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| Salmon Fishing in the Yemen | 
 enlarge | Author: Paul Torday
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Category: Book
List Price: £12.99
Buy Used: £0.01
You Save: £12.98 (100%)
New (21) from £1.32
Avg. Customer Rating:  67 reviews
Sales Rank: 91660
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.5 x 1.4
ISBN: 0297851586
EAN: 9780297851585
ASIN: 0297851586
Publication Date: February 1, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: UNREAD but may have minor imperfections such as a crease or mark. In stock - quick dispatch, from an efficient and professional leading British bookselling firm.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 62 more reviews...
 Not bad, but let down by a poor ending October 31, 2008
Torday's novel is readable enough, and impressively the story is carried along convincingly by the use of a less than traditional narrative, such as email excerpts, Hansard reports, transcripts of interviews etc. Surprisingly - it works, but the book is let down by the limpest and most abrupt of endings. It's almost like the author wasn't quite sure how to bring things to a neat ending and rushed it a bit. Nevertheless, entertaining enough, and no doubt it's already a film script in production somewhere.
 I loved this book - please write some more September 21, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The style in which this story is presented is very interesting - using diaries, interviews, emails and letters. It intrigues me and I found that the continual change of pace and point of view dragged me more and more into the story.
The use of Dr Jones' diary takes the reader into the head of the scientist and develops him as the main character. There is also the very factual reporting of the events around him using reports and newspaper cuttings in which the political undertones are always very apparent.
The writing throughout is very straightforward and I found it very enjoyable to read. The start of the "interrogations" brought in a darkness to the novel and an intrigue which from then onwards built towards the completely unexpected ending.
 What a pleasant surprise! August 9, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I'd seen this book in the shops and hadn't taken too much notice of it as the title rather put me off. I'm not particularly interested in fishing (well - not at all, really) and the Yemen sounded rather distant and obscure. However, a friend recommended it to me and lent me his copy. I put it on my pile of "books to read" (which is rapidly approaching the ceiling) where it remained for a while. I'd finished reading my last book and grabbed this one off the pile before rushing off to work one morning and how glad I am that I did! I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's witty, unusual, interesting, informative and has a clever and unexpected ending. I found the style of writing interesting, being a mixture of emails, reports, narrative, and correspondence, despite which it was not in the least bit confusing. Also, the rather terse (on one side, at least) correspondence between our hero (if that's what we can call him) and his wife brought a smile to my face as it possibly reflected some married couples' relationships all too well! I now know quite a bit about salmon, their habitat and their breeding habits that I didn't before reading this, which information was imparted totally painlessly and didn't detract from the plot. I'm so pleased that my friend persuaded me to read this book and I shall certainly recommend it to others. It was very different from anything I've read before. Do give it go!
Delightful Yarn June 17, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A satirical, humorous fishy tale, flavoured with the double-speak of the British civil service, politicans, an empty marriage, the different faces of love, faith, hope, and incompetent Yemini Jihadis. Much to his dismay, Fisheries Scientist Dr. Alfred Jones is ordered to do the impossible, which is to populate the Wadi Aleyne in the highlands of the Yemen with wild salmon. His wife Mary, a successfull international banker, with a mind like a Microsoft Excell spread sheet, is certain the project will fail. Fred also thinks it's a hair brained scheme, until meeting Ms Harriet Chetwode-Talbot. Harriet is the go-between for elderly, wise, Yemeni Sheikh Muhammad, a mystical salmon fisherman with an Estate in the highlands of Scotland. The salmon project, becomes the most defining period of his life for scientific humanist Fred. Who records his deepest longings, along with the projects progress, in his diary.
I would have given this delightful novel five stars, had it not been for the combined use of interviews,newspaper reports, and Hansard. That approach could be somewhat irksome. Praise to the author for an otherwise, rattling good yarn. I would recommend the book to friends.
Good but labourous read June 12, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I liked this book in the end but found it difficult to get fully into it due to the way in which Paul Torday decided to set the novel out. After the first 100-so pages I started to get fully into the book and did enjoy it to a certain extent.
The way characters are portrayed, bumbling well meaning Dr Jones, cynical Maxwell and the prophetic and highly intelligent sheikh, was very good and it helped the story along well. (I find that in books that are written in letter, email, report etc form that characterisation can often be pushed aside but Torday managed to prove this idea wrong for the better).
It was funny but it was also sad, I felt for Jones and Harriet towards the end of the novel (although not for Mary Jones) and it was the way Torday made this happen that really wins my praise. Unfortunately the medium and the way that the story often dragged along was a disappointment.
3/5
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