The Book of Eels by Patrik Svensson (2019)

Finished: 7/30/21

Grade: B+

This book goes back and forth between Svensson’s personal experiences fishing for eel with his father in Sweden, and historical tales of the scientists who tried to unravel the mystery of the European Eel’s breeding habits.

The personal bits were great. A beautiful exploration of Svensson’s relationship with his father, through the lens of the eel; a slippery and mysterious creature that Svensson elevates to the realm of the mythic.

The historical parts were less exciting. Mainly, I think, because, other than the question “Where do eels breed?” not a lot of scientific attention has been paid to the European eel. Svensson, then, is forced to stretch the narrative to fill in the gaps.

A particularly egregious example is the chapter that focuses on Sigmund Freud. Apparently, before he was a famous psychologist, Freud spent some time studying eels. In the end Freud doesn’t actually learn anything about eels, and doesn’t mention them again in any of his correspondence or published works, but still Svensson concludes that “Maybe” his time studying them “could have” influenced his later theories about sex. Theories which have all been debunked by now anyway, so…

It feels like Svensson is grasping for historical straws, which is strange because there must be more pertinent eel material out there, right? Doesn’t the Samoan creation myth involve eels? What about Japan? They’ve GOTTA have some good eel stories there. And what about Moray eels? Electric eels? The big eel in Mario 64!? It feels like there were some missed opportunities there,

BUT

I do know more about eels than I did before, and I was truly moved by the more intimate personal aspects of the book. So all in all, I would say a book worth reading.

Big ups to Midway Airport for selling me this bad boy! And big ups to Renata De Oliveira for an amazing cover design!

The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers (1940)

Finished: 07/18/21

Grade: A+

The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter follows the yearning exploits of four disparate misfits living in a small Georgia mill town in the 1930’s. Their only connection is a friendship with Mr. Singer, a deaf man who they all separately believe to be the only one who understands them.

A heartbreaking examination of our limited ability, as human beings, to communicate what goes on in our hearts, and the ways people try and fail to relate to each other.

I liked this book a lot! Big ups to Neil Bhandari for recommending this bad boy!

News Of The World by Paulette Jiles (2016)

Finished: 06/22/21

Grade: A

In a lawless North Texas, after the civil war, aging newspaper barker Captain Kidd is tasked with returning a young girl who had been captured by Kiowa Indians to her birth family.

Is there a term for novels about cantankerous old men reluctantly agreeing to take care of a precocious young girl, and then slowly growing to love her over time? Elderbait? Grandpacore? Chicken Soup For Your Dad’s Soul?

Whatever you want to call it, News of The World is a strong entry in the canon. A showcase of simplicity in storytelling set on the well-worn backdrop of the American West. Sort of what would happen if you took a background character in your favorite Western and said “Ok, enough about sheriff John Brown and the Tennessee kid, what’s that guy’s story” An easy adventure, with enough depth to give you that feeling of gaining something. A really solid novel. And now a major motion picture. Go figure!