELLER What does it take to make us believe in the impossible? For Dr. Alfred Jones, life is a quiet mixture of civil service at the National Centre for Fisheries Excellence and marriage to Mary—an ambitious, no-nonsense financier. But a strange turn of fate from an unexpected direction forces Jones to upend his existence and spend all of his time in pursuit of another man’s ludicrous dream. Can there be salmon in the Yemen? Science says no. But if resources are limitless and the visionary is inspired, maybe salmon fishing in the Yemen isn’t impossible. Then again, maybe nothing is.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 15 more reviews...
 Intelligent, funny and hugely entertaining - what a debut ! July 27, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"Salmon Fishing In The Yemen (SFIY)" is an unusually eye-catching title for a book. If your curiosity is piqued and you feel tempted to check it out, my advice is to go ahead and succumb unreservedly, especially if you enjoy English humour of the tongue-in-cheek variety for Paul Torday's debut novel is intelligent, funny and gloriously entertaining.
Presented as a tapestry of letters, emails, memos, diary entries, interviews, etc, SFIY satirizes, indeed lampoons the current state of English politics, exposing it as a non-stop circus stage managed by spin doctors out to ensure the popularity of the prime minister, regardless of the truth and whatever the cost. There is undoubtedly an element of farce in a storyline such as this - the introduction of salmon fishing under the desert conditions of Yemen is as absurd as the title suggests - yet in his storytelling, Torday maintains as straight a face as he can manage without any serious lapses and that's strong testimony to his developing craft.
Poor Dr Alfred Jones - the man at the center of this ludicrous project - is as hapless as a scientist untutored in the ways of dirty politics is expected to be...but there's more. Not only is he kicked around like a football by David Sugden, his two-faced evil master and Peter Maxwell, the public relations chief from the PM's office, - Sugden is surely the face of the devil - he is the poodle of his wife, Mary, who must be the most dreadful, self righteous and self absorbed woman to walk the face of this earth. Her non-stop volley of sanctimonious diatribes against poor Alfred - mostly via email 'cos she sees him as an unreliable provider so needs to secure her own independence elsewhere by working her own career (are feminists supposed to be sympathetic ?) - makes one want to give her a mighty tight slap across the face but ironically also provide some of the most wince-inducingly funny lines in the novel. The attempt at injecting a hint of romance in the story is nevertheless a little tentative and shaky. Harriet, Alfred's partner in the fishing project, is the potential love interest but when she dissolves into floods of tears once her boyfriend goes missing in action and never recovers from it, becomes a lost hope for Alfred. Elsewhere, as the fishing project escalates, the tide of memo, email and phone call exchanges between Maxwell and Sugden also gathers pace as the plot spins relentlessly towards its own inevitable tragic conclusion. It's like an episode from the "Yes Prime Minister" TV series but with real consequences.
SFIY is an impressive debut by the undoubtedly talented Torday. He's since written another book which should be worth checking out on the strength of this highly enjoyable debut.
Writing Style Reminds Me of Kingsley Amis -- Another Oxford Master October 17, 2007
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
This book delivers a writing style which is both new and rejuvenating.
Classically loyal to the concept of bureaucratic ploy, the plot of the book delivers a contradictory premise: evidencing a government bureaucracy becoming involved and fulfilling a "dead at arrival" concept of infusing salmon (a cold water fish) to the hot arid lands of Yemen.
Conscripted by his government to aid in the development of a sheikh's passion to deliver fish of the northern hemisphere to his equatorial land, the protagonist, Dr. Alfred Jones, initially eschews the requests demanded of him. It is preposterous, he thinks -as does anyone else. To be called upon to deliver an act which would ordinarily be deemed an exclusive right for the almighty, Dr. Jones understands that he needs to keep his job and thereupon surveys the concept and architects the impossible dream. And, does it become realty? You will have to read it to find out.
The writing style is what makes this book both comical and seemingly relevant. It includes: numerous e-mails between Jones and his career-driven Oxford educated (he is too) wife who leaves his home for an opportunity to make even more money than he does (a fact she too often reminds him about in their e-mail correspondence); journal entries by the protagonist; articles from various newspapers; transcripts of television accounts; transcripts of interrogations relating to criminal and other acts; intergovernmental memoranda; intergovernmental e-mails; and (my favorite), transcripts of Parliamentary sessions which involve the salmon issue as well as lost soldier Robert - whose betrothed works with Dr. Jones.
The prose often delivers other delicious items. The dialogue of the rogue fishing-bitten sheikh displays enormously talented diplomatic statements which only trained diplomats or monarchs would recite - flawlessly and seemingly effortlessly.
As the book evolves, the characters dive deeper and deeper into bitter sweet alliances, trysts and victories. And, you just have to continue as the writer lures you to see "if it all works out."
For anyone wanting a quick and delightful read, I recommend this book.
I loved this book October 7, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
As I read the previous reviews, I find that I share some of the criticisms of the people who hated the book. And from the reviews, it appears you either love or hate this book. I was intially put off by the style, that is that the book is told in emails, diary entries, etc. I find that unnerving and disjointed, and it causes the reader to have to constantly switch gears, so to speak, and I find that much more difficult to read than a straight narrative. By opening the book with emails, with all that to/from/what time information, I think the writer violated that first of all literary commands: Hook 'em from the beginning. ("It was a dark and stormy night...")
However, there is a point at which you do get hooked, if you can slog through the beginning. So it seems to me that the people who hated the book do so on issues of style. The people who love the book, including me, do so on issues of content.
There is a great deal of humor in the book, not always subtle as one reviewer suggested. The Quiz Show scenario, in which a Yemeni citizen wins a dishwasher to take to his non-existent, bombed-out, electricity-free village, is an example. But the rest of the humor is the kind that makes you smile, rather than laugh out loud.
Ultimately, the book does a stunning job of bringing home the point that none of us know what will happen tomorrow. We live, love, dream, and make plans based on hope that we will be there to see the dreams and plans come to pass. But if we don't, the life lived with those hopes and dreams is reward in itself. The book has an unexpected climax that is quite shattering. And uplifting at the same time. So...read this book. Go for content. Style is the author's perogative.
"It was such fun to be going off to fish for our country." September 23, 2007
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
(4.5 stars) One of the most delightful and original satires I've read in ages, this debut novel pokes fun at every aspect of British society, from government spin-meisters and crass politicians to marriages of convenience, TV interview programs, consumerism, and the belief that many of the world's problems would be solved if only other people were "more like us." This satire is particularly refreshing, however, since the author writes it with a smile on his face, preferring to prick balloons with his witty needling, rather than wield a rapier in a slashing attack.
The absurdity begins on the first page, when mild-mannered and unimaginative Dr. Alfred Jones, a fisheries specialist, receives a letter asking for his participation in a project to introduce Scottish salmon and the sport of salmon fishing into the wadis of the Yemen during the yearly rains. Alfred finds the whole idea ludicrous and ignores the letter, until the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and eventually the prime minister weigh in. The PM's office favors this effort for its "environmental message," the new links it will forge to a Middle Eastern country, and not incidentally, the huge, positive news story that may push stories of Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabia off the front page.
Through letters, e-mails, memos, diary entries, newspaper articles, records of the House of Commons, interviews, and even intercepted al-Qaeda e-mail traffic, the story of Alfred's efforts to create a suitable environment for salmon in the mountains of western Yemen unfolds. Gradually, Alfred becomes intrigued with the research possibilities of the project, and his contact with His Excellency Sheikh Muhammad ibn Zaidi bani Tihama, an avid salmon-fisherman who lives part of the year on a Scottish estate, broadens his vision and stimulates his imagination.
Within the framework that includes the salmon project, Alfred's love life (or lack of love life, since his wife lives in Geneva), and the sheikh's broad vision of a more peaceful world achieved through fishing, the author pokes fun at modern life--government officials who take credit for all Alfred's work, foreign policy which reflects the belief that the Middle Eastern poor hate the British because they do not have TV and material benefits, and even a communications expert who proposes a "Voice of Britain" TV channel with a quiz show in which poor Iraqi contestants can win dishwashers. Not even the British army's "Bereavement Management Center" escapes the author's sharp eye.
As Alfred accepts the sheikh's "belief in belief," he grows emotionally, and when the prime minister insists on going to the Yemen for the first release of ten thousand young salmon into the wadi, the scene is set for a grand finale. Filled with timely observations, an entertaining cast of characters, and a unique and well-developed story line (though the conclusion is a bit weak), this novel breaks new ground. There are not many satires that can be called "charming," and there may be even fewer novels about salmon fishing that can completely captivate those of us who have never climbed into a set of waders. Mary Whipple
 I enjoyed the questions for discussion at the end of the book more than the book itself!, September 9, 2007
I got used to the story being in the form of letters, e-mails, interviews and diary entries and it seemed to get easier to read as the story moved along. However there were sections I skim read that I found plain boring.
Although I could see the political satire in the story I would have to question the description that it's a `...feelgood comedy...' as suggested on the back cover.
The intelligent conversation and observation came mainly from Sheikh Muhammad who was a likable and respected figure. I liked his observations on the class snobbery in Britain...maybe that WAS the comedy ;)
When we first meet Dr Jones (Fred) he has `...moved on from religion...' and gives talks on 'Why God cannot exist'. As the story develops he learns about faith from both the Sheikh and the Yemen project. However, although I appreciated his personal journey, I never got to really like him, I just felt sorry for him.
All in all it was 'okay'. A little dull, but readable.
Thankfully though, there are plenty more books on the shelf ;)
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