The Sky Fisherman: A Novel - Softcover

Lesley, Craig

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312147384 ISBN 13: 9780312147389

Publisher: Picador, 1996

Synopsis

The lives of young Culver, his twice-married mother, and his charismatic uncle Jake have been always overshadowed by the death of Culver's father in a fishing accident. When a suspicious fire destroys the town mill and three murders occur, Culver is engulfed by the dangers he finds lurking in the place he'd come to call home. Love, death, coming of age, and Native American spiritual beliefs flow together with the forces of nature in this novel.

About this title

About the Author:

Craig Lesley is a lifelong resident of the Pacific Northwest. He has received the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Book Award for both Winterkill and for The Sky Fisherman. He is also the author of River Song and Storm Rider. He lives in Portland Oregon with his wife and two daughters.

From Publishers Weekly:

Culver, a mild-mannered and likable young teen growing up in a small Northwestern town, is trying to sort out a great deal of confusing stuff: his father's drowning death; the bigotry evident against local Indians; his mother's dislike for his charismatic Uncle Jake; the way his outlaw stepfather, wanted for torching a railroad compound, keeps popping in and out of his life. Culver's interests run to the physical-basketball, fly-fishing and working at his uncle's bait-and-tackle shop. It's there that he receives an informal education at the feet of a group of men-dubbed the "backroom boys" by narrator Culver-who hang around the store and who include a cropduster, a glue-mixer at the local lumber mill, a baker, a local radio personality and an enigmatic Indian sheriff. Culver is seduced by the group's easy joviality and his Uncle Jake's heroic streak, which manifests when a fire claims the mill. But the boy discovers a secret involving his dead father that drives a wedge between himself and his uncle, and that threatens to make an adult out of him before his time. Lesley (Winterkill) is a smooth and talented writer, with a pleasing touch for detail and an unwavering confidence. His material tends to the sentimental: his central metaphor, a skyful of invented constellations as related to Culver by Uncle Jake, is an easy image, neither compelling nor powerful. But Culver is an unusually appealing character, and when the novel's close toes a maudlin line, it feels almost earned.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Picador
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0312147384
• ISBN 13: 9780312147389
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304