Distance Casting: Words and Ways of the Saltwater Fishing Life

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Summary: Review of Distance Casting
Review: Dobrin's book is an excellent collection of essays that would be of interest to those who fish, to those who enjoy books on the outdoors and the environment, or to those who just like personal, enjoyable writing.

I particularly enjoyed Dobrin's excellent ability to relate his life as a fisherman to his experiences as a person growing up outdoors and to his life as a scholar of English and of outdoor fiction and essay.

Really, this is an intensely personal, vividly described, and enchanting book.

I heartily recommend it.

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Summary: Dobrin takes us there.
Review: If you've spent any part of your life involved with a fisherman, you will truly appreciate the stories that Sidney Dobrin has shared with us in Distance Casting.

I laughed out loud at the lengths Dobrin and his counterparts went to to savor only those few moments of fishing glory. Miles between those moments were all the hours of toil that differentiate "fishing" from "catching".

Dobrin takes time to pull the meaningful from the mundane, and to remind us all that there is everything to gain from this effort. Distance Casting brings us in to the "fishing life"; the sport becomes so much more than its face value. It shares values carried into life, families brought to stronger bonds, and friendships entwined in a passion for the water and natural environment.

I whole-heartedly recommend Distance Casting. This book offers so much more than a 'sports story'. Even if you have never fished a day in your life, Dobrin pulls you in and takes you there.

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Summary: Love, Family, and Fishing unfold Amid Good Story-telling
Review: In _Distance Casting_ Dobrin conveys, through good old-fashioned story telling, the depth of feeling in both his friendships with men, and his relationships with his family members. He does this in-between, and often right in the middle of regaling readers with moments spent doing what he loves best, in the place he loves the most: fishing in saltwater.

This book is a rare glimpse into the ways in which lifelong male-to-male relationships often begin and are maintained in some sporting activity, and the reasons why those activities are so often imbued with such passion. Dobrin manages to let us into this world, and in so doing, into his circle of friends. It's a very nice place to be.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good story, and who appreciates a beautifully-turned phrase by a talented new writer; to anyone who's ever gone fishing with their Dad; who's ever enjoyed a day out on the water, and come home salty, tired, and content; who's ever been a child, or revered a parent. Because while this collection of essays is intensely personal, it is also universal in some fairly significant ways.