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螣 蠄伪蟻维蟼
韦慰 巍苇渭伪 蟿慰蠀 螣位位伪谓未慰蠉, 苇谓伪蟼 慰蟻渭畏蟿喂魏蠈蟼 蠂蔚委渭伪蟻蟻慰蟼 渭蔚 伪蟺蠈蟿慰渭蔚蟼 蠈蠂胃蔚蟼, 未喂伪蟽蠂委味蔚喂 蟿伪 未维蟽畏 纬蠉蟻蠅 伪蟺蠈 蟿慰 螕慰蠉谓蟿蟽蟿慰魏, 蟽蟿伪 尾蠈蟻蔚喂伪 蟿畏蟼 蟺慰位喂蟿蔚委伪蟼 蟿畏蟼 螡苇伪蟼 违蠈蟻魏畏蟼, 纬蔚渭维蟿慰蟼 蠀蟺慰蟽蠂苇蟽蔚喂蟼 纬喂伪 蔚蟺委未慰尉慰蠀蟼 蠄伪蟻维未蔚蟼.
韦苇蟿慰喂慰喂 蠄伪蟻维未蔚蟼 蔚委谓伪喂 魏伪喂 慰 螆喂渭蟺 渭蔚 蟿慰谓 螡蟿伪谓, 未蠀慰 蠁委位慰喂 蟺慰蠀 尾蟻萎魏伪谓 蟺伪蟻畏纬慰蟻喂维 纬喂伪 蟿畏谓 伪蟺蠋位蔚喂伪 蟿蠅谓 伪纬伪蟺畏渭苇谓蠅谓 蟿慰蠀蟼 蟽蟿慰 魏慰喂谓蠈 蟿慰蠀蟼 蟺维胃慰蟼 纬喂伪 蟿慰 蠄维蟻蔚渭伪. 螣喂 蠁萎渭蔚蟼, 蠈渭蠅蟼, 蟺慰蠀 蟽蠀谓慰未蔚蠉慰蠀谓 蟿慰 巍苇渭伪 蟿慰蠀 螣位位伪谓未慰蠉 未蔚谓 魏维谓慰蠀谓 位蠈纬慰 渭蠈谓慰 纬喂伪 苇谓伪谓 伪蟺慰渭慰谓蠅渭苇谓慰 蠄伪蟻蠈蟿慰蟺慰, 伪位位维 魏伪喂 纬喂伪 苇谓伪 渭蠀蟽蟿喂魏蠈 蟺慰蠀 尾蟻委蟽魏蔚蟿伪喂 蔚魏蔚委 魏伪喂 蟺慰蠀 委蟽蠅蟼 尾慰畏胃慰蠉蟽蔚 谓伪 伪蟺伪位蠉谓慰蠀谓 蟿畏 胃位委蠄畏 蟿慰蠀蟼 慰 螡蟿伪谓 魏伪喂 慰 螆喂渭蟺.
螤伪蟻蠈位慰 蟺慰蠀 魏伪喂 慰喂 未蠀慰 蟿慰蠀蟼 伪谓蟿喂渭蔚蟿蠅蟺委味慰蠀谓 蟿喂蟼 蠁萎渭蔚蟼 伪蠀蟿苇蟼 蟽伪谓 未蔚喂蟽喂未伪喂渭慰谓委蔚蟼, 蟽蠉谓蟿慰渭伪 胃伪 尾蟻蔚胃慰蠉谓 渭蟺位蔚纬渭苇谓慰喂 蟽蔚 渭喂伪 喂蟽蟿慰蟻委伪 蟽魏慰蟿蔚喂谓萎 蟽伪谓 蟿伪 慰蟻渭畏蟿喂魏维 谓蔚蟻维 蔚魏蔚委谓慰蠀 蟿慰蠀 蠂蔚喂渭维蟻蟻慰蠀, 渭蔚 蔚蟺委魏蔚谓蟿蟻慰 苇谓伪谓 渭蠀蟽蟿畏蟻喂蠋未畏 维谓未蟻伪 渭蔚 蟿慰 蟺蟻慰蟽蠅谓蠉渭喂慰 唯伪蚁维蟼, 渭喂伪 喂蟽蟿慰蟻委伪 蟺慰蠀 胃伪 蟿慰蠀蟼 蠁苇蟻蔚喂 伪谓蟿喂渭苇蟿蠅蟺慰蠀蟼 渭蔚 蟿喂蟼 伪蟺蠋位蔚喂蔚蟼 蟺慰蠀 苇蠂慰蠀谓 尾喂蠋蟽蔚喂 魏伪喂 渭蔚 蟿慰 蟿委渭畏渭伪 蟺慰蠀 胃伪 蟺蟻苇蟺蔚喂 谓伪 魏伪蟿伪尾维位慰蠀谓 纬喂伪 谓伪 蟿喂蟼 伪谓伪蟺位畏蟻蠋蟽慰蠀谓.
螣 唯伪蚁维蟼, 苇谓伪 伪蟺蠈 蟿伪 蟽蠀纬魏位慰谓喂蟽蟿喂魏蠈蟿蔚蟻伪 渭蠀胃喂蟽蟿慰蟻萎渭伪蟿伪 蟿蟻蠈渭慰蠀 蟿蠅谓 蟿蔚位蔚蠀蟿伪委蠅谓 蔚蟿蠋谓, 渭喂位维蔚喂 纬喂伪 蟿畏谓 伪蟺蠋位蔚喂伪, 蟿畏 渭慰谓伪尉喂维 魏伪喂 蟿畏 蠁喂位委伪, 渭蔚 蟺蔚蟻委蟿蔚蠂谓畏 纬蟻伪蠁萎, 位蔚蟺蟿慰未慰蠀位蔚渭苇谓畏 蟺位慰魏萎 魏伪喂 蟽魏慰蟿蔚喂谓萎 蠁伪谓蟿伪蟽委伪, 蟽蠀谓未蠀维味慰谓蟿伪蟼 蟿畏 尾喂尾位喂魏萎 喂蟽蟿慰蟻委伪 蟿慰蠀 螜蠋尾, 蟿慰 螠蠈渭蟺喂 螡蟿喂魏 蟿慰蠀 围苇蟻渭伪谓 螠苇位尾喂位, 魏伪喂 蟿喂蟼 喂蟽蟿慰蟻委蔚蟼 蟿慰蠀 围.桅. 螞维尾魏蟻伪蠁蟿. 韦慰 2016, 慰 唯伪蚁维蟼 蟺萎蟻蔚 蟿慰 尾蟻伪尾蔚委慰 Bram Stoker 螝伪位蠉蟿蔚蟻慰蠀 螠蠀胃喂蟽蟿慰蟻萎渭伪蟿慰蟼.
韦苇蟿慰喂慰喂 蠄伪蟻维未蔚蟼 蔚委谓伪喂 魏伪喂 慰 螆喂渭蟺 渭蔚 蟿慰谓 螡蟿伪谓, 未蠀慰 蠁委位慰喂 蟺慰蠀 尾蟻萎魏伪谓 蟺伪蟻畏纬慰蟻喂维 纬喂伪 蟿畏谓 伪蟺蠋位蔚喂伪 蟿蠅谓 伪纬伪蟺畏渭苇谓蠅谓 蟿慰蠀蟼 蟽蟿慰 魏慰喂谓蠈 蟿慰蠀蟼 蟺维胃慰蟼 纬喂伪 蟿慰 蠄维蟻蔚渭伪. 螣喂 蠁萎渭蔚蟼, 蠈渭蠅蟼, 蟺慰蠀 蟽蠀谓慰未蔚蠉慰蠀谓 蟿慰 巍苇渭伪 蟿慰蠀 螣位位伪谓未慰蠉 未蔚谓 魏维谓慰蠀谓 位蠈纬慰 渭蠈谓慰 纬喂伪 苇谓伪谓 伪蟺慰渭慰谓蠅渭苇谓慰 蠄伪蟻蠈蟿慰蟺慰, 伪位位维 魏伪喂 纬喂伪 苇谓伪 渭蠀蟽蟿喂魏蠈 蟺慰蠀 尾蟻委蟽魏蔚蟿伪喂 蔚魏蔚委 魏伪喂 蟺慰蠀 委蟽蠅蟼 尾慰畏胃慰蠉蟽蔚 谓伪 伪蟺伪位蠉谓慰蠀谓 蟿畏 胃位委蠄畏 蟿慰蠀蟼 慰 螡蟿伪谓 魏伪喂 慰 螆喂渭蟺.
螤伪蟻蠈位慰 蟺慰蠀 魏伪喂 慰喂 未蠀慰 蟿慰蠀蟼 伪谓蟿喂渭蔚蟿蠅蟺委味慰蠀谓 蟿喂蟼 蠁萎渭蔚蟼 伪蠀蟿苇蟼 蟽伪谓 未蔚喂蟽喂未伪喂渭慰谓委蔚蟼, 蟽蠉谓蟿慰渭伪 胃伪 尾蟻蔚胃慰蠉谓 渭蟺位蔚纬渭苇谓慰喂 蟽蔚 渭喂伪 喂蟽蟿慰蟻委伪 蟽魏慰蟿蔚喂谓萎 蟽伪谓 蟿伪 慰蟻渭畏蟿喂魏维 谓蔚蟻维 蔚魏蔚委谓慰蠀 蟿慰蠀 蠂蔚喂渭维蟻蟻慰蠀, 渭蔚 蔚蟺委魏蔚谓蟿蟻慰 苇谓伪谓 渭蠀蟽蟿畏蟻喂蠋未畏 维谓未蟻伪 渭蔚 蟿慰 蟺蟻慰蟽蠅谓蠉渭喂慰 唯伪蚁维蟼, 渭喂伪 喂蟽蟿慰蟻委伪 蟺慰蠀 胃伪 蟿慰蠀蟼 蠁苇蟻蔚喂 伪谓蟿喂渭苇蟿蠅蟺慰蠀蟼 渭蔚 蟿喂蟼 伪蟺蠋位蔚喂蔚蟼 蟺慰蠀 苇蠂慰蠀谓 尾喂蠋蟽蔚喂 魏伪喂 渭蔚 蟿慰 蟿委渭畏渭伪 蟺慰蠀 胃伪 蟺蟻苇蟺蔚喂 谓伪 魏伪蟿伪尾维位慰蠀谓 纬喂伪 谓伪 蟿喂蟼 伪谓伪蟺位畏蟻蠋蟽慰蠀谓.
螣 唯伪蚁维蟼, 苇谓伪 伪蟺蠈 蟿伪 蟽蠀纬魏位慰谓喂蟽蟿喂魏蠈蟿蔚蟻伪 渭蠀胃喂蟽蟿慰蟻萎渭伪蟿伪 蟿蟻蠈渭慰蠀 蟿蠅谓 蟿蔚位蔚蠀蟿伪委蠅谓 蔚蟿蠋谓, 渭喂位维蔚喂 纬喂伪 蟿畏谓 伪蟺蠋位蔚喂伪, 蟿畏 渭慰谓伪尉喂维 魏伪喂 蟿畏 蠁喂位委伪, 渭蔚 蟺蔚蟻委蟿蔚蠂谓畏 纬蟻伪蠁萎, 位蔚蟺蟿慰未慰蠀位蔚渭苇谓畏 蟺位慰魏萎 魏伪喂 蟽魏慰蟿蔚喂谓萎 蠁伪谓蟿伪蟽委伪, 蟽蠀谓未蠀维味慰谓蟿伪蟼 蟿畏 尾喂尾位喂魏萎 喂蟽蟿慰蟻委伪 蟿慰蠀 螜蠋尾, 蟿慰 螠蠈渭蟺喂 螡蟿喂魏 蟿慰蠀 围苇蟻渭伪谓 螠苇位尾喂位, 魏伪喂 蟿喂蟼 喂蟽蟿慰蟻委蔚蟼 蟿慰蠀 围.桅. 螞维尾魏蟻伪蠁蟿. 韦慰 2016, 慰 唯伪蚁维蟼 蟺萎蟻蔚 蟿慰 尾蟻伪尾蔚委慰 Bram Stoker 螝伪位蠉蟿蔚蟻慰蠀 螠蠀胃喂蟽蟿慰蟻萎渭伪蟿慰蟼.
392 pages, Paperback
First published June 30, 2016
3,193 people are currently reading
82.5k people want to read
About the author
John Langan
80听books1,674听followersJohn Langan is the author of two novels, The Fisherman (Word Horde 2016) and House of Windows (Night Shade 2009), and two collections of stories, The Wide, Carnivorous Sky and Other Monstrous Geographies (Hippocampus 2013) and Mr. Gaunt and Other Uneasy Encounters (Prime 2008). With Paul Tremblay, he co-edited Creatures: Thirty Years of Monsters (Prime 2011). He's one of the founders of the Shirley Jackson Awards, for which he served as a juror during its first three years. Currently, he reviews horror and dark fantasy for Locus magazine.
John Langan lives in New York's Hudson Valley with his wife, younger son, and many, many animals. He teaches at SUNY New Paltz. He's working toward his black belt in the Korean martial art of Tang Soo Do.
John Langan lives in New York's Hudson Valley with his wife, younger son, and many, many animals. He teaches at SUNY New Paltz. He's working toward his black belt in the Korean martial art of Tang Soo Do.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 5,150 reviews
April 12, 2017
This novel is a potent mix of cosmic menace, human frailties and dark听folklore.听 Two stories take place along different timelines and听intersect in a colossal ordeal.听 The writing is masterful, and the reader is literally plunged into a black sea of dire possibilities.听 While the situations encountered听are those of nightmares, the characters are fully drawn and wholly relatable.听 This听is a captivating read from beginning to end.听
April 27, 2022
For a hot minute, I thought I was stuck reading a book about fishing. That is no good for someone with the attention span of a squirrel. A book has to grab me fast to make me hang in there. So I struggled for a few chapters because it was all about fishing. I mean, it is The Fisherman. Is a giant fish going to jump out of the river and eat people? Zombie fishes? Then the story unfolded and off we went all the way to the end, holding my breath. It makes the question of what would you do if you could get your loved back from the dead? Could you sacrifice your life? Become something not human? Would it be worth it?
Excellent plot (besides the fishing) heart pounding moments. However, not one zombie fish! Highly recommend.
Excellent plot (besides the fishing) heart pounding moments. However, not one zombie fish! Highly recommend.
July 1, 2016
One of my favorites of 2016 so far. And I blurbed it! Cue blurb!
John Langan鈥檚 The Fisherman is literary horror at its sharpest and most imaginative. It鈥檚 at turns a quiet and powerfully melancholy story about loss and grief; the impossibility of going on in same manner as you had before. It鈥檚 also a rollicking, kick-ass, white-knuckle charge into the winding, wild, raging river of redemption. Illusory, frightening, and deeply moving, The Fisherman is a modern horror epic. And it鈥檚 simply a must read.
John Langan鈥檚 The Fisherman is literary horror at its sharpest and most imaginative. It鈥檚 at turns a quiet and powerfully melancholy story about loss and grief; the impossibility of going on in same manner as you had before. It鈥檚 also a rollicking, kick-ass, white-knuckle charge into the winding, wild, raging river of redemption. Illusory, frightening, and deeply moving, The Fisherman is a modern horror epic. And it鈥檚 simply a must read.
August 23, 2020
鈥淚t would be a lie to say the time passes quickly. It never does, when you want it to.鈥�
You know you鈥檝e got a real special book on your hands when the first thing you do upon finishing is reshuffle your top 10 books of ALL-TIME. This hasn鈥檛 happened since East of Eden this time last year! So that is a true testament to how much I loved this book.
I have a soft spot for books that explore themes of grief and loss. I also go bananas for horror - obviously. So when these elements are all mixed together in a big bowl, and when the book is written as beautifully as this one is, there is no question I鈥檓 going to love it!
The Fisherman takes the form of a story within a story. Two men who have recently undergone huge losses in their life bond over the love of fishing. They venture out to different fishing spots, but Dutchman鈥檚 Creek is unlike anywhere they鈥檝e fished before...
Gee, a story about two men fishing, Johann?! I hear you cry. How BORING that must be. But believe me, that is far from the case. This ended up being one of the most memorable and imaginative books I鈥檝e ever read. Both stories told are equally enthralling. I鈥檓 OBSESSED.
As I鈥檝e said before, this book felt like the perfect combination of King and Lovecraft. And no, you do not need to be a Lovecraft fan to fully appreciate this. I would highly recommend The Fisherman to any horror fan, any reader, who enjoys a slow burn that builds to a terrifying conclusion.
I can鈥檛 do this book this justice - I don鈥檛 have the words. But I simply adored every single page of it! 5 billion stars.
You know you鈥檝e got a real special book on your hands when the first thing you do upon finishing is reshuffle your top 10 books of ALL-TIME. This hasn鈥檛 happened since East of Eden this time last year! So that is a true testament to how much I loved this book.
I have a soft spot for books that explore themes of grief and loss. I also go bananas for horror - obviously. So when these elements are all mixed together in a big bowl, and when the book is written as beautifully as this one is, there is no question I鈥檓 going to love it!
The Fisherman takes the form of a story within a story. Two men who have recently undergone huge losses in their life bond over the love of fishing. They venture out to different fishing spots, but Dutchman鈥檚 Creek is unlike anywhere they鈥檝e fished before...
Gee, a story about two men fishing, Johann?! I hear you cry. How BORING that must be. But believe me, that is far from the case. This ended up being one of the most memorable and imaginative books I鈥檝e ever read. Both stories told are equally enthralling. I鈥檓 OBSESSED.
As I鈥檝e said before, this book felt like the perfect combination of King and Lovecraft. And no, you do not need to be a Lovecraft fan to fully appreciate this. I would highly recommend The Fisherman to any horror fan, any reader, who enjoys a slow burn that builds to a terrifying conclusion.
I can鈥檛 do this book this justice - I don鈥檛 have the words. But I simply adored every single page of it! 5 billion stars.
June 25, 2018
I've been meaning to read this book since I first heard it won a Bram Stoker award. Pro tip: If you're ever looking for good horror books to read, just go back and look at what was nominated and the winners of the Stokers or the Shirley Jackson awards.
So The Fisherman!
I had heard that people were calling this, "cosmic, Lovecraftian horror". But you won't hear these horror buzz words from me because I haven't read any Lovecraft (yet).
But if those descriptions mean that this book has some seriously dark, deep sea, weird, black magic folklore elements, then yes--it's "Lovecraftian-ish".
I loved how the story started out with a melancholy tale of grief and loss that two, unlikely friends share and how this develops into a therapeutic relationship around fishing. Ultimately, a new story is introduced and we are immersed into a totally different narrative that has this dark, gothic flavor.
The book takes some unexpected turns that I really enjoyed--A few times, I found myself doggie paddling in the author's vast storyline and I could have used a lifeline in those moments. But I quickly found my way back to the thread I was enjoying and got reinvested in the story. So I did dock it one star for those "hard to navigate moments"
Over all, this is a great horror book for any fan of dark fiction--some truly chilling, scary moments as well. Definitely one you'll want to read at night--and on a beach vacation would be perfect!!
So The Fisherman!
I had heard that people were calling this, "cosmic, Lovecraftian horror". But you won't hear these horror buzz words from me because I haven't read any Lovecraft (yet).
But if those descriptions mean that this book has some seriously dark, deep sea, weird, black magic folklore elements, then yes--it's "Lovecraftian-ish".
I loved how the story started out with a melancholy tale of grief and loss that two, unlikely friends share and how this develops into a therapeutic relationship around fishing. Ultimately, a new story is introduced and we are immersed into a totally different narrative that has this dark, gothic flavor.
The book takes some unexpected turns that I really enjoyed--A few times, I found myself doggie paddling in the author's vast storyline and I could have used a lifeline in those moments. But I quickly found my way back to the thread I was enjoying and got reinvested in the story. So I did dock it one star for those "hard to navigate moments"
Over all, this is a great horror book for any fan of dark fiction--some truly chilling, scary moments as well. Definitely one you'll want to read at night--and on a beach vacation would be perfect!!
January 21, 2019
John Langan's THE FISHERMAN is a phenomenal story within a story.
Featuring cosmic horror, quiet horror, psychological horrors and a few scenes that were just horrific in general, I find myself lacking the words this book deserves.
This tale was outstanding and I waited way too long to read it. You should read it and the sooner the better.
My HIGHEST recommendation!
You can get a copy here:
*I bought this book with my hard earned cash and the author was kind enough to sign it for me. Thank you, sir!*
Featuring cosmic horror, quiet horror, psychological horrors and a few scenes that were just horrific in general, I find myself lacking the words this book deserves.
This tale was outstanding and I waited way too long to read it. You should read it and the sooner the better.
My HIGHEST recommendation!
You can get a copy here:
*I bought this book with my hard earned cash and the author was kind enough to sign it for me. Thank you, sir!*
October 31, 2021
鈥淪ome years ago, never mind how many, I started to fish. I鈥檝e been fishing a long time, now, and as you might guess, I know a story or two. That鈥檚 what fishermen are, right? Storytellers. Some I鈥檝e lived; some I鈥檝e had from the mouths of others. Most of them are funny; they bring a smile to your face and sometimes a laugh, which are no small things鈥ome of my stories are what I鈥檇 call strange. I know only a few of these, but they make you scratch your head and maybe give you a little shiver, which can be a pleasure in its own way. But there鈥檚 one story 鈥� well, it鈥檚 downright awful, almost too much to be spoken. It happened going on ten years ago, on the first Saturday in June, and by the time night had fallen, I鈥檇 lost a good friend, most of my sanity, and damn near my life鈥︹€�
- John Langan, The Fisherman
John Langan鈥檚 The Fisherman is a novel that makes no claims to absolute originality. To the contrary, from its very first lines 鈥� which are borrowed and repurposed from Moby Dick 鈥� Langan shows a willingness to borrow liberally from the stories that came before. Aside from Melville, he also utilizes 鈥� to good effect 鈥� the upstate New York setting and Dutch mythmaking of Washington Irvin鈥檚 The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. In terms of theme and plot mechanics, specifically a supernatural entity willing to give you back what you鈥檝e lost, for a price, this contains more than a few echoes of Stephen King鈥檚 Pet Sematary.
What makes The Fisherman unique is how those elements are fashioned into something fresh and unexpected.
Before we get to that, a brief plot recapitulation is in order. And when I say brief, I mean it. The Fisherman is about two widowers 鈥� Abe and Dan 鈥� who end up having one unforgettable fishing trip in the waters of Dutchman鈥檚 Creek, located in the Catskill Mountains. Things get weird, then they get super weird, then they get bad, and finally they get worse. To get into many more particulars would be to risk saying too much.
Rather than focus on what happens in the book, I want to talk about its structure. What makes The Fisherman so interesting to me is the way that Langan has it unfold. Specifically, he divides the proceedings into three very different acts.
The first 鈥� narrated in the first person by Abe 鈥� tells of the growing friendship between himself and Dan, a fellow IBM worker who, like Abe, has lost his wife. Firmly grounded in real life, without a horror element in sight, Langan does a better-than-solid job evoking the complexities of grief and loss, and how the death of a person can leave the survivor in an unmapped world that only vaguely resembles the one they鈥檝e left behind. The relationship between Abe and Dan develops through fishing, and Langan is perceptive of the way that certain people 鈥� especially men 鈥� bond through shared actions rather than shared words.
Almost the entire second act is a story-within-a-story. Spurred on by Dan, the two fishing buddies head to the Catskills, where they intend to do some angling on Dutchman鈥檚 Creek. They stop at a restaurant during a rain storm, and in a scene that is half-parody, half-homage to a standard trope, they are made to listen to the restaurant owner鈥檚 meandering tale about the dangers that await them if they venture any further.
Frankly, I abhor the nested narrative. It鈥檚 one of the main reasons that I can barely stand Joseph Conrad, even though his concepts and storylines are so great. When I read fiction, I want to be in the middle of the action. I don鈥檛 want to be held at a distance, caught in some meta-nightmare where I鈥檓 passively reading a story about a guy passively telling a story. Thus, I was initially pretty annoyed with this setup, wherein we leave Abe and Dan for an extended monologue given by a guy who heard it from another guy who heard it from a gal.
Somehow, despite my basic incredulity 鈥� how long did Abe and Dan just stand there, listening? 鈥� the substance of the restaurant owner鈥檚 soliloquy won me over. It deftly builds a mythology while also creating an atmosphere of gradually accumulating dread. Things eventually got too strange for my taste, but it can鈥檛 be said that Langan has not attempted to devise a workable supernatural system for his characters to deal with.
The third act 鈥� which jumps back to Abe as the narrator 鈥� uses the second act鈥檚 stage-setting to show what happens when Abe and Dan get to Dutchman鈥檚 Creek. Unlike the wide-ranging first section, this one mainly covers just a single day. Like I said up top, it鈥檚 fantastically bizarre, exceptionally violent, and even a little sad, though the mournful notes are overwhelmed by everything else.
Generally speaking, this is my kind of horror (though horror is not really my thing), because it is built outwards from the characters. This is not the kind of book where people exist just to die. With that said, Abe and Dan don鈥檛 necessarily make for the most memorable protagonists. Langan tries his best, but they simply didn鈥檛 make a strong enough impression on me to achieve the emotional resonance that Langan was clearly aiming for. This also hurts the ending, which is otherwise well executed.
Characters aside, the writing is very good, especially Langan鈥檚 ability to create a tactile sense of place. There were moments when I really sensed that I was out fishing with Abe. New York State is a proven commodity as a horror locale, and Langan gets the atmospherics exactly right.
The best horror I鈥檝e read 鈥� an admittedly limited amount 鈥� doesn鈥檛 give me jump scares, or have me checking the locks and peeking under the bed. Instead, my favorites of the genre fill me with an existential dread. I鈥檓 talking about the aforementioned Pet Sematary, as well as Scott B. Smith鈥檚 The Ruins.
Inciting that kind of dread was clearly Langan鈥檚 intention. Unfortunately, for me, he fell a bit short. I liked and respected The Fisherman, but it is more an appreciation for Langan鈥檚 craft 鈥� the way he put his interlocking pieces together, how each of the three acts inform each other 鈥� than anything else. Still, if you鈥檙e looking for some minor chills, you could do a lot worse than this competently handled, professionally written account that proves there is such a thing as a bad day fishing.
- John Langan, The Fisherman
John Langan鈥檚 The Fisherman is a novel that makes no claims to absolute originality. To the contrary, from its very first lines 鈥� which are borrowed and repurposed from Moby Dick 鈥� Langan shows a willingness to borrow liberally from the stories that came before. Aside from Melville, he also utilizes 鈥� to good effect 鈥� the upstate New York setting and Dutch mythmaking of Washington Irvin鈥檚 The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. In terms of theme and plot mechanics, specifically a supernatural entity willing to give you back what you鈥檝e lost, for a price, this contains more than a few echoes of Stephen King鈥檚 Pet Sematary.
What makes The Fisherman unique is how those elements are fashioned into something fresh and unexpected.
Before we get to that, a brief plot recapitulation is in order. And when I say brief, I mean it. The Fisherman is about two widowers 鈥� Abe and Dan 鈥� who end up having one unforgettable fishing trip in the waters of Dutchman鈥檚 Creek, located in the Catskill Mountains. Things get weird, then they get super weird, then they get bad, and finally they get worse. To get into many more particulars would be to risk saying too much.
Rather than focus on what happens in the book, I want to talk about its structure. What makes The Fisherman so interesting to me is the way that Langan has it unfold. Specifically, he divides the proceedings into three very different acts.
The first 鈥� narrated in the first person by Abe 鈥� tells of the growing friendship between himself and Dan, a fellow IBM worker who, like Abe, has lost his wife. Firmly grounded in real life, without a horror element in sight, Langan does a better-than-solid job evoking the complexities of grief and loss, and how the death of a person can leave the survivor in an unmapped world that only vaguely resembles the one they鈥檝e left behind. The relationship between Abe and Dan develops through fishing, and Langan is perceptive of the way that certain people 鈥� especially men 鈥� bond through shared actions rather than shared words.
Almost the entire second act is a story-within-a-story. Spurred on by Dan, the two fishing buddies head to the Catskills, where they intend to do some angling on Dutchman鈥檚 Creek. They stop at a restaurant during a rain storm, and in a scene that is half-parody, half-homage to a standard trope, they are made to listen to the restaurant owner鈥檚 meandering tale about the dangers that await them if they venture any further.
Frankly, I abhor the nested narrative. It鈥檚 one of the main reasons that I can barely stand Joseph Conrad, even though his concepts and storylines are so great. When I read fiction, I want to be in the middle of the action. I don鈥檛 want to be held at a distance, caught in some meta-nightmare where I鈥檓 passively reading a story about a guy passively telling a story. Thus, I was initially pretty annoyed with this setup, wherein we leave Abe and Dan for an extended monologue given by a guy who heard it from another guy who heard it from a gal.
Somehow, despite my basic incredulity 鈥� how long did Abe and Dan just stand there, listening? 鈥� the substance of the restaurant owner鈥檚 soliloquy won me over. It deftly builds a mythology while also creating an atmosphere of gradually accumulating dread. Things eventually got too strange for my taste, but it can鈥檛 be said that Langan has not attempted to devise a workable supernatural system for his characters to deal with.
The third act 鈥� which jumps back to Abe as the narrator 鈥� uses the second act鈥檚 stage-setting to show what happens when Abe and Dan get to Dutchman鈥檚 Creek. Unlike the wide-ranging first section, this one mainly covers just a single day. Like I said up top, it鈥檚 fantastically bizarre, exceptionally violent, and even a little sad, though the mournful notes are overwhelmed by everything else.
Generally speaking, this is my kind of horror (though horror is not really my thing), because it is built outwards from the characters. This is not the kind of book where people exist just to die. With that said, Abe and Dan don鈥檛 necessarily make for the most memorable protagonists. Langan tries his best, but they simply didn鈥檛 make a strong enough impression on me to achieve the emotional resonance that Langan was clearly aiming for. This also hurts the ending, which is otherwise well executed.
Characters aside, the writing is very good, especially Langan鈥檚 ability to create a tactile sense of place. There were moments when I really sensed that I was out fishing with Abe. New York State is a proven commodity as a horror locale, and Langan gets the atmospherics exactly right.
The best horror I鈥檝e read 鈥� an admittedly limited amount 鈥� doesn鈥檛 give me jump scares, or have me checking the locks and peeking under the bed. Instead, my favorites of the genre fill me with an existential dread. I鈥檓 talking about the aforementioned Pet Sematary, as well as Scott B. Smith鈥檚 The Ruins.
Inciting that kind of dread was clearly Langan鈥檚 intention. Unfortunately, for me, he fell a bit short. I liked and respected The Fisherman, but it is more an appreciation for Langan鈥檚 craft 鈥� the way he put his interlocking pieces together, how each of the three acts inform each other 鈥� than anything else. Still, if you鈥檙e looking for some minor chills, you could do a lot worse than this competently handled, professionally written account that proves there is such a thing as a bad day fishing.
April 3, 2023
Hi, so I was worried this would be one of those books that I liked looking like I liked, rather than actually鈥� just liking it. Does that make any sense? Anyway, this is a book about fishermen. No really, it is! Oh yeah, I suppose it鈥檚 also about two coworkers, Abe and Dan, who both suffered tremendous loss and decide to go on fishing trips together in order to try to find comfort in their shared painful experiences. This goes swimmingly until Dan starts having cryptic dreams about him and Abe making a fishing spot called 鈥淭he Dutchman鈥檚 Creek鈥� their next destination. Creeeepy. I mean, not to judge the characters too harshly, but what exactly were they expecting to find at a place with a name like that! Regardless, I'm always down for a spooky story and this book definitely delivered. I think this book鈥檚 greatest strength is its eerie writing style. As the fact that we spend pages at a time inside Abe鈥檚 head without any dialogue gives the book a journal-like quality that helps to question the legitimacy of the events that happen throughout the story, making the horror all the more horrifying.
There is a bit of a lull in the narrative when a random restaurant owner halts the story to relay the entire backstory of the aforementioned creek to Abe and Dan. This basically means that there鈥檚 a large portion of this book that鈥檚 just a guy telling a story to another guy who鈥檚 telling a story... to us. I don鈥檛 know, I think this ended up taking way too much time in my opinion. My favorite horror is always in the unexplainable; when the whole thing just leaves me like, 鈥渨hoa鈥� that was messed up.鈥� I actually think this is the one case where adding extra context actually does the book a disservice. It took some of the wind out of my sails (get it? Because the book's called The Fisherman?) But then again, even at its lowest point, I still had my eyes glued to the page! There鈥檚 a wickedness underneath every line of this book that captivated me. All in all, this novel absolutely checked all the boxes. It was grotesque, visceral, and spectacular, and then when you think that's it, at the core there鈥檚 this melancholic and frequently powerful exploration of grief. So in other words, I guess you could say I liked this book. Really liked it even.
鈥淚 felt oddly disoriented, disconnected from the diner鈥檚 chrome and glass, the way you do after you鈥檝e finished a book or movie in which you鈥檝e been absorbed and which hasn鈥檛 loosened its hold on you.鈥�
There is a bit of a lull in the narrative when a random restaurant owner halts the story to relay the entire backstory of the aforementioned creek to Abe and Dan. This basically means that there鈥檚 a large portion of this book that鈥檚 just a guy telling a story to another guy who鈥檚 telling a story... to us. I don鈥檛 know, I think this ended up taking way too much time in my opinion. My favorite horror is always in the unexplainable; when the whole thing just leaves me like, 鈥渨hoa鈥� that was messed up.鈥� I actually think this is the one case where adding extra context actually does the book a disservice. It took some of the wind out of my sails (get it? Because the book's called The Fisherman?) But then again, even at its lowest point, I still had my eyes glued to the page! There鈥檚 a wickedness underneath every line of this book that captivated me. All in all, this novel absolutely checked all the boxes. It was grotesque, visceral, and spectacular, and then when you think that's it, at the core there鈥檚 this melancholic and frequently powerful exploration of grief. So in other words, I guess you could say I liked this book. Really liked it even.
鈥淚 felt oddly disoriented, disconnected from the diner鈥檚 chrome and glass, the way you do after you鈥檝e finished a book or movie in which you鈥檝e been absorbed and which hasn鈥檛 loosened its hold on you.鈥�
June 25, 2018
I'm not sure where to even begin with this review. Have you ever enjoyed a book so much that you're afraid you won't be able to articulate the experience? That's exactly how I feel right now. I absolutely loved this book, and it's definitely on my list of favorite books I read in 2018.
I've been meaning to read this one for way too long. I don't think I've encountered a single person in the horror community who has a bad thing to say about this novel. Most people have been eagerly encouraging me to pick it up, and I'm so glad I finally did. And I'm glad that I buddy read this one with my bestie Sadie too. Amazing books are better when you experience them with friends.
I really don't want to give any part of this book away. I feel like you should go in knowing as little as possible, and just let this novel totally engulf you. I had serious trouble putting this one down. I was really trying to read it at a reasonable pace, since I was reading it with a friend, and then I got to the point where I just devoured the rest of it.
From the very first page I was in love with the writing. It felt familiar, even though I had never read a book by Langan before. I also loved the story within a story framework. One minute you are fully invested in the lives of the characters that are introduced at the beginning of the book, and then you blink and you are fully invested in an entirely different set of characters. It's seamless writing, and so well done.
I'm going to wrap this up before I say too much. Buy this book. Read it soon. It's fantastic.
I've been meaning to read this one for way too long. I don't think I've encountered a single person in the horror community who has a bad thing to say about this novel. Most people have been eagerly encouraging me to pick it up, and I'm so glad I finally did. And I'm glad that I buddy read this one with my bestie Sadie too. Amazing books are better when you experience them with friends.
I really don't want to give any part of this book away. I feel like you should go in knowing as little as possible, and just let this novel totally engulf you. I had serious trouble putting this one down. I was really trying to read it at a reasonable pace, since I was reading it with a friend, and then I got to the point where I just devoured the rest of it.
From the very first page I was in love with the writing. It felt familiar, even though I had never read a book by Langan before. I also loved the story within a story framework. One minute you are fully invested in the lives of the characters that are introduced at the beginning of the book, and then you blink and you are fully invested in an entirely different set of characters. It's seamless writing, and so well done.
I'm going to wrap this up before I say too much. Buy this book. Read it soon. It's fantastic.
December 14, 2016
This is a tough one to rate and I seem to be ripped between 2 and 3 stars. Either way, my opinion is rather unpopular as it seems, what with all the 4 and 5-star reviews here.
I know I sound like a broken record, but I'm really strict when it comes to horror. For me, horror is a very delicate matter with aspects as many as those of the human psychology. Rarely can a film or novel scare me lately, and I'm not talking about jump-scares. I guess my being so demanding makes me either a perfect judge on horror, or a terrible one. That said, The Fisherman didn't scare me, although it did manage to send a tingle down my spine a couple of times, which is certainly no small thing, I assure you. Now, I don't mean to say that the ability to scare is all a horror novel is about. There are a bunch of other factors that make a horror novel good, such as the characters, the plot, the writing and pretty much everything that makes every other novel good. So, what do we have here?
The Fisherman belongs to what seems to be called literary horror, a term which, until recently, I wasn't familiar with. What I can say for sure is that Langan can surely write. He borrowed various elements from classic novels of the genre, basing his story on the Lovecraftian cosmic horror and, while he could have merely copied from here and there, he preferred to put his own signature to his writing and create something not exactly original, but fresh nonetheless. His writing style was what really hit home, with phrases such as
The form of The Fisherman, however, is where its true originality lies and the detail which eventually didn't work for me. As it has been said in other reviews, there is a story within the story. The problem is, it's not clear which is within which. The main story starts normally but right when you start to sink in it, there is a flashback that extends to more than 150 pages and which ends up being longer than the one the book started with. A fact that somewhat confused me and made it hard for me to stay focused, while the endless descriptions only managed to make matters worse in that respect. I had the feeling that the story hasted when it should be slower and lagged when it should be faster, with the latter case being far more frequent. Therefore, in my opinion, the novel fails to build up the tension needed to achieve a climax and that's evident once more in the end, where all the action takes place in the chapter before last. What saved the day for me, was the clever twist in the final chapter, linking real-life events with those of the book.
An average idea and a decent execution by an obviously talented author. Yet, it left me feeling like something was annoyingly missing in the end. 2.5 is the verdict but I'll go with 3.
I know I sound like a broken record, but I'm really strict when it comes to horror. For me, horror is a very delicate matter with aspects as many as those of the human psychology. Rarely can a film or novel scare me lately, and I'm not talking about jump-scares. I guess my being so demanding makes me either a perfect judge on horror, or a terrible one. That said, The Fisherman didn't scare me, although it did manage to send a tingle down my spine a couple of times, which is certainly no small thing, I assure you. Now, I don't mean to say that the ability to scare is all a horror novel is about. There are a bunch of other factors that make a horror novel good, such as the characters, the plot, the writing and pretty much everything that makes every other novel good. So, what do we have here?
The Fisherman belongs to what seems to be called literary horror, a term which, until recently, I wasn't familiar with. What I can say for sure is that Langan can surely write. He borrowed various elements from classic novels of the genre, basing his story on the Lovecraftian cosmic horror and, while he could have merely copied from here and there, he preferred to put his own signature to his writing and create something not exactly original, but fresh nonetheless. His writing style was what really hit home, with phrases such as
He had a lantern jaw that made him look as if he were perpetually holding something in his mouth that was too hot to swallow
Almost immediately, Jacob鈥檚 first thought鈥擳his man has a stream inside his house, too?鈥攊s replaced by another鈥擶e are not in the house, anymore鈥攁nd a third鈥擶e never wereand
鈥淵ou cut me. You son of a bitch.鈥�which were like music to my (inner) ears.
This did not seem the appropriate moment to point out that I had done so in response to his effort to crush my skull with the rock he continued to hold
The form of The Fisherman, however, is where its true originality lies and the detail which eventually didn't work for me. As it has been said in other reviews, there is a story within the story. The problem is, it's not clear which is within which. The main story starts normally but right when you start to sink in it, there is a flashback that extends to more than 150 pages and which ends up being longer than the one the book started with. A fact that somewhat confused me and made it hard for me to stay focused, while the endless descriptions only managed to make matters worse in that respect. I had the feeling that the story hasted when it should be slower and lagged when it should be faster, with the latter case being far more frequent. Therefore, in my opinion, the novel fails to build up the tension needed to achieve a climax and that's evident once more in the end, where all the action takes place in the chapter before last. What saved the day for me, was the clever twist in the final chapter, linking real-life events with those of the book.
An average idea and a decent execution by an obviously talented author. Yet, it left me feeling like something was annoyingly missing in the end. 2.5 is the verdict but I'll go with 3.
August 11, 2020
违蟺维蟻蠂蔚喂 苇谓伪 蟻蔚蠉渭伪 蟽蟿畏谓 螒渭蔚蟻喂魏萎 伪蟺蠈 蟽蠀纬纬蟻伪蠁蔚委蟼 蟺慰蠀 蟺伪蟿维谓蔚 渭蔚 蟿慰 苇谓伪 蟺蠈未喂 蟽蟿畏谓 位慰纬慰蟿蔚蠂谓委伪 蟿蟻蠈渭慰蠀 魏伪喂 蟿慰 维位位慰 蟽蟿畏谓 蟺慰喂慰蟿喂魏萎 萎 位慰纬慰蟿蔚蠂谓喂维味慰蠀蟽伪 (未蔚谓 尉苇蟻蠅 蟺蠅蟼 渭蟺慰蟻蔚委 谓伪 渭蔚蟿伪蠁蟻伪蟽蟿蔚委 蟿慰 literary fiction). 螖畏位伪未萎 渭蠀胃慰蟺位伪蟽委伪 蟺慰蠀 蟺蟻慰蟽蔚纬纬委味蔚喂 蟿慰蠀蟼 蠁蠈尾慰蠀蟼 蟿慰蠀 伪谓胃蟻蠋蟺慰蠀 渭蟺蟻慰蟽蟿维 蟽蟿慰 伪位位蠈魏慰蟿慰 魏伪喂 蟿慰 渭畏-魏伪胃畏渭蔚蟻喂谓蠈, 蟺蟻慰蟽蟺伪胃蠋谓蟿伪蟼 谓伪 渭畏谓 蟺伪委尉蔚喂 渭蔚 蟿喂蟼 蟽蠀渭尾维蟽蔚喂蟼 蟿慰蠀 蔚委未慰蠀蟼, 谓伪 伪蟺慰蠁蠉纬蔚喂 蟿伪 魏位喂蟽苇, 蟺蟻慰蟿维蟽蟽慰谓蟿伪蟼 蠂伪蟻伪魏蟿萎蟻蔚蟼, 未喂伪位蠈纬慰蠀蟼 魏伪喂 谓蟿蔚位喂魏维蟿畏 纬蟻伪蠁萎. 螕喂伪蟿委 蟺喂伪 苇蠂慰蠀谓 伪谓慰委尉蔚喂 谓苇慰喂 未蟻蠈渭慰喂 渭蔚 蟿慰蠀蟼 Barron, Braunberck (蟿慰 Head full of ghosts 未蔚谓 渭蔚 蔚谓胃慰蠀蟽委伪蟽蔚, 伪位位伪 蟽委纬慰蠀蟻伪 萎蟿伪谓 苇谓伪 未蔚委纬渭伪 魏伪位蠋谓 蟺蟻慰胃苇蟽蔚蠅谓 谓伪 蔚尉蔚蠀纬蔚谓喂蟽蟿蔚委 慰 蟿蟻蠈渭慰蟼), 慰 螆尾蔚谓蟽慰谓 (伪纬伪蟺畏渭苇谓慰蟼 - 未喂伪尾维蟽蟿蔚 蠈,蟿喂 尾蟻蔚委蟿蔚 伪蟺蠈 未伪蠉蟿慰谓), Buehlman (蟺蟻蠈蟽蠁伪蟿伪 蟽蠀渭蟺位萎蟻蠅蟽蔚 蟿畏谓 蟿蟻喂维未伪 蟿蠅谓 伪纬伪蟺畏渭苇谓蠅谓 渭慰蠀 蟽蠀纬纬蟻伪蠁苇蠅谓, 慰蟺蠈蟿蔚 蟺蔚蟻喂蟿蟿蠈 魏维胃蔚 维位位慰 蟽蠂蠈位喂慰). 危鈥� 伪蠀蟿慰蠉蟼 伪谓萎魏蔚喂 魏伪喂 慰 Langan, 伪蟺蠈 蟿慰蠀蟼 蟽蠀谓喂未蟻蠀蟿苇蟼 蟿蠅谓 尾蟻伪尾蔚委蠅谓 Shirley Jackson, 渭蔚 蟿蟻蔚喂蟼 蟽蠀位位慰纬苇蟼 喂蟽蟿慰蟻喂蠋谓 魏伪喂 未蠉慰 渭蠀胃喂蟽蟿慰蟻萎渭伪蟿伪 蟽蟿畏谓 魏伪蟿慰蠂萎 蟿慰蠀.
螠蟺慰蟻蔚委, 位慰喂蟺蠈谓, 慰 螞维谓纬魏伪谓 谓伪 蟽蟿伪胃蔚委 未委蟺位伪 蟽蟿慰蠀蟼 螆尾蔚谓蟽慰谓 魏伪喂 螠蟺慰蠀蔚位渭伪谓, 蟺慰蠀 渭慰蠀 维谓慰喂尉伪谓 谓苇慰蠀蟼 伪谓伪纬谓蠅蟽蟿喂魏慰蠉蟼 慰蟻委味慰谓蟿蔚蟼 魏伪喂 渭蔚 苇魏伪谓伪谓 谓伪 伪谓伪魏伪位蠉蠄蠅 蔚魏 谓苇慰蠀 蟿畏谓 蟿蟻慰渭伪蠂蟿喂魏萎 位慰纬慰蟿蔚蠂谓委伪; 螤蠅蟼 蠁伪谓蟿维味蔚喂 畏 蟺苇谓伪 蟿慰蠀 未委蟺位伪 蟽蟿喂蟼 魏慰蠁蟿蔚蟻苇蟼, 伪蟺伪蟽蟿蟻维蟺蟿慰蠀蟽蔚蟼 蟿蠅谓 蟺蟻慰伪谓伪蠁蔚蟻胃苇谓蟿蠅谓 未蠉慰;
韦慰 尾喂尾位委慰 蟿慰蠀 螞维谓纬魏伪谓 伪蟽蠂慰位蔚委蟿伪喂 渭蔚 蟺伪位喂维 喂未苇伪, 蟺慰蠀 胃伪 蟿畏谓 蠂伪蟻伪魏蟿萎蟻喂味伪 胃蔚渭苇位喂慰 蟺维谓蠅 蟽蟿畏谓 慰蟺慰委伪 蠂蟿委蟽蟿畏魏蔚 畏 蟽蠉纬蠂蟻慰谓畏 位慰纬慰蟿蔚蠂谓委伪 蟿蟻蠈渭慰蠀: 蟿慰 蟺伪蟻伪蟺苇蟿伪蟽渭伪 蟺慰蠀 蠂蠅蟻委味蔚喂 伪蠀蟿蠈 蟿畏谓 蟺蟻伪纬渭伪蟿喂魏蠈蟿畏蟿伪 渭蔚 蟿慰 蔚蟺苇魏蔚喂谓伪 纬喂伪 蟿慰 慰蟺慰委慰 魏维谓蔚喂蟼 渭伪蟼 未蔚谓 尉苇蟻蔚喂 蟿委蟺慰蟿伪. 螖蔚谓 胃伪 蟺蟻慰未蠋蟽蠅 蟺伪蟻伪蟺维谓蠅, 胃伪 伪蟻魏蔚蟽蟿蠋 蟽蟿慰 谓伪 蟺蠅 蟺蠅蟼 蟺蟻蠈魏蔚喂蟿伪喂 纬喂伪 渭喂伪 魏伪胃蠈位伪 螒渭蔚蟻喂魏维谓喂魏畏 喂蟽蟿慰蟻委伪 蟽魏蠈蟿慰蠀蟼, 渭蔚 渭喂伪 苇谓胃蔚蟿畏 (蔚纬魏喂尾蠅蟿喂蟽渭苇谓畏 蠈蟺蠅蟼 位苇纬蔚蟿伪喂 蟿蔚位蔚蠀蟿伪委伪) 喂蟽蟿慰蟻委伪, 蟺慰蠀 味蠅谓蟿伪谓蔚蠉蔚喂 纬位伪蠁蠀蟻维 蟿畏谓 螒渭蔚蟻喂魏萎 蟿蠅谓 伪蟻蠂蠋谓 蟿慰蠀 20慰蠉 伪喂蠋谓伪, 位委纬慰 苇尉蠅 伪蟺蠈 蟿畏谓 螡. 违蠈蟻魏畏, 蠈蟺慰蠀 渭蔚蟿伪谓维蟽蟿蔚蟼 未慰蠀位蔚蠉慰蠀谓 蟽蟿畏 未畏渭喂慰蠀蟻纬委伪 渭喂伪 蟿蔚蟻维蟽蟿喂伪蟼 未蔚尉伪渭蔚谓萎蟼 谓蔚蟻慰蠉. 螘委谓伪喂 畏 伪蠁萎纬畏蟽畏 蔚谓蠈蟼 蔚蟽蟿喂维蟿慰蟻伪 苇谓伪 尾蟻慰蠂蔚蟻蠈 蟺蟻蠅喂谓蠈, 蟺慰蠀 蟺蟻慰蟽蟺伪胃蔚委 谓伪 伪蟺慰蟿蟻苇蠄蔚喂 蟿慰谓 蟺蟻蠅蟿伪纬蠅谓喂蟽蟿萎 魏伪喂 蟿慰谓 蠁委位慰 蟿慰蠀 螡蟿伪谓 谓伪 伪谓伪味畏蟿萎蟽慰蠀谓 苇谓伪 渭蠀蟽蟿畏蟻喂蠋未蔚蟼 蟺慰蟿维渭喂, 慰谓蠈渭伪蟿喂 Dutchman鈥檚 creek.
螣喂 蟺伪蟿蟻慰蟺伪蟻维未慰蟿慰喂 伪谓伪纬谓蠋蟽蟿蔚蟼 胃伪 蠂伪蟻慰蠉谓 渭蔚 蟿畏谓 螞伪尾魏蟻伪蠁魏喂魏萎 蟺喂谓蔚位喂维 蟿慰蠀 尾喂尾位委慰蠀 鈥� 畏 蔚纬魏喂尾蠅蟿喂蟽渭苇谓畏 喂蟽蟿慰蟻委伪 蟺慰蠀 苇位蔚纬伪, 蟺慰蠀 渭慰蠀 苇蠁蔚蟻蔚 蟽蟿慰 谓慰蠀 蟿慰 The Case of Charles Dexter Ward 魏伪喂 蟿畏谓 渭喂魏蟻萎 喂蟽蟿慰蟻委伪 Herbert West - Reanimator. 螤伪蟻蠈位慰 蟺慰蠀 蔚蠀蟿蠀蠂蠋蟼 蟽蔚 伪蠀蟿萎 蟿畏 蟽畏渭蔚喂慰位慰纬委伪 蟽蟿伪渭伪蟿维谓蔚 慰喂 慰渭慰喂蠈蟿畏蟿蔚蟼, 魏伪胃蠋蟼 慰 螞维谓纬魏伪谓 未喂伪蠂蔚喂蟻委味蔚蟿伪喂 蟿伪 魏慰喂谓维 蠀位喂魏维 渭蔚 蟿慰 蟺蟻慰蟽蠅蟺喂魏蠈 蟿慰蠀 蠉蠁慰蟼, 魏维蟿喂 伪蟺蠈 蟿畏谓 渭伪魏蟻畏纬慰蟻委伪 伪蠀蟿萎蟼 蟿畏蟼 蔚谓蠈蟿畏蟿伪蟼 胃蠀渭委味蔚喂 蟿慰谓 尾蟻伪未蠀蠁位蔚纬萎 螞维尾魏蟻伪蠁蟿. 韦慰 魏位委渭伪 蔚蟺喂魏蔚委渭蔚谓畏蟼 魏伪蟿伪蟽蟿蟻慰蠁萎蟼 蔚委谓伪喂 蔚尉伪喂蟻蔚蟿喂魏蠈. 螛伪 萎蟿伪谓 蠈渭蠅蟼 蟺喂慰 蔚胃喂蟽蟿喂魏蠈 伪谓 萎蟿伪谓 魏伪蟿维 蟿喂 魏慰谓蟿蠉蟿蔚蟻慰. 韦慰 尾喂尾位委慰 蟽蠀谓慰位喂魏维 未蔚谓 萎蟿伪谓 蟿蠈蟽慰 魏伪位蠈 蠈蟽慰 胃伪 渭蟺慰蟻慰蠉蟽蔚 魏伪喂 伪谓 纬委谓慰渭伪喂 伪蟺伪喂蟿畏蟿喂魏蠈蟼 蔚委谓伪喂 纬喂伪蟿委 蟿慰 尾喂尾位委慰 萎蟿伪谓 蔚尉伪喂蟻蔚蟿喂魏维 纬蟻伪渭渭苇谓慰, 蔚委蠂蔚 蠂伪蟻伪魏蟿萎蟻伪, 蔚委蠂蔚蟼 蟺蟻蠅蟿慰魏位伪蟽维蟿蔚蟼 蟽蟿喂纬渭苇蟼 魏位喂渭伪魏慰蠉渭蔚谓畏蟼 蠁蟻委魏畏蟼. 螤慰蟿苇 未蔚谓 苇魏伪谓蔚 苇魏蟺蟿蠅蟽畏 蟽蟿慰谓 蔚尉伪喂蟻蔚蟿喂魏维 蠀蠄畏位蠈 位慰纬慰蟿蔚蠂谓喂魏蠈 蟺萎蠂畏 蟺慰蠀 苇胃蔚蟽蔚 伪蟺蠈 蟿喂蟼 蟺蟻蠋蟿蔚蟼 蟽蔚位委未蔚蟼, 畏 蠁蠅谓萎 蟿慰蠀 蟺蟻蠅蟿慰蟺蟻蠈蟽蠅蟺慰蠀 伪蠁畏纬畏蟿萎 萎蟿伪谓 蟺蟻伪纬渭伪蟿喂魏萎 蟽蠀谓蟿蟻慰蠁喂维, 渭蔚蟽蟿萎, 伪谓蟿蟻委魏喂伪, 未委蠂蠅蟼 蠁伪谓蠁维蟻蔚蟼, 未委蠂蠅蟼 未畏胃蔚谓喂苇蟼. 螞维蟿蟻蔚蠄伪 伪蠀蟿萎 蟿畏谓 渭委尉畏 伪魏伪未畏渭伪蠆魏萎蟼 慰蟻胃蠈蟿畏蟿伪蟼 魏伪喂 蠂喂慰蠉渭慰蟻 蟽蟿畏 纬蟻伪蠁萎 蟿慰蠀.
韦蔚位喂魏维 位维蟿蟻蔚蠄伪 蟺慰位位维 蟽蔚 伪蠀蟿蠈 蟿慰 尾喂尾位委慰 蟺慰蠀 渭蔚 渭喂伪 蟺喂慰 伪蟺慰蠁伪蟽喂蟽蟿喂魏萎 蔚蟺喂渭苇位蔚喂伪 胃伪 萎蟿伪谓 伪蠀蟿蠈 蟺慰蠀 胃伪 渭蟺慰蟻慰蠉蟽蔚 谓伪 纬委谓蔚喂, 伪位位维 未蔚谓 蟺伪蠉蔚喂 谓伪 蔚委谓伪喂 渭喂伪 蟽蟺维谓喂伪, 伪谓苇位蟺喂蟽蟿畏 纬谓蠅蟻喂渭委伪 渭蔚 苇谓伪谓 蟽蠀纬纬蟻伪蠁苇伪 蟺慰蠀 蠁伪委谓蔚蟿伪喂 谓伪 蠀蟺蠈蟽蠂蔚蟿伪喂 蟽畏渭伪谓蟿喂魏维 蟺蟻维纬渭伪蟿伪. 螕喂伪 伪蠀蟿蠈 蟿慰蠀 未委谓蠅 苇谓伪 蟿蔚蟿蟻维蟽蟿蔚蟻慰 味萎蟿蠅.
螠蟺慰蟻蔚委, 位慰喂蟺蠈谓, 慰 螞维谓纬魏伪谓 谓伪 蟽蟿伪胃蔚委 未委蟺位伪 蟽蟿慰蠀蟼 螆尾蔚谓蟽慰谓 魏伪喂 螠蟺慰蠀蔚位渭伪谓, 蟺慰蠀 渭慰蠀 维谓慰喂尉伪谓 谓苇慰蠀蟼 伪谓伪纬谓蠅蟽蟿喂魏慰蠉蟼 慰蟻委味慰谓蟿蔚蟼 魏伪喂 渭蔚 苇魏伪谓伪谓 谓伪 伪谓伪魏伪位蠉蠄蠅 蔚魏 谓苇慰蠀 蟿畏谓 蟿蟻慰渭伪蠂蟿喂魏萎 位慰纬慰蟿蔚蠂谓委伪; 螤蠅蟼 蠁伪谓蟿维味蔚喂 畏 蟺苇谓伪 蟿慰蠀 未委蟺位伪 蟽蟿喂蟼 魏慰蠁蟿蔚蟻苇蟼, 伪蟺伪蟽蟿蟻维蟺蟿慰蠀蟽蔚蟼 蟿蠅谓 蟺蟻慰伪谓伪蠁蔚蟻胃苇谓蟿蠅谓 未蠉慰;
韦慰 尾喂尾位委慰 蟿慰蠀 螞维谓纬魏伪谓 伪蟽蠂慰位蔚委蟿伪喂 渭蔚 蟺伪位喂维 喂未苇伪, 蟺慰蠀 胃伪 蟿畏谓 蠂伪蟻伪魏蟿萎蟻喂味伪 胃蔚渭苇位喂慰 蟺维谓蠅 蟽蟿畏谓 慰蟺慰委伪 蠂蟿委蟽蟿畏魏蔚 畏 蟽蠉纬蠂蟻慰谓畏 位慰纬慰蟿蔚蠂谓委伪 蟿蟻蠈渭慰蠀: 蟿慰 蟺伪蟻伪蟺苇蟿伪蟽渭伪 蟺慰蠀 蠂蠅蟻委味蔚喂 伪蠀蟿蠈 蟿畏谓 蟺蟻伪纬渭伪蟿喂魏蠈蟿畏蟿伪 渭蔚 蟿慰 蔚蟺苇魏蔚喂谓伪 纬喂伪 蟿慰 慰蟺慰委慰 魏维谓蔚喂蟼 渭伪蟼 未蔚谓 尉苇蟻蔚喂 蟿委蟺慰蟿伪. 螖蔚谓 胃伪 蟺蟻慰未蠋蟽蠅 蟺伪蟻伪蟺维谓蠅, 胃伪 伪蟻魏蔚蟽蟿蠋 蟽蟿慰 谓伪 蟺蠅 蟺蠅蟼 蟺蟻蠈魏蔚喂蟿伪喂 纬喂伪 渭喂伪 魏伪胃蠈位伪 螒渭蔚蟻喂魏维谓喂魏畏 喂蟽蟿慰蟻委伪 蟽魏蠈蟿慰蠀蟼, 渭蔚 渭喂伪 苇谓胃蔚蟿畏 (蔚纬魏喂尾蠅蟿喂蟽渭苇谓畏 蠈蟺蠅蟼 位苇纬蔚蟿伪喂 蟿蔚位蔚蠀蟿伪委伪) 喂蟽蟿慰蟻委伪, 蟺慰蠀 味蠅谓蟿伪谓蔚蠉蔚喂 纬位伪蠁蠀蟻维 蟿畏谓 螒渭蔚蟻喂魏萎 蟿蠅谓 伪蟻蠂蠋谓 蟿慰蠀 20慰蠉 伪喂蠋谓伪, 位委纬慰 苇尉蠅 伪蟺蠈 蟿畏谓 螡. 违蠈蟻魏畏, 蠈蟺慰蠀 渭蔚蟿伪谓维蟽蟿蔚蟼 未慰蠀位蔚蠉慰蠀谓 蟽蟿畏 未畏渭喂慰蠀蟻纬委伪 渭喂伪 蟿蔚蟻维蟽蟿喂伪蟼 未蔚尉伪渭蔚谓萎蟼 谓蔚蟻慰蠉. 螘委谓伪喂 畏 伪蠁萎纬畏蟽畏 蔚谓蠈蟼 蔚蟽蟿喂维蟿慰蟻伪 苇谓伪 尾蟻慰蠂蔚蟻蠈 蟺蟻蠅喂谓蠈, 蟺慰蠀 蟺蟻慰蟽蟺伪胃蔚委 谓伪 伪蟺慰蟿蟻苇蠄蔚喂 蟿慰谓 蟺蟻蠅蟿伪纬蠅谓喂蟽蟿萎 魏伪喂 蟿慰谓 蠁委位慰 蟿慰蠀 螡蟿伪谓 谓伪 伪谓伪味畏蟿萎蟽慰蠀谓 苇谓伪 渭蠀蟽蟿畏蟻喂蠋未蔚蟼 蟺慰蟿维渭喂, 慰谓蠈渭伪蟿喂 Dutchman鈥檚 creek.
螣喂 蟺伪蟿蟻慰蟺伪蟻维未慰蟿慰喂 伪谓伪纬谓蠋蟽蟿蔚蟼 胃伪 蠂伪蟻慰蠉谓 渭蔚 蟿畏谓 螞伪尾魏蟻伪蠁魏喂魏萎 蟺喂谓蔚位喂维 蟿慰蠀 尾喂尾位委慰蠀 鈥� 畏 蔚纬魏喂尾蠅蟿喂蟽渭苇谓畏 喂蟽蟿慰蟻委伪 蟺慰蠀 苇位蔚纬伪, 蟺慰蠀 渭慰蠀 苇蠁蔚蟻蔚 蟽蟿慰 谓慰蠀 蟿慰 The Case of Charles Dexter Ward 魏伪喂 蟿畏谓 渭喂魏蟻萎 喂蟽蟿慰蟻委伪 Herbert West - Reanimator. 螤伪蟻蠈位慰 蟺慰蠀 蔚蠀蟿蠀蠂蠋蟼 蟽蔚 伪蠀蟿萎 蟿畏 蟽畏渭蔚喂慰位慰纬委伪 蟽蟿伪渭伪蟿维谓蔚 慰喂 慰渭慰喂蠈蟿畏蟿蔚蟼, 魏伪胃蠋蟼 慰 螞维谓纬魏伪谓 未喂伪蠂蔚喂蟻委味蔚蟿伪喂 蟿伪 魏慰喂谓维 蠀位喂魏维 渭蔚 蟿慰 蟺蟻慰蟽蠅蟺喂魏蠈 蟿慰蠀 蠉蠁慰蟼, 魏维蟿喂 伪蟺蠈 蟿畏谓 渭伪魏蟻畏纬慰蟻委伪 伪蠀蟿萎蟼 蟿畏蟼 蔚谓蠈蟿畏蟿伪蟼 胃蠀渭委味蔚喂 蟿慰谓 尾蟻伪未蠀蠁位蔚纬萎 螞维尾魏蟻伪蠁蟿. 韦慰 魏位委渭伪 蔚蟺喂魏蔚委渭蔚谓畏蟼 魏伪蟿伪蟽蟿蟻慰蠁萎蟼 蔚委谓伪喂 蔚尉伪喂蟻蔚蟿喂魏蠈. 螛伪 萎蟿伪谓 蠈渭蠅蟼 蟺喂慰 蔚胃喂蟽蟿喂魏蠈 伪谓 萎蟿伪谓 魏伪蟿维 蟿喂 魏慰谓蟿蠉蟿蔚蟻慰. 韦慰 尾喂尾位委慰 蟽蠀谓慰位喂魏维 未蔚谓 萎蟿伪谓 蟿蠈蟽慰 魏伪位蠈 蠈蟽慰 胃伪 渭蟺慰蟻慰蠉蟽蔚 魏伪喂 伪谓 纬委谓慰渭伪喂 伪蟺伪喂蟿畏蟿喂魏蠈蟼 蔚委谓伪喂 纬喂伪蟿委 蟿慰 尾喂尾位委慰 萎蟿伪谓 蔚尉伪喂蟻蔚蟿喂魏维 纬蟻伪渭渭苇谓慰, 蔚委蠂蔚 蠂伪蟻伪魏蟿萎蟻伪, 蔚委蠂蔚蟼 蟺蟻蠅蟿慰魏位伪蟽维蟿蔚蟼 蟽蟿喂纬渭苇蟼 魏位喂渭伪魏慰蠉渭蔚谓畏蟼 蠁蟻委魏畏蟼. 螤慰蟿苇 未蔚谓 苇魏伪谓蔚 苇魏蟺蟿蠅蟽畏 蟽蟿慰谓 蔚尉伪喂蟻蔚蟿喂魏维 蠀蠄畏位蠈 位慰纬慰蟿蔚蠂谓喂魏蠈 蟺萎蠂畏 蟺慰蠀 苇胃蔚蟽蔚 伪蟺蠈 蟿喂蟼 蟺蟻蠋蟿蔚蟼 蟽蔚位委未蔚蟼, 畏 蠁蠅谓萎 蟿慰蠀 蟺蟻蠅蟿慰蟺蟻蠈蟽蠅蟺慰蠀 伪蠁畏纬畏蟿萎 萎蟿伪谓 蟺蟻伪纬渭伪蟿喂魏萎 蟽蠀谓蟿蟻慰蠁喂维, 渭蔚蟽蟿萎, 伪谓蟿蟻委魏喂伪, 未委蠂蠅蟼 蠁伪谓蠁维蟻蔚蟼, 未委蠂蠅蟼 未畏胃蔚谓喂苇蟼. 螞维蟿蟻蔚蠄伪 伪蠀蟿萎 蟿畏谓 渭委尉畏 伪魏伪未畏渭伪蠆魏萎蟼 慰蟻胃蠈蟿畏蟿伪蟼 魏伪喂 蠂喂慰蠉渭慰蟻 蟽蟿畏 纬蟻伪蠁萎 蟿慰蠀.
韦蔚位喂魏维 位维蟿蟻蔚蠄伪 蟺慰位位维 蟽蔚 伪蠀蟿蠈 蟿慰 尾喂尾位委慰 蟺慰蠀 渭蔚 渭喂伪 蟺喂慰 伪蟺慰蠁伪蟽喂蟽蟿喂魏萎 蔚蟺喂渭苇位蔚喂伪 胃伪 萎蟿伪谓 伪蠀蟿蠈 蟺慰蠀 胃伪 渭蟺慰蟻慰蠉蟽蔚 谓伪 纬委谓蔚喂, 伪位位维 未蔚谓 蟺伪蠉蔚喂 谓伪 蔚委谓伪喂 渭喂伪 蟽蟺维谓喂伪, 伪谓苇位蟺喂蟽蟿畏 纬谓蠅蟻喂渭委伪 渭蔚 苇谓伪谓 蟽蠀纬纬蟻伪蠁苇伪 蟺慰蠀 蠁伪委谓蔚蟿伪喂 谓伪 蠀蟺蠈蟽蠂蔚蟿伪喂 蟽畏渭伪谓蟿喂魏维 蟺蟻维纬渭伪蟿伪. 螕喂伪 伪蠀蟿蠈 蟿慰蠀 未委谓蠅 苇谓伪 蟿蔚蟿蟻维蟽蟿蔚蟻慰 味萎蟿蠅.
November 22, 2019
Every fisherman is a storyteller.
And you won't BELIEVE what kind of fish got away.
As horrors go, we all know it's a hit-or-miss kind of thing. Some writing is fantastic, some of them have great ideas and thrills, and some of them ride that sweet spot all the way through. This is one of the latter. Our hero may not get too many fish on his forays, but his tragic tale, along with his buddy's tragic tale, sincerely sweeten the tale as it descends, steeply, into some really deep waters.
This book has lots of heart and lots of emotion. On that level, alone, this would have made a very fine psychological thriller that could have gotten away with soooo much less than it did.
But Langan gave us a feast. A real feast. I thought we were going into traditional Lovecraftian territory. Books dredged up from time, creepy circumstances, old horrific histories that are just as deep and terrifying as what was happening in the present... but then the author gave us MORE. And More. And More. And I loved every single second of it.
The scope got pretty damn big. Just like those fish those storytellers like to talk about. But these stories within stories within stories kept getting bigger, more fantastical, and then, eventually, DEEP into uncommon myth, blasting away at the normal Lovecraftian line and giving us something special to sink our sharpened teeth into.
I feel lucky to have read this. This is the kind of gem I'm always keeping my eyes open for. Most of the time, books like this fall rather short of my expectations.
Not this one. This one delivers. On many levels. :)
And you won't BELIEVE what kind of fish got away.
As horrors go, we all know it's a hit-or-miss kind of thing. Some writing is fantastic, some of them have great ideas and thrills, and some of them ride that sweet spot all the way through. This is one of the latter. Our hero may not get too many fish on his forays, but his tragic tale, along with his buddy's tragic tale, sincerely sweeten the tale as it descends, steeply, into some really deep waters.
This book has lots of heart and lots of emotion. On that level, alone, this would have made a very fine psychological thriller that could have gotten away with soooo much less than it did.
But Langan gave us a feast. A real feast. I thought we were going into traditional Lovecraftian territory. Books dredged up from time, creepy circumstances, old horrific histories that are just as deep and terrifying as what was happening in the present... but then the author gave us MORE. And More. And More. And I loved every single second of it.
The scope got pretty damn big. Just like those fish those storytellers like to talk about. But these stories within stories within stories kept getting bigger, more fantastical, and then, eventually, DEEP into uncommon myth, blasting away at the normal Lovecraftian line and giving us something special to sink our sharpened teeth into.
I feel lucky to have read this. This is the kind of gem I'm always keeping my eyes open for. Most of the time, books like this fall rather short of my expectations.
Not this one. This one delivers. On many levels. :)
February 18, 2019
"A coal black downright awful fish story.".....Oh yeah
Prepare to be totally creeped out!
We're in present day upstate New York when we meet Abe and Dan, both widowers who have suffered personal pain and loss. Working for the same company, the two men ultimately get together to do a little fishing; and while on the way to a new spot, Dutchman's Creek, they stop at an empty roadside diner for breakfast and meet Howard, the owner.
And oh boy....are they told one hell of a fish-horror-story about the people who had lived and worked around the stream and reservoir at Dutchman's Creek....a creek they say runs deep and dark.
Howard's tale of a time long past, which encompasses most of the novel, is filled with evil doing and the walking dead. It begins creepier than hell....lured me right in....and OMGOSH watch out for Helen! By midway though, the prose a bit heavy for my liking, I must admit I WAS READY to return to the present.
So....now at about 75%, as torrential rain continues to fall, Abe and Dan leave the diner, briefly debate the validity of the crazy story they just heard and, of course, proceed to the legendary creek of darkness and monsters....and OH what they EACH find there.
Horror lovers - do not pass this one by!
July 2, 2021
3.5 Stars
This was a well written, intricately crafted narrative that wove themes of grief into a story that appeared to be about fishing, but was actually so much more.
The characters in this novel were wonderfully drawn. I found myself immediately connected to both widowed men and completely invested in their well being. The majority of the story was told in a close first person perspective, which made for a very intimate reading experience.听 It takes a skilled author to make me care about a fishing story, but Langan did just that. I loved hearing how the men were able to heal and bond with each other through their shared love of the sport.
The story was told over three very distinct sections, which made it difficult to rate the book as a whole. I absolutely loved the first section and enjoyed the final section. However, the middle section was such a big departure from the previous narrative that it was jarring to read. The middle section just lacked the intimacy of the widow narrative that I loved so much and I found myself impatiently waiting to get back to that story.听 The end of the story brought elements of cosmic horror and biblical myths into its dramatic climax which made for a satisfying ending.
Even though I did not love all the narrative choices in this novel, I would still absolutely recommend this one to anyone who appreciates well written literary horror filled with both emotional moments and cosmic events.
This was a well written, intricately crafted narrative that wove themes of grief into a story that appeared to be about fishing, but was actually so much more.
The characters in this novel were wonderfully drawn. I found myself immediately connected to both widowed men and completely invested in their well being. The majority of the story was told in a close first person perspective, which made for a very intimate reading experience.听 It takes a skilled author to make me care about a fishing story, but Langan did just that. I loved hearing how the men were able to heal and bond with each other through their shared love of the sport.
The story was told over three very distinct sections, which made it difficult to rate the book as a whole. I absolutely loved the first section and enjoyed the final section. However, the middle section was such a big departure from the previous narrative that it was jarring to read. The middle section just lacked the intimacy of the widow narrative that I loved so much and I found myself impatiently waiting to get back to that story.听 The end of the story brought elements of cosmic horror and biblical myths into its dramatic climax which made for a satisfying ending.
Even though I did not love all the narrative choices in this novel, I would still absolutely recommend this one to anyone who appreciates well written literary horror filled with both emotional moments and cosmic events.
September 15, 2020
I know a horror story worked well when it brings me nightmares...
The Fisherman is exactly the type of overwhelming terror that I grew to like with the classics like Lovecraft.
It starts with a character losing the people he loves most in life and while portraying the events in a realistic way, the story walks into a new territory by having these feelings of sadness and mourning be manipulated to feed something much bigger, much darker and much more unsettling...
POV character Abe lost his beloved young wife to cancer right after their marriage. While short, their time together means so much to him that he never remarries and lives his life on his own - spending his free time fishing. A hobby he hasn't picked up in many years but which suddenly returned to the forefront of his mind after his wife passed.
Years of fishing later, a young colleague of his, Dan, shares a similar fate (yet much more traumatising) in losing his wife and kids in a car accident.
Hoping to lure the broken man out of his shell, Abe invites him to join him fishing - and surprisingly, Dan accepts, becoming Abe's regular fishing buddy.
One day, however, and pretty much out of the blue, Dan proposes to fish a little known place named 'Dutchman's Creek' that is barely found on any of Abe's maps. But it's there and finding this place turns these men's lives into a sequence of horrific encounters and mind-flaying realizations that might not only cost them their sanity, but their lives....
It probably sounds boring: Two guys fishing. More so when you realize this isn't the fishing version of Brokeback Mountain (as I originally assumed).
The lure of this story is definitely the way it sticks close to realism for the greatest part of it, until a story (within a story) is told to them that explains little things that happened earlier, giving them a much wider context and making you realize that, damn, something's not right here.
Of course, the ultimate showdown is a thrilling piece of horror that was definitely worth the wait (aka the hours of fishing that you spend with Abe and Dan)
This story has everything I personally look for in this genre:
I'd really love to go into further details, but I'm desperately avoiding a spoiler to allow you to experience the terror first hand :-)
I totally recommend this book, even if it left me unsettled and scared, like a good horror story probably should...
5 stars!
The Fisherman is exactly the type of overwhelming terror that I grew to like with the classics like Lovecraft.
It starts with a character losing the people he loves most in life and while portraying the events in a realistic way, the story walks into a new territory by having these feelings of sadness and mourning be manipulated to feed something much bigger, much darker and much more unsettling...
POV character Abe lost his beloved young wife to cancer right after their marriage. While short, their time together means so much to him that he never remarries and lives his life on his own - spending his free time fishing. A hobby he hasn't picked up in many years but which suddenly returned to the forefront of his mind after his wife passed.
Years of fishing later, a young colleague of his, Dan, shares a similar fate (yet much more traumatising) in losing his wife and kids in a car accident.
Hoping to lure the broken man out of his shell, Abe invites him to join him fishing - and surprisingly, Dan accepts, becoming Abe's regular fishing buddy.
One day, however, and pretty much out of the blue, Dan proposes to fish a little known place named 'Dutchman's Creek' that is barely found on any of Abe's maps. But it's there and finding this place turns these men's lives into a sequence of horrific encounters and mind-flaying realizations that might not only cost them their sanity, but their lives....
It probably sounds boring: Two guys fishing. More so when you realize this isn't the fishing version of Brokeback Mountain (as I originally assumed).
The lure of this story is definitely the way it sticks close to realism for the greatest part of it, until a story (within a story) is told to them that explains little things that happened earlier, giving them a much wider context and making you realize that, damn, something's not right here.
Of course, the ultimate showdown is a thrilling piece of horror that was definitely worth the wait (aka the hours of fishing that you spend with Abe and Dan)
This story has everything I personally look for in this genre:
I'd really love to go into further details, but I'm desperately avoiding a spoiler to allow you to experience the terror first hand :-)
I totally recommend this book, even if it left me unsettled and scared, like a good horror story probably should...
5 stars!
October 15, 2019
"I know Dutchman's Creek runs deep, much deeper than it could or should, and I don't like to think what it's full of."
I have never been fishing, so I can鈥檛 say that fishing stories are something I care for very much. But If I learnt anything reading a collection of John Langan short stories last October (/review/show...), it鈥檚 that this man knows how to write, and that I trust him to take the seemingly banal and transform it into something I won鈥檛 be able to look away from. I picked it up on a quiet Saturday morning: it had to be pried out of my hands at one point, but it essentially gobbled up my whole day, because I was hooked, line and sinker (fishing pun intended) by page 2.
Langan creates literary horror that is as delightful as it is chilling: it鈥檚 also not all-out horror, it is much more subtle than that. The strangeness creeps up on you slowly, mixed in with the ordinary so slowly and gently that while you are aware of it for some time, it still manages to surprise you. And then it's just... unleashed.
This is the story of Abe and Dan, and of their friendship, built as a sort of support system for their grief. Both men lost their wives to tragedies, and despite their age difference, found solace in the act of fishing together in the many rivers and streams that flow through the Hudson Valley. One day, on Dan's suggestion, they add Dutchman's Creek to their fishing itinerary, despite hearing a rather disturbing story about the spot from a diner owner. The rest of their story deserves to be read, rather than told by me.
Langan uses a framed narrative structure very cleverly, by having Abe record the story of Rainer Schmidt as told to them by the diner's cook. This adds a timeless quality to the sense of dread that builds slowly through Abe and Dan's story, the menace lurking from a distant past. While he is not the first horror writer to explore the strange and desperate places grief can take people to, he does it with incredible skill - and his cosmic horror is blood-curdling.
If you like your horror stories literary, heart-breaking, deeply human and yet utterly alien, this book is for you. Masterful.
I have never been fishing, so I can鈥檛 say that fishing stories are something I care for very much. But If I learnt anything reading a collection of John Langan short stories last October (/review/show...), it鈥檚 that this man knows how to write, and that I trust him to take the seemingly banal and transform it into something I won鈥檛 be able to look away from. I picked it up on a quiet Saturday morning: it had to be pried out of my hands at one point, but it essentially gobbled up my whole day, because I was hooked, line and sinker (fishing pun intended) by page 2.
Langan creates literary horror that is as delightful as it is chilling: it鈥檚 also not all-out horror, it is much more subtle than that. The strangeness creeps up on you slowly, mixed in with the ordinary so slowly and gently that while you are aware of it for some time, it still manages to surprise you. And then it's just... unleashed.
This is the story of Abe and Dan, and of their friendship, built as a sort of support system for their grief. Both men lost their wives to tragedies, and despite their age difference, found solace in the act of fishing together in the many rivers and streams that flow through the Hudson Valley. One day, on Dan's suggestion, they add Dutchman's Creek to their fishing itinerary, despite hearing a rather disturbing story about the spot from a diner owner. The rest of their story deserves to be read, rather than told by me.
Langan uses a framed narrative structure very cleverly, by having Abe record the story of Rainer Schmidt as told to them by the diner's cook. This adds a timeless quality to the sense of dread that builds slowly through Abe and Dan's story, the menace lurking from a distant past. While he is not the first horror writer to explore the strange and desperate places grief can take people to, he does it with incredible skill - and his cosmic horror is blood-curdling.
If you like your horror stories literary, heart-breaking, deeply human and yet utterly alien, this book is for you. Masterful.
August 22, 2024
When I took delivery of The Fisherman, my first impression was that the book looked shoddily printed. The dark sinister painting on the front cover was not bright enough to have its full effect. The pages were large and the book felt bulky and cheap as I held it in my hand.
But a few pages into the novel, I knew I was in the hands of an assured writer. I was glad that I had trusted the words of my 欧宝娱乐 friends and ordered this horror novel. The first part of the book reads like an Alexander Payne film. The middle aged IBM employee protagonist loses his wife to cancer and takes up fishing after many days of hard drinking. He makes a friend in his office, who also lost his wife and kids recently and together, the two lonely men go fishing. Things go awry when they go fishing in a remote creek not listed on the map. I liked the long build up in part one. Like in an HP Lovecraft novel/short story, the narrator announces that something horrible has taken place right at the beginning itself.
The book's major drawback is that the horror story yarn in part two went on for too long. While the story is interesting and contains many terrifying moments and thrills, it is told from the point of view of too many people. It does not really work out.
Part three when the two friends meet the horror face to face also went on for too long. The scares and the monsters were quite predictable and pedestrian. But it is with the book's final act that John Langan "hooked" me back in. The ending is terrific.
Another complaint is that I felt like I did not really know the narrator that well even after spending so many pages with him. His character and voice are too bland.
Does the book have some deep meaning? I think so. I think it is about human beings messing with things that are best left alone - whether it is nature or other cosmic beings. The book is also about loneliness and ageing.
But a few pages into the novel, I knew I was in the hands of an assured writer. I was glad that I had trusted the words of my 欧宝娱乐 friends and ordered this horror novel. The first part of the book reads like an Alexander Payne film. The middle aged IBM employee protagonist loses his wife to cancer and takes up fishing after many days of hard drinking. He makes a friend in his office, who also lost his wife and kids recently and together, the two lonely men go fishing. Things go awry when they go fishing in a remote creek not listed on the map. I liked the long build up in part one. Like in an HP Lovecraft novel/short story, the narrator announces that something horrible has taken place right at the beginning itself.
The book's major drawback is that the horror story yarn in part two went on for too long. While the story is interesting and contains many terrifying moments and thrills, it is told from the point of view of too many people. It does not really work out.
Part three when the two friends meet the horror face to face also went on for too long. The scares and the monsters were quite predictable and pedestrian. But it is with the book's final act that John Langan "hooked" me back in. The ending is terrific.
Another complaint is that I felt like I did not really know the narrator that well even after spending so many pages with him. His character and voice are too bland.
Does the book have some deep meaning? I think so. I think it is about human beings messing with things that are best left alone - whether it is nature or other cosmic beings. The book is also about loneliness and ageing.
October 10, 2021
When Abe's wife dies of cancer, he finds solace in fishing. Soon, he's joined by Dan, another widower. Together, the two men head for Dutchman's Creek. But why are locals afraid to talk about the creek and who or what is The Fisherman?
I've had this on my kindle for untold aeons but I finally found time to read it over the past few days. I wish I would have read it years ago because it is fantastic.
The framing sequence, Abe's tale, is written in a long winded, folksy kind of style. Abe relates his life and what drew him to fishing in the first place. It wasn't super interesting but had enough tantalizing tidbits to make me hang on for what I suspected was to come.
Most of The Fisherman is the story of what befell Dutchman's creek, as told to Abe and Dan by one of the locals. It's a great piece of horror/weird/dark fiction, reminding me of Lovecraft and his contemporaries or modern authors like Laird Barron: Sinister men of magic, fish-like things, cyclopean beasts, and worlds separated from ours by uncomfortably thin boundaries.
Once the story of Rainier and company started picking up steam, I had a feeling how things would tie back into the main tale and I was right. I read a great big chunk of the book while waiting for a tire to be repaired and I couldn't understand how everyone could be sitting around chitchatting while serious shit was going down.
The ending, while a little long-winded for my taste, put a nice capstone on everything. There's really nothing I can think of to complain about with The Fisherman. It's one of those books that felt like it was written with my tastes in mind. I hate to hand out too many five star reviews but it is what it is.
The Fisherman was a fantastic book I wish I'd read years earlier. Five out of five stars.
I've had this on my kindle for untold aeons but I finally found time to read it over the past few days. I wish I would have read it years ago because it is fantastic.
The framing sequence, Abe's tale, is written in a long winded, folksy kind of style. Abe relates his life and what drew him to fishing in the first place. It wasn't super interesting but had enough tantalizing tidbits to make me hang on for what I suspected was to come.
Most of The Fisherman is the story of what befell Dutchman's creek, as told to Abe and Dan by one of the locals. It's a great piece of horror/weird/dark fiction, reminding me of Lovecraft and his contemporaries or modern authors like Laird Barron: Sinister men of magic, fish-like things, cyclopean beasts, and worlds separated from ours by uncomfortably thin boundaries.
Once the story of Rainier and company started picking up steam, I had a feeling how things would tie back into the main tale and I was right. I read a great big chunk of the book while waiting for a tire to be repaired and I couldn't understand how everyone could be sitting around chitchatting while serious shit was going down.
The ending, while a little long-winded for my taste, put a nice capstone on everything. There's really nothing I can think of to complain about with The Fisherman. It's one of those books that felt like it was written with my tastes in mind. I hate to hand out too many five star reviews but it is what it is.
The Fisherman was a fantastic book I wish I'd read years earlier. Five out of five stars.
August 6, 2022
螔伪胃渭慰位慰纬委伪: 9/10
螚 魏蠀魏位慰蠁慰蟻委伪 蟿慰蠀 蟽蠀纬魏蔚魏蟻喂渭苇谓慰蠀 渭蠀胃喂蟽蟿慰蟻萎渭伪蟿慰蟼 蟽蟿伪 蔚位位畏谓喂魏维 蔚委谓伪喂, 魏伪蟿维 蟿畏 纬谓蠋渭畏 渭慰蠀, 渭喂伪 伪蟺蠈 蟿喂蟼 蟺喂慰 未蠀谓伪蟿苇蟼 蟽蟿喂纬渭苇蟼 蟿畏蟼 蠁蔚蟿喂谓萎蟼 蔚魏未慰蟿喂魏萎蟼 蠂蟻慰谓喂维蟼, 渭喂伪蟼 魏伪喂 蟺蟻蠈魏蔚喂蟿伪喂 纬喂伪 苇谓伪 伪蟺蠈 蟿伪 蟺喂慰 蟺慰位蠀未喂伪尾伪蟽渭苇谓伪 魏伪喂 蟺慰位蠀蟽蠀味畏蟿畏渭苇谓伪 渭蠀胃喂蟽蟿慰蟻萎渭伪蟿伪 蟿蟻蠈渭慰蠀 蟿蠅谓 蟿蔚位蔚蠀蟿伪委蠅谓 蔚蟿蠋谓. 桅蠀蟽喂魏维, 尉蔚蟿蟻蔚位维胃畏魏伪 蠈蟿伪谓 苇渭伪胃伪 蠈蟿喂 胃伪 魏蠀魏位慰蠁慰蟻慰蠉蟽蔚 蟽蟿伪 蔚位位畏谓喂魏维, 苇蟿蟻蔚尉伪 谓伪 蟿慰 伪纬慰蟻维蟽蠅 伪渭苇蟽蠅蟼 渭蔚 蟿慰 蟺慰蠀 苇蟽魏伪蟽蔚 渭蠉蟿畏 蟽蟿伪 尾喂尾位喂慰蟺蠅位蔚委伪 (位委纬蔚蟼 渭苇蟻蔚蟼 蟺蟻喂谓 蠁蠉纬蠅 纬喂伪 未喂伪魏慰蟺苇蟼), 魏伪喂 蟿蠋蟻伪 蟺慰蠀 蟿慰 未喂维尾伪蟽伪 渭苇蟽伪 蟽蔚 未蠀慰 渭苇蟻蔚蟼, 渭蟺慰蟻蠋 谓伪 蟺蠅 蠈蟿喂 伪尉委味蔚喂 蠈位畏 伪蠀蟿萎 蟿畏 蠁伪蟽伪蟻委伪, 萎蟿伪谓 苇谓伪 尾喂尾位委慰 蟺慰蠀 渭蔚 魏蟻维蟿畏蟽蔚 未苇蟽渭喂蠈 蟿慰蠀 魏蠀蟻喂慰位蔚魏蟿喂魏维 伪蟺蠈 蟿畏谓 蟺蟻蠋蟿畏 渭苇蠂蟻喂 蟿畏谓 蟿蔚位蔚蠀蟿伪委伪 蟽蔚位委未伪, 伪谓 魏伪喂 慰蠁蔚委位蠅 谓伪 蟺蠅 蠈蟿喂 喂未伪谓喂魏萎 蔚蟺慰蠂萎 纬喂伪 谓伪 蟿慰 未喂伪尾维蟽蔚喂 魏伪谓蔚委蟼 蔚委谓伪喂 蟿慰 蠂蔚喂渭蠋谓伪 (萎 苇蟽蟿蠅 蟿慰 蠁胃喂谓蠈蟺蠅蟻慰), 渭蔚 尾蟻慰蠂萎 魏伪喂 魏伪蟿伪喂纬委未蔚蟼 苇尉蠅, 苇蟿蟽喂 蠋蟽蟿蔚 谓伪 蠀蟺维蟻蠂蔚喂 魏伪喂 畏 伪谓维位慰纬畏 伪蟿渭蠈蟽蠁伪喂蟻伪. 螒蟺蠈 蟿畏谓 维位位畏 尾苇尾伪喂伪, 魏伪位蠈 蔚委谓伪喂 魏伪喂 蟿慰 魏伪位慰魏伪委蟻喂, 蟿慰蠀位维蠂喂蟽蟿慰谓 渭蠈位喂蟼 蟿慰 蟿蔚位蔚喂蠋蟽蔚喂蟼 渭蟺慰蟻蔚委蟼 谓伪 尾纬蔚喂蟼 苇尉蠅 蟽蟿慰谓 萎位喂慰, 谓伪 蟺伪蟼 蟽蟿畏 胃维位伪蟽蟽伪 (蠂渭, 委蟽蠅蟼 魏伪喂 蠈蠂喂, 蟿蠋蟻伪 蟺慰蠀 蟿慰 蟽魏苇蠁蟿慰渭伪喂...), 谓伪 蟺喂蔚喂蟼 魏维蟿喂 未蟻慰蟽喂蟽蟿喂魏蠈, 魏伪喂 苇蟿蟽喂 谓伪 尉蔚蠂维蟽蔚喂蟼 纬喂伪 位委纬慰 蠈位伪 伪蠀蟿维 蟿伪 蔚蠁喂伪位蟿喂魏维 魏伪喂 伪谓伪蟿蟻喂蠂喂伪蟽蟿喂魏维 蟺慰蠀 未喂维尾伪蟽蔚蟼 蟽蟿慰 尾喂尾位委慰. 螡伪喂, 蟿慰 尾喂尾位委慰 蔚委谓伪喂 伪蟻魏蔚蟿维 伪谓伪蟿蟻喂蠂喂伪蟽蟿喂魏蠈, 渭蔚 魏维渭蟺慰蟽蔚蟼 蟽魏畏谓苇蟼 蠁蟻委魏畏蟼 魏伪喂 渭蔚 伪蟻魏蔚蟿维 谓慰蟽畏蟻萎 伪蟿渭蠈蟽蠁伪喂蟻伪, 渭蔚 蟿慰谓 蟿蟻蠈蟺慰 伪蠁萎纬畏蟽畏蟼 谓伪 胃蠀渭委味蔚喂 魏维蟿喂 伪蟺蠈 蟿伪 蟺伪位喂维 魏伪喂 蟿伪 魏位伪蟽喂魏维 渭蠀胃喂蟽蟿慰蟻萎渭伪蟿伪 蟿蟻蠈渭慰蠀 蟺慰蠀 蟿蠈蟽慰 蟺慰位蠉 纬慰蠀蟽蟿维蟻蠅, 魏伪喂 渭蔚 蟿畏 纬蟻伪蠁萎 谓伪 蔚委谓伪喂 喂未喂伪委蟿蔚蟻伪 位慰纬慰蟿蔚蠂谓喂魏萎 魏伪喂 蟺慰喂慰蟿喂魏萎. 螝伪喂 渭慰蠀 维蟻蔚蟽蔚 蟺维蟻伪 渭伪 蟺维蟻伪 蟺慰位蠉 伪蠀蟿蠈 蟿慰 魏慰位蟺维魏喂 蟿慰蠀 蟽蠀纬纬蟻伪蠁苇伪 渭蔚 蟿畏谓 喂蟽蟿慰蟻委伪 渭苇蟽伪 蟽蟿畏谓 喂蟽蟿慰蟻委伪, 蟺慰蠀 蔚委谓伪喂 蟽蟿慰 未蔚蠉蟿蔚蟻慰 渭苇蟻慰蟼 蟿慰蠀 尾喂尾位委慰蠀 魏伪喂 蟺慰蠀 伪蟺慰蟿蔚位蔚委 慰蠀蟽喂伪蟽蟿喂魏维 魏伪喂 蟿慰 渭蔚纬伪位蠉蟿蔚蟻慰 魏慰渭渭维蟿喂 蟿慰蠀, 畏 慰蟺慰委伪 伪蟺蠈 渭蠈谓畏 蟿畏蟼 蔚委谓伪喂 苇谓伪 未喂伪渭伪谓蟿维魏喂 蟽蟿慰 蔚委未慰蟼 蟿慰蠀 蟿蟻蠈渭慰蠀, 蠈蟺蠅蟼 蔚未蠋 蟺慰蠀 蟿伪 位苇渭蔚 魏伪喂 蟿慰 蟺蟻蠋蟿慰 魏伪喂 蟿慰 蟿蟻委蟿慰 渭苇蟻慰蟼. 韦苇位慰蟼 蟺维谓蟿蠅谓, 蟺蟻蠈魏蔚喂蟿伪喂 纬喂伪 苇谓伪 蟺蟻伪纬渭伪蟿喂魏维 蟺慰位蠉 蔚谓未喂伪蠁苇蟻慰谓, 喂未喂伪委蟿蔚蟻伪 魏伪位慰纬蟻伪渭渭苇谓慰 魏伪喂 伪蟺慰位伪蠀蟽蟿喂魏蠈 渭蠀胃喂蟽蟿蠈蟻畏渭伪 蟿蟻蠈渭慰蠀 渭蔚 未喂维蠁慰蟻蔚蟼 螞伪尾魏蟻伪蠁蟿喂魏苇蟼 蟺喂谓蔚位喂苇蟼, 蟺慰蠀 蠂维蟻畏 蟽蟿畏谓 伪蠁萎纬畏蟽畏 魏伪喂 蠈位伪 蟿伪 蟽魏畏谓喂魏维 魏伪喂 蟿畏谓 伪蟿渭蠈蟽蠁伪喂蟻伪 蔚委谓伪喂 喂魏伪谓蠈 谓伪 魏伪胃畏位蠋蟽蔚喂 蟿慰蠀蟼 伪谓伪纬谓蠋蟽蟿蔚蟼 伪蟺蠈 蟿畏谓 伪蟻蠂萎 渭苇蠂蟻喂 蟿慰 蟿苇位慰蟼, 魏伪胃蠋蟼 魏伪喂 谓伪 蟿慰蠀蟼 未畏渭喂慰蠀蟻纬萎蟽蔚喂 蟺慰喂魏委位伪 蟽蠀谓伪喂蟽胃萎渭伪蟿伪 魏伪喂 渭喂伪 蟺伪蟻维尉蔚谓畏 伪委蟽胃畏蟽畏, 蟽伪谓 魏维蟿喂 蟿慰 魏伪魏蠈 谓伪 蔚委谓伪喂 魏维蟺慰蠀 蔚魏蔚委 苇尉蠅. 螌蟽慰谓 伪蠁慰蟻维 蟿畏谓 蔚位位畏谓喂魏萎 苇魏未慰蟽畏, 蔚委谓伪喂 蟺慰位蠉 蠅蟻伪委伪, 渭蔚 蟺蟻慰蟽蔚纬渭苇谓畏 渭蔚蟿维蠁蟻伪蟽畏 魏伪喂 蟿苇位蔚喂伪 伪喂蟽胃畏蟿喂魏萎. 螣蟻渭萎蟽蟿蔚... 维蠁慰尾伪! 违.螕. 韦喂 蠅蟻伪委伪 蟿伪喂谓委伪 蟺慰蠀 胃伪 纬喂谓蠈蟿伪谓, 委蟽蠅蟼 渭蔚 蟽魏畏谓慰胃苇蟿畏 蟿慰谓 巍蠈渭蟺蔚蟻蟿 螆纬魏蔚蟻蟼.
螚 魏蠀魏位慰蠁慰蟻委伪 蟿慰蠀 蟽蠀纬魏蔚魏蟻喂渭苇谓慰蠀 渭蠀胃喂蟽蟿慰蟻萎渭伪蟿慰蟼 蟽蟿伪 蔚位位畏谓喂魏维 蔚委谓伪喂, 魏伪蟿维 蟿畏 纬谓蠋渭畏 渭慰蠀, 渭喂伪 伪蟺蠈 蟿喂蟼 蟺喂慰 未蠀谓伪蟿苇蟼 蟽蟿喂纬渭苇蟼 蟿畏蟼 蠁蔚蟿喂谓萎蟼 蔚魏未慰蟿喂魏萎蟼 蠂蟻慰谓喂维蟼, 渭喂伪蟼 魏伪喂 蟺蟻蠈魏蔚喂蟿伪喂 纬喂伪 苇谓伪 伪蟺蠈 蟿伪 蟺喂慰 蟺慰位蠀未喂伪尾伪蟽渭苇谓伪 魏伪喂 蟺慰位蠀蟽蠀味畏蟿畏渭苇谓伪 渭蠀胃喂蟽蟿慰蟻萎渭伪蟿伪 蟿蟻蠈渭慰蠀 蟿蠅谓 蟿蔚位蔚蠀蟿伪委蠅谓 蔚蟿蠋谓. 桅蠀蟽喂魏维, 尉蔚蟿蟻蔚位维胃畏魏伪 蠈蟿伪谓 苇渭伪胃伪 蠈蟿喂 胃伪 魏蠀魏位慰蠁慰蟻慰蠉蟽蔚 蟽蟿伪 蔚位位畏谓喂魏维, 苇蟿蟻蔚尉伪 谓伪 蟿慰 伪纬慰蟻维蟽蠅 伪渭苇蟽蠅蟼 渭蔚 蟿慰 蟺慰蠀 苇蟽魏伪蟽蔚 渭蠉蟿畏 蟽蟿伪 尾喂尾位喂慰蟺蠅位蔚委伪 (位委纬蔚蟼 渭苇蟻蔚蟼 蟺蟻喂谓 蠁蠉纬蠅 纬喂伪 未喂伪魏慰蟺苇蟼), 魏伪喂 蟿蠋蟻伪 蟺慰蠀 蟿慰 未喂维尾伪蟽伪 渭苇蟽伪 蟽蔚 未蠀慰 渭苇蟻蔚蟼, 渭蟺慰蟻蠋 谓伪 蟺蠅 蠈蟿喂 伪尉委味蔚喂 蠈位畏 伪蠀蟿萎 蟿畏 蠁伪蟽伪蟻委伪, 萎蟿伪谓 苇谓伪 尾喂尾位委慰 蟺慰蠀 渭蔚 魏蟻维蟿畏蟽蔚 未苇蟽渭喂蠈 蟿慰蠀 魏蠀蟻喂慰位蔚魏蟿喂魏维 伪蟺蠈 蟿畏谓 蟺蟻蠋蟿畏 渭苇蠂蟻喂 蟿畏谓 蟿蔚位蔚蠀蟿伪委伪 蟽蔚位委未伪, 伪谓 魏伪喂 慰蠁蔚委位蠅 谓伪 蟺蠅 蠈蟿喂 喂未伪谓喂魏萎 蔚蟺慰蠂萎 纬喂伪 谓伪 蟿慰 未喂伪尾维蟽蔚喂 魏伪谓蔚委蟼 蔚委谓伪喂 蟿慰 蠂蔚喂渭蠋谓伪 (萎 苇蟽蟿蠅 蟿慰 蠁胃喂谓蠈蟺蠅蟻慰), 渭蔚 尾蟻慰蠂萎 魏伪喂 魏伪蟿伪喂纬委未蔚蟼 苇尉蠅, 苇蟿蟽喂 蠋蟽蟿蔚 谓伪 蠀蟺维蟻蠂蔚喂 魏伪喂 畏 伪谓维位慰纬畏 伪蟿渭蠈蟽蠁伪喂蟻伪. 螒蟺蠈 蟿畏谓 维位位畏 尾苇尾伪喂伪, 魏伪位蠈 蔚委谓伪喂 魏伪喂 蟿慰 魏伪位慰魏伪委蟻喂, 蟿慰蠀位维蠂喂蟽蟿慰谓 渭蠈位喂蟼 蟿慰 蟿蔚位蔚喂蠋蟽蔚喂蟼 渭蟺慰蟻蔚委蟼 谓伪 尾纬蔚喂蟼 苇尉蠅 蟽蟿慰谓 萎位喂慰, 谓伪 蟺伪蟼 蟽蟿畏 胃维位伪蟽蟽伪 (蠂渭, 委蟽蠅蟼 魏伪喂 蠈蠂喂, 蟿蠋蟻伪 蟺慰蠀 蟿慰 蟽魏苇蠁蟿慰渭伪喂...), 谓伪 蟺喂蔚喂蟼 魏维蟿喂 未蟻慰蟽喂蟽蟿喂魏蠈, 魏伪喂 苇蟿蟽喂 谓伪 尉蔚蠂维蟽蔚喂蟼 纬喂伪 位委纬慰 蠈位伪 伪蠀蟿维 蟿伪 蔚蠁喂伪位蟿喂魏维 魏伪喂 伪谓伪蟿蟻喂蠂喂伪蟽蟿喂魏维 蟺慰蠀 未喂维尾伪蟽蔚蟼 蟽蟿慰 尾喂尾位委慰. 螡伪喂, 蟿慰 尾喂尾位委慰 蔚委谓伪喂 伪蟻魏蔚蟿维 伪谓伪蟿蟻喂蠂喂伪蟽蟿喂魏蠈, 渭蔚 魏维渭蟺慰蟽蔚蟼 蟽魏畏谓苇蟼 蠁蟻委魏畏蟼 魏伪喂 渭蔚 伪蟻魏蔚蟿维 谓慰蟽畏蟻萎 伪蟿渭蠈蟽蠁伪喂蟻伪, 渭蔚 蟿慰谓 蟿蟻蠈蟺慰 伪蠁萎纬畏蟽畏蟼 谓伪 胃蠀渭委味蔚喂 魏维蟿喂 伪蟺蠈 蟿伪 蟺伪位喂维 魏伪喂 蟿伪 魏位伪蟽喂魏维 渭蠀胃喂蟽蟿慰蟻萎渭伪蟿伪 蟿蟻蠈渭慰蠀 蟺慰蠀 蟿蠈蟽慰 蟺慰位蠉 纬慰蠀蟽蟿维蟻蠅, 魏伪喂 渭蔚 蟿畏 纬蟻伪蠁萎 谓伪 蔚委谓伪喂 喂未喂伪委蟿蔚蟻伪 位慰纬慰蟿蔚蠂谓喂魏萎 魏伪喂 蟺慰喂慰蟿喂魏萎. 螝伪喂 渭慰蠀 维蟻蔚蟽蔚 蟺维蟻伪 渭伪 蟺维蟻伪 蟺慰位蠉 伪蠀蟿蠈 蟿慰 魏慰位蟺维魏喂 蟿慰蠀 蟽蠀纬纬蟻伪蠁苇伪 渭蔚 蟿畏谓 喂蟽蟿慰蟻委伪 渭苇蟽伪 蟽蟿畏谓 喂蟽蟿慰蟻委伪, 蟺慰蠀 蔚委谓伪喂 蟽蟿慰 未蔚蠉蟿蔚蟻慰 渭苇蟻慰蟼 蟿慰蠀 尾喂尾位委慰蠀 魏伪喂 蟺慰蠀 伪蟺慰蟿蔚位蔚委 慰蠀蟽喂伪蟽蟿喂魏维 魏伪喂 蟿慰 渭蔚纬伪位蠉蟿蔚蟻慰 魏慰渭渭维蟿喂 蟿慰蠀, 畏 慰蟺慰委伪 伪蟺蠈 渭蠈谓畏 蟿畏蟼 蔚委谓伪喂 苇谓伪 未喂伪渭伪谓蟿维魏喂 蟽蟿慰 蔚委未慰蟼 蟿慰蠀 蟿蟻蠈渭慰蠀, 蠈蟺蠅蟼 蔚未蠋 蟺慰蠀 蟿伪 位苇渭蔚 魏伪喂 蟿慰 蟺蟻蠋蟿慰 魏伪喂 蟿慰 蟿蟻委蟿慰 渭苇蟻慰蟼. 韦苇位慰蟼 蟺维谓蟿蠅谓, 蟺蟻蠈魏蔚喂蟿伪喂 纬喂伪 苇谓伪 蟺蟻伪纬渭伪蟿喂魏维 蟺慰位蠉 蔚谓未喂伪蠁苇蟻慰谓, 喂未喂伪委蟿蔚蟻伪 魏伪位慰纬蟻伪渭渭苇谓慰 魏伪喂 伪蟺慰位伪蠀蟽蟿喂魏蠈 渭蠀胃喂蟽蟿蠈蟻畏渭伪 蟿蟻蠈渭慰蠀 渭蔚 未喂维蠁慰蟻蔚蟼 螞伪尾魏蟻伪蠁蟿喂魏苇蟼 蟺喂谓蔚位喂苇蟼, 蟺慰蠀 蠂维蟻畏 蟽蟿畏谓 伪蠁萎纬畏蟽畏 魏伪喂 蠈位伪 蟿伪 蟽魏畏谓喂魏维 魏伪喂 蟿畏谓 伪蟿渭蠈蟽蠁伪喂蟻伪 蔚委谓伪喂 喂魏伪谓蠈 谓伪 魏伪胃畏位蠋蟽蔚喂 蟿慰蠀蟼 伪谓伪纬谓蠋蟽蟿蔚蟼 伪蟺蠈 蟿畏谓 伪蟻蠂萎 渭苇蠂蟻喂 蟿慰 蟿苇位慰蟼, 魏伪胃蠋蟼 魏伪喂 谓伪 蟿慰蠀蟼 未畏渭喂慰蠀蟻纬萎蟽蔚喂 蟺慰喂魏委位伪 蟽蠀谓伪喂蟽胃萎渭伪蟿伪 魏伪喂 渭喂伪 蟺伪蟻维尉蔚谓畏 伪委蟽胃畏蟽畏, 蟽伪谓 魏维蟿喂 蟿慰 魏伪魏蠈 谓伪 蔚委谓伪喂 魏维蟺慰蠀 蔚魏蔚委 苇尉蠅. 螌蟽慰谓 伪蠁慰蟻维 蟿畏谓 蔚位位畏谓喂魏萎 苇魏未慰蟽畏, 蔚委谓伪喂 蟺慰位蠉 蠅蟻伪委伪, 渭蔚 蟺蟻慰蟽蔚纬渭苇谓畏 渭蔚蟿维蠁蟻伪蟽畏 魏伪喂 蟿苇位蔚喂伪 伪喂蟽胃畏蟿喂魏萎. 螣蟻渭萎蟽蟿蔚... 维蠁慰尾伪! 违.螕. 韦喂 蠅蟻伪委伪 蟿伪喂谓委伪 蟺慰蠀 胃伪 纬喂谓蠈蟿伪谓, 委蟽蠅蟼 渭蔚 蟽魏畏谓慰胃苇蟿畏 蟿慰谓 巍蠈渭蟺蔚蟻蟿 螆纬魏蔚蟻蟼.
March 31, 2020
1.5 stars.
Imagine that you're sitting down to enjoy an absolutely delicious steak (or eggplant parmesan, let's say, for our vegetarian friends). The anticipation you feel as you guide your fork mouthward is rewarded as you begin to chew this wonderful meal.
But, rather than chewing, swallowing, and moving on to the next bite as you normally would, you just continue to chew...and chew...and chew. What began as something delicious first becomes utterly tasteless and ends up as simply revolting.
That's exactly what's wrong with this book. It's WAY too wordy, by a factor of 100 or so. It's a story within a story within a story and although that wordiness is tolerable in the first part -- when it's just Abe telling his story -- by the time it moves on to the diner owner regaling them with Lottie's story (passed on first to her minister and then, by the minister, to Mr. Diner) about the horrors of what happened at the construction project, the wordiness goes through the roof. Page after page to make a simple point (e.g., Lottie has fantasized about her neighbor and the monster makes her aware of it).
What might have been an interesting point is simply beaten to death as we're told how Lottie feels about this, how her sisters felt, how her mother felt, what her father said when her mother said something about how Lottie felt... imagine writing 10,000 words about buttoning your shirt this morning. I'd nominate Mr. Langan for that task.
Furthermore, consider this: all this incredible richness of detail is being conveyed 80 years or so after its occurrence NOT by the person who actually experienced it (Lottie) and NOT by the person to whom she told her story (Reverend Mapple), but by Howard, the diner owner, to whom the good Reverend confided Lottie's story. So...80 years later and this storyteller thrice-removed knows every little thing Lottie was thinking about every little nuance of what Lottie and all the other characters were thinking? No way, completely implausible.
Here's one small example: "Returning home with Gretchen and Christina the next morning, Clara is met at the door by Rainer. His face is drawn with exhaustion, but his eyes are alive with a light his wife has not seen in them previously. The light doesn't seem to radiate from within his eyes so much as to be reflected upon them, as if Rainer is gazing at a source of illumination invisible to everyone else. Clara doesn't like the look of this light. It isn't the warm glow of the sun; it's the cold glare of lightning. Clara has been afraid of Rainer on one or two occasions, instances when his temper flared so bright she was sure it would push him to violence. In all that time, she's never been afraid for him, not once, not when he told about his secret studies and the terrible cost they took, not when he walked out the door to begin work as a stonemason he had absolutely no training or, so far as she could see, no real inclination for...." And on...and on...and on. By this point, I was looking ahead to see how much more of Howard's completely unbelievable narration I'd have to endure before I could find out what happened to Abe and Dan, and then it dawned on me: time is finite...and there are multitudes of well-written books out there, no need to suffer through something that probably would have been a good 20 page short story but which had been chewed...and chewed...and chewed into a 263 page trade paperback.
In search of rescue, I picked up Hilary Mantel's "Wolf Hall"...ah, what a distinct pleasure to read something so well-written after forcing myself to slog through 120 pages of "The Fisherman". I'm obviously in the minority here, because most of its reviews are quite glowing, but I thought "The Fisherman" was painfully bad. No more Langan for me!
Imagine that you're sitting down to enjoy an absolutely delicious steak (or eggplant parmesan, let's say, for our vegetarian friends). The anticipation you feel as you guide your fork mouthward is rewarded as you begin to chew this wonderful meal.
But, rather than chewing, swallowing, and moving on to the next bite as you normally would, you just continue to chew...and chew...and chew. What began as something delicious first becomes utterly tasteless and ends up as simply revolting.
That's exactly what's wrong with this book. It's WAY too wordy, by a factor of 100 or so. It's a story within a story within a story and although that wordiness is tolerable in the first part -- when it's just Abe telling his story -- by the time it moves on to the diner owner regaling them with Lottie's story (passed on first to her minister and then, by the minister, to Mr. Diner) about the horrors of what happened at the construction project, the wordiness goes through the roof. Page after page to make a simple point (e.g., Lottie has fantasized about her neighbor and the monster makes her aware of it).
What might have been an interesting point is simply beaten to death as we're told how Lottie feels about this, how her sisters felt, how her mother felt, what her father said when her mother said something about how Lottie felt... imagine writing 10,000 words about buttoning your shirt this morning. I'd nominate Mr. Langan for that task.
Furthermore, consider this: all this incredible richness of detail is being conveyed 80 years or so after its occurrence NOT by the person who actually experienced it (Lottie) and NOT by the person to whom she told her story (Reverend Mapple), but by Howard, the diner owner, to whom the good Reverend confided Lottie's story. So...80 years later and this storyteller thrice-removed knows every little thing Lottie was thinking about every little nuance of what Lottie and all the other characters were thinking? No way, completely implausible.
Here's one small example: "Returning home with Gretchen and Christina the next morning, Clara is met at the door by Rainer. His face is drawn with exhaustion, but his eyes are alive with a light his wife has not seen in them previously. The light doesn't seem to radiate from within his eyes so much as to be reflected upon them, as if Rainer is gazing at a source of illumination invisible to everyone else. Clara doesn't like the look of this light. It isn't the warm glow of the sun; it's the cold glare of lightning. Clara has been afraid of Rainer on one or two occasions, instances when his temper flared so bright she was sure it would push him to violence. In all that time, she's never been afraid for him, not once, not when he told about his secret studies and the terrible cost they took, not when he walked out the door to begin work as a stonemason he had absolutely no training or, so far as she could see, no real inclination for...." And on...and on...and on. By this point, I was looking ahead to see how much more of Howard's completely unbelievable narration I'd have to endure before I could find out what happened to Abe and Dan, and then it dawned on me: time is finite...and there are multitudes of well-written books out there, no need to suffer through something that probably would have been a good 20 page short story but which had been chewed...and chewed...and chewed into a 263 page trade paperback.
In search of rescue, I picked up Hilary Mantel's "Wolf Hall"...ah, what a distinct pleasure to read something so well-written after forcing myself to slog through 120 pages of "The Fisherman". I'm obviously in the minority here, because most of its reviews are quite glowing, but I thought "The Fisherman" was painfully bad. No more Langan for me!
July 13, 2022
This book was not for me reading it felt like beeing on a longgggg car ride. The beginning of the book was good and some parts of the second time line where very good and creepy, but it ran way to long to the point you just want it to end so you can go back to the main timeline. When you are finally there you just don't care as much as you did for Abe and Dan, and at that point I had checked out. John Langan is a great writer but the story and the structure of the book just wasn't for me. That's just my humble opinion not every book is for everyone. I'm in the minority on this one alot of people love it so give it a go 馃榾
2,5*
2,5*
October 7, 2020
3.5*
"Los libros son dif铆ciles de leer. Tienen
significados ocultos鈥�, como si estuvieran escritos en c贸digo. Las palabras te
desaf铆an continuamente. No quieren renunciar a sus secretos. Como una ostra
custodiando su perla"
"No todas las p茅rdidas son iguales, claro est谩. La p茅rdida es鈥�, es como una escalera:
uno, aunque no lo sepa, est谩 en lo m谩s alto y, desde ah铆, ve c贸mo todo es un descenso
que va m谩s all谩 de la p茅rdida de su trabajo, sus posesiones, su casa, m谩s all谩 de la
p茅rdida de sus padres, su c贸nyuge, sus hijos, hasta que sigue bajando y se convierte
en la p茅rdida de su propia vida鈥� y, seg煤n he empezado a creer, m谩s all谩 de esta
煤ltima incluso"
"la Biblia es el pasado; a excepci贸n del Apocalipsis, que es el
futuro. En cuanto al presente, uno debe andarse con cuidado con respecto a lo
sobrenatural. Es algo que requiere estudio e interpretaci贸n. Dios y el diablo, el bien y
el mal, act煤an, pero de una forma sutil"
Dos compa帽eros de trabajo, que no guardan pr谩cticamente relaci贸n, perdieron a sus familias.
Abe quien fue el primero en sufrir la perdida encontr贸 refugio en la pesca. Cuando dan atraviesa la misma situaci贸n Abe comienza a prestarle atenci贸n y empatizar con el y decide incluirlo en estas aventuras, a la cual dan accede. Comienzan a entablar cierta relaci贸n y compartir la pesca aunque siguen siendo bastante distantes. Dan en un momento por una misteriosa raz贸n propone incursionar en un aun mas misterioso arroyo. Denominado El Arroyo del holandes. En una parada en el camino alguien les contara la historia y el pasado del sitio ,la cual le llego de la supuesta voz de un predicador .A partir de aqu铆 comienza un viaje al pasado lleno de oscuridad y misterio. Girando en torno a hechiceria,pactos, presencias y la figura de alguien o algo denominado"El Pescador".
Es una historia que comienza en el presente y luego viaja muy al pasado, y es la parte mas de mayor extensi贸n, por amplio margen. Para luego retomar la historia inicial hasta el final.
Es una historia sumamente ambiciosa y pretenciosa, lo cual se agradece. Pero tiene un resultado bipolar. Afortunadamente tiene un buen cierre
Esta muy bien escrito , tiene muy buenos conceptos y alicientes, pero la estructura que tiene, con diferentes tiempos y diferentes voces te saca un poco de eje .por momentos muy sobrecargado , en cuanto a recursos y personajes, lo que puede resultar abrumador.
Tiene claras influencias de Lovecraft y algunos otros escritores que comparten ciertas similitudes,con los cuales se han pasado la antorcha. por si quedan dudas... uno de los narradores es un tal Howard de Providence.
Probablemente se merezca el premio stoker que gan贸 en 2016 . pero en mi experiencia personal fue un ejercicio tremendamente agotador esta lectura, sobre todo la segunda parte.
"Los libros son dif铆ciles de leer. Tienen
significados ocultos鈥�, como si estuvieran escritos en c贸digo. Las palabras te
desaf铆an continuamente. No quieren renunciar a sus secretos. Como una ostra
custodiando su perla"
"No todas las p茅rdidas son iguales, claro est谩. La p茅rdida es鈥�, es como una escalera:
uno, aunque no lo sepa, est谩 en lo m谩s alto y, desde ah铆, ve c贸mo todo es un descenso
que va m谩s all谩 de la p茅rdida de su trabajo, sus posesiones, su casa, m谩s all谩 de la
p茅rdida de sus padres, su c贸nyuge, sus hijos, hasta que sigue bajando y se convierte
en la p茅rdida de su propia vida鈥� y, seg煤n he empezado a creer, m谩s all谩 de esta
煤ltima incluso"
"la Biblia es el pasado; a excepci贸n del Apocalipsis, que es el
futuro. En cuanto al presente, uno debe andarse con cuidado con respecto a lo
sobrenatural. Es algo que requiere estudio e interpretaci贸n. Dios y el diablo, el bien y
el mal, act煤an, pero de una forma sutil"
Dos compa帽eros de trabajo, que no guardan pr谩cticamente relaci贸n, perdieron a sus familias.
Abe quien fue el primero en sufrir la perdida encontr贸 refugio en la pesca. Cuando dan atraviesa la misma situaci贸n Abe comienza a prestarle atenci贸n y empatizar con el y decide incluirlo en estas aventuras, a la cual dan accede. Comienzan a entablar cierta relaci贸n y compartir la pesca aunque siguen siendo bastante distantes. Dan en un momento por una misteriosa raz贸n propone incursionar en un aun mas misterioso arroyo. Denominado El Arroyo del holandes. En una parada en el camino alguien les contara la historia y el pasado del sitio ,la cual le llego de la supuesta voz de un predicador .A partir de aqu铆 comienza un viaje al pasado lleno de oscuridad y misterio. Girando en torno a hechiceria,pactos, presencias y la figura de alguien o algo denominado"El Pescador".
Es una historia que comienza en el presente y luego viaja muy al pasado, y es la parte mas de mayor extensi贸n, por amplio margen. Para luego retomar la historia inicial hasta el final.
Es una historia sumamente ambiciosa y pretenciosa, lo cual se agradece. Pero tiene un resultado bipolar. Afortunadamente tiene un buen cierre
Esta muy bien escrito , tiene muy buenos conceptos y alicientes, pero la estructura que tiene, con diferentes tiempos y diferentes voces te saca un poco de eje .por momentos muy sobrecargado , en cuanto a recursos y personajes, lo que puede resultar abrumador.
Tiene claras influencias de Lovecraft y algunos otros escritores que comparten ciertas similitudes,con los cuales se han pasado la antorcha. por si quedan dudas... uno de los narradores es un tal Howard de Providence.
Probablemente se merezca el premio stoker que gan贸 en 2016 . pero en mi experiencia personal fue un ejercicio tremendamente agotador esta lectura, sobre todo la segunda parte.
June 30, 2016
John Langan鈥檚 The Fisherman is a slow-burn tale of cosmic horror told on two fronts. This is the story of two widowers, Abe and Dan, who find solace in their shared hobby of fishing and plan on sinking their lines into Dutchman鈥檚 Creek, a hard to find locale unless you know exactly where to look. Beyond being hard to find, there鈥檚 rumors about this creek鈥umors and stories. Dutchman鈥檚 Creek has a lot of history, and Langan focuses on this for the bulk of his narrative.
I have to admit, when Abe began relaying the story of Dutchman鈥檚 Creek, as told to him by a cook at a diner they stop at before embarking on their trip, who heard it from a priest who heard it from somebody else, I was worried that this book would be reduced to a game of Telephone. I was also a bit jarred by, after having spent several long chapters with Abe and getting lost in his narrative and intonations of their ill-fated trip to Dutchman鈥檚 Creek, I was suddenly in the midst of a historical story 100 years prior.
Thankfully, the history Langan presents is rich and highly interesting, and filled with several intriguing characters. Once the horror elements begin to weave their way into the account, the story really kicks into high gear with some wonderful imagery and fantastical scenarios. I flat-out loved the mythology Langan explores here, exploiting the watery elements in both theme and object to deliver an excellent bit of cosmic horror. Langan invests us in these characters (both past and present) suitably well, and the sense of creeping dread is completely engrossing.
The biggest risk in presenting a narrative with the story-within-a-story approach is that there are effectively two endings. I found the climax to the historical segment to be much more satisfying than the present-day events, although once Abe and Dan鈥檚 stories reach their finish the moody atmosphere was scintillating enough that even though I鈥檇 finished reading this on a sunny evening I鈥檇 swear the sky was filled with dark, rain-laden clouds.
The Fisherman was the first book I鈥檝e read by Langan, and you can mark me as suitably impressed. His writing style is very comfortable, and within a matter of pages I felt like I was right there with Abe, listening to a long fisherman鈥檚 story on the river鈥檚 shores. And while this is a densely written story, it is a compulsively readable one. Through Abe, Langan sinks his hooks in deep enough to catch you by surprise, and then you just wait for him to reel you in. Once he does, it is so very worth it.
[Note: I received a copy of this title from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.]
I have to admit, when Abe began relaying the story of Dutchman鈥檚 Creek, as told to him by a cook at a diner they stop at before embarking on their trip, who heard it from a priest who heard it from somebody else, I was worried that this book would be reduced to a game of Telephone. I was also a bit jarred by, after having spent several long chapters with Abe and getting lost in his narrative and intonations of their ill-fated trip to Dutchman鈥檚 Creek, I was suddenly in the midst of a historical story 100 years prior.
Thankfully, the history Langan presents is rich and highly interesting, and filled with several intriguing characters. Once the horror elements begin to weave their way into the account, the story really kicks into high gear with some wonderful imagery and fantastical scenarios. I flat-out loved the mythology Langan explores here, exploiting the watery elements in both theme and object to deliver an excellent bit of cosmic horror. Langan invests us in these characters (both past and present) suitably well, and the sense of creeping dread is completely engrossing.
The biggest risk in presenting a narrative with the story-within-a-story approach is that there are effectively two endings. I found the climax to the historical segment to be much more satisfying than the present-day events, although once Abe and Dan鈥檚 stories reach their finish the moody atmosphere was scintillating enough that even though I鈥檇 finished reading this on a sunny evening I鈥檇 swear the sky was filled with dark, rain-laden clouds.
The Fisherman was the first book I鈥檝e read by Langan, and you can mark me as suitably impressed. His writing style is very comfortable, and within a matter of pages I felt like I was right there with Abe, listening to a long fisherman鈥檚 story on the river鈥檚 shores. And while this is a densely written story, it is a compulsively readable one. Through Abe, Langan sinks his hooks in deep enough to catch you by surprise, and then you just wait for him to reel you in. Once he does, it is so very worth it.
[Note: I received a copy of this title from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.]
May 12, 2021
Maybe whoever, or whatever, is running the show isn鈥檛 so nice. Maybe he鈥檚 evil, or mad, or bored, disinterested. Maybe we鈥檝e got everything completely wrong, everything, and if we could look through the mask, what we鈥檇 see would destroy us.
When I first picked up The Fisherman I thought I was beginning a creature feature, or at least a standard horror. What I found was a Lovecraftian inspired cosmic experience.
The story begins with Abe and Dan. Both have experienced a great loss and spend their time together fishing. On one particular day they decide to go to Dutchman's creek--a fishing hole Abe has never heard of and one Dan is hesitant to reveal how he found. They mention their journey at the local diner when they stop for breakfast, and the owner gives them a stern warning in the form of a folktale.
This tale is about fifty percent of the book. It tells of the dead rising, parallel dimensions, dark and terrible powers, and a brilliant man named Rainer Schmidt. When we return to present day, the pair of fishermen, who do not heed the warning, continue to their destination where nothing but horror awaits.
But there are some things, no matter if they鈥檙e true, you can鈥檛 live with them. You have to refuse them. You turn your eyes away from whatever鈥檚 squatting right there in front of you and not only pretend it isn鈥檛 there now, but that you never saw it in the first place. You do so because your soul is a frail thing that can鈥檛 stand the blast-furnace heat of revelation, and truth be damned. What else can a body do?
With masterful writing and elegant storytelling, The Fisherman is at its core a tale of grief and the lengths a person would go to to remedy that loss.
I've only read a handful of near perfect books over the years. Books like Dolores Claiborne, To Kill a Mocking bird, and The Elementals. I'm officially adding The Fisherman to that list. It's epic and dark and deep and all things wonderful.
When I first picked up The Fisherman I thought I was beginning a creature feature, or at least a standard horror. What I found was a Lovecraftian inspired cosmic experience.
The story begins with Abe and Dan. Both have experienced a great loss and spend their time together fishing. On one particular day they decide to go to Dutchman's creek--a fishing hole Abe has never heard of and one Dan is hesitant to reveal how he found. They mention their journey at the local diner when they stop for breakfast, and the owner gives them a stern warning in the form of a folktale.
This tale is about fifty percent of the book. It tells of the dead rising, parallel dimensions, dark and terrible powers, and a brilliant man named Rainer Schmidt. When we return to present day, the pair of fishermen, who do not heed the warning, continue to their destination where nothing but horror awaits.
But there are some things, no matter if they鈥檙e true, you can鈥檛 live with them. You have to refuse them. You turn your eyes away from whatever鈥檚 squatting right there in front of you and not only pretend it isn鈥檛 there now, but that you never saw it in the first place. You do so because your soul is a frail thing that can鈥檛 stand the blast-furnace heat of revelation, and truth be damned. What else can a body do?
With masterful writing and elegant storytelling, The Fisherman is at its core a tale of grief and the lengths a person would go to to remedy that loss.
I've only read a handful of near perfect books over the years. Books like Dolores Claiborne, To Kill a Mocking bird, and The Elementals. I'm officially adding The Fisherman to that list. It's epic and dark and deep and all things wonderful.
February 11, 2025
I don鈥檛 write reviews.
And I don鈥檛 like this. Nor do I understand it. This is not cosmic horror. This is not really a proper story. Didn鈥檛 he have an editor? One does not take a detour for over half of the book to tell a dull tale from a seventh person perspective, with a few dozen characters, that never get any sense of development, just to let you know things are spooky. I, who am not a writer, can think of a half dozen more interesting ways for the protagonists to find out this information. Diary. Almanac. History book. Creepy motel hell. Madman in a cabin. Dreams. Fucking phone calls from the dead. Anything other than what Langan chose!
Then we get back to the story at hand, and鈥�. It鈥檚 not worth it. You deserve better. This is one of the few times in my life I will tell you to avoid a book. I鈥檓 in physical pain from the terribleness of it all. Everyone has a novel in them, but please, we don鈥檛 need everyone鈥檚 novels.
And I don鈥檛 like this. Nor do I understand it. This is not cosmic horror. This is not really a proper story. Didn鈥檛 he have an editor? One does not take a detour for over half of the book to tell a dull tale from a seventh person perspective, with a few dozen characters, that never get any sense of development, just to let you know things are spooky. I, who am not a writer, can think of a half dozen more interesting ways for the protagonists to find out this information. Diary. Almanac. History book. Creepy motel hell. Madman in a cabin. Dreams. Fucking phone calls from the dead. Anything other than what Langan chose!
Then we get back to the story at hand, and鈥�. It鈥檚 not worth it. You deserve better. This is one of the few times in my life I will tell you to avoid a book. I鈥檓 in physical pain from the terribleness of it all. Everyone has a novel in them, but please, we don鈥檛 need everyone鈥檚 novels.
October 19, 2021
Before the pandemic, I was in the library. Not just A library. THE library. The penultimate library, a cathedral of leather and wood, with nooks and crannies in every dimension and endless rows and stacks of tomes and a silence otherwise so complete I could hear the dust humming in the warmth of sun-shafts.
In this library, I encountered a review of The Fisherman that was the most wonderful review I have ever read. It was as if the reviewer had discovered a door to the heart of the universe and this review was an opening of that door. It was a spiritual experience, with metaphysics and philosophy and Gods and Monsters, both elder and ordinary. But it wasn鈥檛 all fancy schmancy. It had humor, too, albeit a black humor befitting the nature of this book. And just the right amount of spice of personality and humanity and voice. This reviewer was a human-being, a real person, not just some plot-synopsis spewing automaton.
And the words, oh, the words! Eldritch and arcane, of course, but also, at times, plain and commonplace. The high and the low, the pure and the profane, combined, together, revealing the illusion of their disparity.
Which isn鈥檛 to say this was a glowing review. By no means. The review was wonderful, but it didn鈥檛 state The Fisherman was wonderful. The review used this metaphor to describe the book, in which this ONE image - an image of a black-magic fisherman casting his lures in a dark ocean of souls and a great Leviathan trapped by a thousand hooks - was the book鈥檚 entire heart, its seed, its reason for being written. A great image, a great core. But everything else was constructed around that image and was not great.
And the reviewer鈥檚 disdain for the book鈥檚 Frame Narrative! You know of what I speak? In which the reader isn鈥檛 even reading the story but reading someone鈥檚 post-hoc telling of the story. Well the Fisherman does that AND ONE MORE. Half of the book is a frame narrative WITHIN A FRAME NARRATIVE! And oh this reviewer鈥檚 delicious disdain, so thick you could cut it into slices and serve it for a devil鈥檚 birthday.
Ah, I wish you could just read that review itself. Really, I do. Or that I could recreate it for you. That would be so wonderful. Quite wonderful. But you can鈥檛 and I won鈥檛. The end.
In this library, I encountered a review of The Fisherman that was the most wonderful review I have ever read. It was as if the reviewer had discovered a door to the heart of the universe and this review was an opening of that door. It was a spiritual experience, with metaphysics and philosophy and Gods and Monsters, both elder and ordinary. But it wasn鈥檛 all fancy schmancy. It had humor, too, albeit a black humor befitting the nature of this book. And just the right amount of spice of personality and humanity and voice. This reviewer was a human-being, a real person, not just some plot-synopsis spewing automaton.
And the words, oh, the words! Eldritch and arcane, of course, but also, at times, plain and commonplace. The high and the low, the pure and the profane, combined, together, revealing the illusion of their disparity.
Which isn鈥檛 to say this was a glowing review. By no means. The review was wonderful, but it didn鈥檛 state The Fisherman was wonderful. The review used this metaphor to describe the book, in which this ONE image - an image of a black-magic fisherman casting his lures in a dark ocean of souls and a great Leviathan trapped by a thousand hooks - was the book鈥檚 entire heart, its seed, its reason for being written. A great image, a great core. But everything else was constructed around that image and was not great.
And the reviewer鈥檚 disdain for the book鈥檚 Frame Narrative! You know of what I speak? In which the reader isn鈥檛 even reading the story but reading someone鈥檚 post-hoc telling of the story. Well the Fisherman does that AND ONE MORE. Half of the book is a frame narrative WITHIN A FRAME NARRATIVE! And oh this reviewer鈥檚 delicious disdain, so thick you could cut it into slices and serve it for a devil鈥檚 birthday.
Ah, I wish you could just read that review itself. Really, I do. Or that I could recreate it for you. That would be so wonderful. Quite wonderful. But you can鈥檛 and I won鈥檛. The end.
February 24, 2018
Abe and Dan, coworkers, with nothing in common but their grief, find the bond of friendship and solace in the peaceful hobby of fishing the streams in upstate New York. Then Dan suggests Dutchman's Creek. Although Abe is unfamiliar with this waterway, he is more than willing to give it a go.
When one of the locals hears of their interest, he feels the need to tell them the legend of Dutchman's Creek, and why it is avoided.
Assuming it's no more than a colorful piece of folklore, a fish story as it were, they head for Dutchman's Creek......where they find a darkness deeper than any body of water, one that promises for a price.
Langan has written a fantastic novel, at turns achingly human, and gutwrenchingly horrifying. A grand tale of cosmic folklore that would have done Algernon Blackwood or Arthur Machen proud.
Highest possible recommendation.
When one of the locals hears of their interest, he feels the need to tell them the legend of Dutchman's Creek, and why it is avoided.
Assuming it's no more than a colorful piece of folklore, a fish story as it were, they head for Dutchman's Creek......where they find a darkness deeper than any body of water, one that promises for a price.
Langan has written a fantastic novel, at turns achingly human, and gutwrenchingly horrifying. A grand tale of cosmic folklore that would have done Algernon Blackwood or Arthur Machen proud.
Highest possible recommendation.
September 3, 2019
This book was a pleasant surprise, and I am really grateful to the friend who recommended it to me, because it was clear from the first few pages how much I would enjoy it! In my opinion, this novel delivered what The Great and Secret Show by Clive Barker had promised me, a world of lovecraftian monstrosities and conradian horror, sprinkled with a classic, gothic-style "beware of the cursed waters" feeling.
The "story within a story within a story" trope, which many people seem to avoid like the plague, actually holds a very space in my heart, and was once again reminiscent of one of my favourite books, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. A sailor and a fisherman, two figures associated with storytelling in many classic tales, make the perfect protagonists for these two, dark books: septic, aged men who are forced to believe the horrific tales they are told, since they end up witnessing them with their own eyes. On a side note, me being a linguist, the "ancient undeciphered language" topic in a horror/fantasy books never fails to rise the interest bar for me.
And finally, yes, this may not be the most original and unpredictable of books, and it falls in many clich茅s of the genre... I must admit that I thought: "I really saw that coming" more than a few times throughout it, but that did not disturb my enjoyment not even one bit. On the contrary, the familiarity of some themes and scenes brought it closer to my beloved classics of the genre, making me appreciate it even more. This book made me spend a fun few days!
April 28, 2024
Let me just start off by saying The Fisherman is probably the best book I鈥檝e read in 5 years or so, and I鈥檝e had some phenomenal reads in that time. That鈥檚 how good this book is.
Now, why is it so good? Plain and simple. Langan writes his ass off. His character development is second to none. The dialogue is so spot on, you鈥檇 swear the characters weren鈥檛 only alive, but you were standing right next to them while they cast their lines in the water. The atmosphere and imagery he creates feels like watching an IMAX movie, where everything else you鈥檝e read up to this point was a 13-inch, black-and-white portable TV with bent bunny ear antennas. Finally, the word choices Langan uses to construct his sentences makes me want to take my laptop and throw it in the trash. All throughout this story, I kept mentally high-fiving him for his prose.
I won鈥檛 get too much into the synopsis. The back cover will do a better justice than anything I could give. What I will say is how The Fisherman seems to capture everything I love about Lovecraft鈥檚 stories and film adaptations. The cosmic imagery is so much more believable than it has any right to be. That鈥檚 expert storytelling right there. Do yourself a favor - grab your copy now. Better yet, download the audiobook (the narrator is pure perfection for The Fisherman. I swear I鈥檇 listen to this guy read a dictionary) and immediately get started with Abe and Dan on their journey that leads them to Dutchman鈥檚 Creek. I guarantee you won鈥檛 want it to ever end. I know I didn鈥檛.
5 Hooked Leviathans out of 5
Now, why is it so good? Plain and simple. Langan writes his ass off. His character development is second to none. The dialogue is so spot on, you鈥檇 swear the characters weren鈥檛 only alive, but you were standing right next to them while they cast their lines in the water. The atmosphere and imagery he creates feels like watching an IMAX movie, where everything else you鈥檝e read up to this point was a 13-inch, black-and-white portable TV with bent bunny ear antennas. Finally, the word choices Langan uses to construct his sentences makes me want to take my laptop and throw it in the trash. All throughout this story, I kept mentally high-fiving him for his prose.
I won鈥檛 get too much into the synopsis. The back cover will do a better justice than anything I could give. What I will say is how The Fisherman seems to capture everything I love about Lovecraft鈥檚 stories and film adaptations. The cosmic imagery is so much more believable than it has any right to be. That鈥檚 expert storytelling right there. Do yourself a favor - grab your copy now. Better yet, download the audiobook (the narrator is pure perfection for The Fisherman. I swear I鈥檇 listen to this guy read a dictionary) and immediately get started with Abe and Dan on their journey that leads them to Dutchman鈥檚 Creek. I guarantee you won鈥檛 want it to ever end. I know I didn鈥檛.
5 Hooked Leviathans out of 5
July 30, 2023
i must have missed the groundbreaking philosophical ruminations that everyone else is going on about but the morale of the story remains
straight men, don't fuck the eldritch horror that looks like your dead wife
*buddy read with alka :)*
straight men, don't fuck the eldritch horror that looks like your dead wife
*buddy read with alka :)*
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