Rating: 
Summary: Easy fans will enjoy...
Review: ...this brief but lyrical book
Rating: 
Summary: The best place to begin is at the beginning!
Review: Gone Fishin is the last book received by readers in the Easy Rawlings series. There are to date six books in the series including Devil in the Blue Dress,The Red Death,White Butterfly,Black Betty and A Little Yellow Dog. Mr. Mosley actually wrote Gone Fishin first but it was published last by Black Classic Press in Baltimore Maryland. I met Mr. Mosley and Mr. Coates, the publisher, in Baltimore at a book signing on January 31, 1997 and I knew that I was witnessing history in the making. Mayor Schmoke was present and admitted that he had read several of Mr. Mosley's works and had enjoyed them. I am honored to say that I have read all of his works and absolutely love them all. Gone Fishin gives insight into the humble beginnings of Easy Rawlings and Raymond Mouse Alexander. It explains how the initial friendship developed and why Easy decides to leave Texas for California. Easy and Mouse are African American men who are sensual, powerful, very similar and yet very different. Mouse acts and sometimes thinks about his actions. Easy thinks and sometimes acts upon his thoughts. They are both poor Black men who want a better life. There are times when situations are thrust upon both men such that they have to reverse their usual patterns and these times are skillfully presented by Mr. Mosley. This book, like the others in the series, leaves the reader anxious to know what is going to happen next. I love you Walter Mosley! Keep up the good work.
Rating:
Summary: Where it all began?
Review: GONE FISHIN' by Walter Mosley is the prequel to the Easy Rawlins mystery
series. Readers are introduced to a young Easy and his fiery friend Mouse in
1939 Houston, Texas. The story opens with Mouse becoming engaged to his
beloved Etta Mae and then going into a funk over his inability to give her the
grand wedding that she deserves. Mouse decides to travel, with Easy as his
driver, to his home town of Pariah, Texas to ask his stepfather, Reese for
help in paying for his wedding. This sounds like a simple task, but it is
complicated by the fact that Reese hates Mouse and has vowed to never give him
anything. Mosley adeptly paints the journey between Houston and Pariah. Along the way,
he constructs the foundation of the relationship between Easy and Mouse.
Together, the pair confronts life, death, and uncovers some ugly truths about
themselves. More exploratory than mystery, GONE FISHIN' provides the back
story to all of the previous Rawlins mysteries. Mosley's descriptions painted
pictures in my head and allowed me to see these characters as well as feel
their conflict. GONE FISHIN' is necessary reading for all Mosley fans. Reviewed by Diane Marbury
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers
Rating:
Summary: Where it all began¿
Review: GONE FISHIN' by Walter Mosley is the prequel to the Easy Rawlins mystery
series. Readers are introduced to a young Easy and his fiery friend Mouse in
1939 Houston, Texas. The story opens with Mouse becoming engaged to his
beloved Etta Mae and then going into a funk over his inability to give her the
grand wedding that she deserves. Mouse decides to travel, with Easy as his
driver, to his home town of Pariah, Texas to ask his stepfather, Reese for
help in paying for his wedding. This sounds like a simple task, but it is
complicated by the fact that Reese hates Mouse and has vowed to never give him
anything. Mosley adeptly paints the journey between Houston and Pariah. Along the way,
he constructs the foundation of the relationship between Easy and Mouse.
Together, the pair confronts life, death, and uncovers some ugly truths about
themselves. More exploratory than mystery, GONE FISHIN' provides the back
story to all of the previous Rawlins mysteries. Mosley's descriptions painted
pictures in my head and allowed me to see these characters as well as feel
their conflict. GONE FISHIN' is necessary reading for all Mosley fans. Reviewed by Diane Marbury
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers
Rating:
Summary: A New Genre for Walter Mosley
Review: Great detective story writers can rise to being solid novelists. Ross MacDonald was clearly in this category. With Gone Fishin', Walter Mosley has attained that distinction in a new way -- he has gone into a new fictional genre. Although this novel has the usual crime overlay, it is really a novel about coming of age in the South as a black person before the days of integration. With few books available on this subject, I suspect that Mosley may have set the standard for other authors to meet. For me, a lot of the charm of the Easy Rawlins stories is their historical setting in the more prejudiced days of the past. How does an intelligent, honorable black person deal with this? The stories are interesting for both what they say about society and for the great plots and character development. This book, a prequel to the others in the series, does the same, but in a different setting -- far a way from Southern California. I found it to be an excellent gothic novel, and encourage you to read it as such. If you open this book expecting another Easy Rawlins detective story, you may be disappointed. On the other hand, if you leave yourself open to what you find here, you will probably be rewarded. Moseley's fans need to live up to his talent, and follow him where his skills take him. If you have not read the Walter Mosley books before, I suggest you start with this one. You'll make more sense out of the rest of the series. You'll also be less likely to be disturbed by the shift in genre. Anyone who enjoys this book will find the detective novels to be an easy follow on.
Rating:
Summary: A New Genre for Walter Mosley
Review: Great detective story writers can rise to being solid novelists. Ross MacDonald was clearly in this category. With Gone Fishin', Walter Mosley has attained that distinction in a new way -- he has gone into a new fictional genre. Although this novel has the usual crime overlay, it is really a novel about coming of age in the South as a black person before the days of integration. With few books available on this subject, I suspect that Mosley may have set the standard for other authors to meet. For me, a lot of the charm of the Easy Rawlins stories is their historical setting in the more prejudiced days of the past. How does an intelligent, honorable black person deal with this? The stories are interesting for both what they say about society and for the great plots and character development. This book, a prequel to the others in the series, does the same, but in a different setting -- far a way from Southern California. I found it to be an excellent gothic novel, and encourage you to read it as such. If you open this book expecting another Easy Rawlins detective story, you may be disappointed. On the other hand, if you leave yourself open to what you find here, you will probably be rewarded. Moseley's fans need to live up to his talent, and follow him where his skills take him. If you have not read the Walter Mosley books before, I suggest you start with this one. You'll make more sense out of the rest of the series. You'll also be less likely to be disturbed by the shift in genre. Anyone who enjoys this book will find the detective novels to be an easy follow on.
Rating:
Summary: pleasant change of pace for Easy & Mouse
Review: Having chronicled Easy's adventures from the '40s to the '60s, Mosley jumps back in time to when easy and Mouse were 19 year olds on the threshhold of manhood. Mouse is about to marry Etta Mae & wants to bring a dowry to the marriage. He decides to go ask his stepfather for some money & things don't work out real well. This series has been consistently excellent & it's fun to see the characters as young men. GRADE: B
Rating:
Summary: pleasant change of pace for Easy & Mouse
Review: Having chronicled Easy's adventures from the '40s to the '60s, Mosley jumps back in time to when easy and Mouse were 19 year olds on the threshhold of manhood. Mouse is about to marry Etta Mae & wants to bring a dowry to the marriage. He decides to go ask his stepfather for some money & things don't work out real well. This series has been consistently excellent & it's fun to see the characters as young men. GRADE: B
Rating:
Summary: No mystery why Mosley is so good
Review: I read some of Walter Mosley's "Easy Rawlins" mysteries a few years ago. I recently decided to begin reading them again, starting with the prequel story "Gone Fishin'".
This was actually the first novel Mosley wrote about Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins and his psychotic friend Raymond "Mouse" Alexander. However, for whatever reasons, it never found a publisher. However, "Devil in a Blue Dress" the second novel, was published. I imagine that at least one reason "Devil" published is its more commercial status. It's a mystery, set in California in 1948. In other words, it's a straightforward book to categorize, and thus, far more marketable.
"Gone Fishin'" is not a mystery, nor is it a real crime novel (although there is a fair amount of crime and mystery in the proceedings). It is instead, a wonderfully grim coming of age story about two friends, both black, living in Texas before WW II. Mouse is getting married, but has no money to finance a proper wedding. Easy, Mouse's closest friend, and our "hero", agrees to drive Mouse to his hometown of Pariah, TX, with a vague plan to get the necessary funds from Mouse's hated stepfather. Readers of other books in the "Easy Rawlins" series will know how that turns out. But, as is the case with prequels, it's not the ending that really matters, it's the story that leads to that ending.
The most significant aspect of "Gone Fishin" is that it underlines the basic inconsequence of dividing fiction into genres and sub-genres. Mosley tackles many of the same issues here that he tackles in his mysteries. Easy is a man with feet of clay. He's mostly likeable, but like all really great protagonists, he has numerous off-putting flaws. I find myself alternating between rooting for him when he acts heroically and slapping myself in the head when he acts stupidly. But he frequently grapples with matters of good and evil, the frailty of human nature, the cruelty that inhabits the world side by side with the kindness. In other words, Mosley's work is very "literary" or "serious"-except that there's a dead body, and Easy has to find whodunit, so they are merely "mystery" or "crime fiction" and so dismissed far too readily. And it most certainly should not be that way.
"Gone Fishin" is Mosley at his best. Easy's moral ambiguity begins in this novel. Easy is perpetually trying to do the right thing, but finds himself helpless to thwart Mouse's machinations as he pursues money he believes that his stepfather owes him. Easy also finds himself entangled in a peculiar relationship with a local "witch" Momma Jo, who lives in the swamp. Mosley introduces other bizarre characters into this town of Pariah, and further creates an unhealthy atmosphere where the worst case scenario is inevitable. While Easy offers some hope in the last pages for his future, readers who have read any of the other books will almost certainly feel how hollow that hope is. More than anything, we see how Easy grows into the cynical man of the mystery novels, as, in his own words, he lost his "soul" far too early. Arguably, the mysteries represent his attempts to regain it.
For people who have read Mosley, "Gone Fishin" will be a mixed blessing. It's a great book, and is certainly a worthy part of the series. But it may seem oddly out of place, or perhaps redundant, as the outcome has been discussed in the rest of the series. On the other hand, the reader will finally watch Easy grow into the man they are familiar with. For new readers, this is an excellent place to start, although those expecting a good mystery will be disappointed (implicitly, those who read this "literary" novel and proceed to the mere "mysteries" may also be disappointed). But, those who are willing to set aside their expectations will be richly rewarded by this terrific novel.
Rating: 
Summary: If you are a real 'Easy' fan avoid this one!
Review: I was very disappointed in this book - the plot is weak and the ties to the past are very stretched and actually repetitive if you have read the other books in this series. There are a lot of weird sub-plots and digressions that serve no purpose other than to hide the fact of how poorly conceived this book is...In fact, this was so bad, that after having read it I went back and re-read 'A little yellow dog' just to remind myself how good Mosely can be when he is really 'on'.
| 
