Customer Reviews
I loved this book - please write some more - By: Janie U, 21 Sep 2008 
The style in which this story is presented is very interesting - using diaries, interviews, emails & letters. It intrigues me & I found that the continual change of pace & point of view dragged me more & more into the story.
The use of Dr Jones' diary takes the reader into the head of the scientist & develops him as the main character. There is also the very factual reporting of the events around him using reports & newspaper cuttings in which the political undertones are always very apparent.
The writing throughout is very straightforward & I found it very enjoyable to read. The start of the "interrogations" brought in a darkness to the novel & an intrigue which from then onwards built towards the completely unexpected ending.
What a pleasant surprise! - By: P. Smith, 09 Aug 2008 
I'd seen this book in the shops & hadn't taken too much notice of it as the title rather put me off. I'm not particularly interested in fishing (well - not at alll, reallly) & the Yemen sounded rather distant & obscure. However, a friend recommended it to me & lent me his copy. I put it on my pile of "books to read" (which is rapidly approaching the ceiling) where it remained for a while. I'd finished reading my last book & grabbed this one off the pile before rushing off to work one morning & how glad I am that I did! I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's witty, unusual, interesting, informative & has a clever & unexpected ending. I found the style of writing interesting, being a mixture of emails, reports, narrative, & correspondence, despite which it was not in the least bit confusing. Also, the rather terse (on one side, at least) correspondence between our hero (if that's what we can calll him) & his wife brought a smile to my face as it possibly reflected some married couples' relationships alll too well! I now know quite a bit about salmon, their habitat & their breeding habits that I didn't before reading this, which information was imparted totallly painlessly & didn't detract from the plot. I'm so pleased that my friend persuaded me to read this book & I shalll certainly recommend it to others. It was very different from anything I've read before. Do give it go!
Delightful Yarn - By: Well Read, 17 Jun 2008 A satirical, humorous fishy tale, flavoured with the double-speak of the British civil service, politicans, an empty marriage, the different faces of love, faith, hope, & incompetent Yemini Jihadis. Much to his dismay, Fisheries Scientist Dr. Alfred Jones is ordered to do the impossible, which is to populate the Wadi Aleyne in the highlands of the Yemen with wild salmon. His wife Mary, a successfull international banker, with a mind like a Microsoft Excell spread sheet, is certain the project will fail. Fred also thinks it's a hair brained scheme, until meeting Ms Harriet Chetwode-Talbot. Harriet is the go-between for elderly, wise, Yemeni Sheikh Muhammad, a mystical salmon fisherman with an Estate in the highlands of Scotland. The salmon project, becomes the most defining period of his life for scientific humanist Fred. Who records his deepest longings, along with the projects progress, in his diary.
I would have given this delightful novel five stars, had it not been for the combined use of interviews,newspaper reports, & Hansard. That approach could be somewhat irksome. Praise to the author for an otherwise, rattling good yarn. I would recommend the book to friends.
Good but labourous read - By: L. Young, 12 Jun 2008 
I liked this book in the end but found it difficult to get fully into it due to the way in which Paul Torday decided to set the novel out. After the first 100-so pages I started to get fully into the book & did enjoy it to a certain extent.
The way characters are portrayed, bumbling well meaning Dr Jones, cynical Maxwell & the prophetic & highly intelligent sheikh, was very good & it helped the story along well. (I find that in books that are written in letter, email, report etc form that characterisation can often be pushed aside but Torday managed to prove this idea wrong for the better).
It was funny but it was also sad, I felt for Jones & Harriet towards the end of the novel (although not for Mary Jones) & it was the way Torday made this happen that reallly wins my praise. Unfortunately the medium & the way that the story often dragged along was a disappointment.
3/5
Light but with darker undertones - By: Bookworm, 22 May 2008 An easy to read, imaginative novel that keeps you hooked until the end. So refreshing to read something that is creative in literary style as well as in subject matter.
It is a novel not a work of science - & thankfully the scientific elements did not detract from the storyline - you do not need to like fish to enjoy this book!!
