Reeling in Russia

by Fen Montaigne

Release Date: 15 April, 1999

Edition: Paperback

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More about Russians than about fishing.

I took Reeling in Russia with me on a recent fly fishing trip to Russia's Kola Peninsula. I always enjoy reading a book the contents of which are affiliated with the region to which I've travelled. This book aligned both with the country and with the purpose of my trip.

If the reader is interested in substantive information related to fly fishing in the former Soviet Union, this isn't the book. R In R is to fishing as motorcycles were to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

However, RinR presents an affectionate and enlightening insight into the contemporary Russians'male's mind. Their aspirations, dreams and the practical realities that stand in the way of acheiving them. Great (and chilling)sections on the history of the Gulag, a subject about which I knew little before reading this book.

As a gazetter for both the Russian mind as well as the territory, R in R is an enjoyable read. I guess if the measure of a book's quality lies in whether it sends you to other books on the same suject, this book succeeds. I'd recommend it.

"Fishing Book" that Goes to the Heart of the Russian People

A great deal has been written about what was once the Soviet Union. Some predates the formation of what Ronald Reagan once called "the evil empire" and other parts cover the years since its dissolution. A couple of volumes--John Reed's Ten Days that Shook the World and David Remnick's Lenin's Tomb--even appeared on the list of this century's one-hundred most important pieces of journalism. Maybe the number of books about this part of the world will eventually rival the biographies of Marilyn Monroe in total words. One of the latest entries in this literature, and certainly one of the best, is Fen Montaigne's Reeling in Russia. I have two friends now engaged in commerce in this part of the globe and each loudly proclaims this work the best representation of the lives of the Russian people. Some critics have compared Montaigne, for five years the Moscow correspondent of the Philadelphia Inquirer, to Bruce Chatwin and Paul Theroux. For me, though, the two writers who come to mind are James/Jan Morris and Jonathan Raban. Both of them qualify as "travel writers"; more than that, they uncannily capture the essence and the spirit of the people about whom they write. Montaigne has a literal "hook" around which he constructs his narrative. He fishes his way around the former Soviet Union. With fly rod in hand he travels from place to place, specific types of fish in exotic locales his quarry. Classifying this as a fishing book though is like categorizing Moby Dick as a story about a whale. Montaigne, neither a particularly accomplished fisherman nor an even mildly obsessed one, has a much bigger target. He wants to learn what has happened to the people among whom he lived and worked. And he also desires to find out about the types of Russians who inhabit some of the far stretches of a country he did not previously have the time or freedom to explore. From his very first adventure, near the Solovetsky Islands in northern Russia, Montaigne has his readers hooked. His impassioned and well-crafted prose connects us with types of Russians who seldom make it in front of cameras (or authors for that matter). We learn of their hopes and much more often about their frustrations. We follow him around the world's largest country, soaking up both important facts and fascinating trivia. Along the way, the author paints portraits of memorable individuals and the Russian people as a whole. There are no acceptable excuses to not buy and read this book. If you have no interest in fishing you have nothing to fear. If fishing makes your blood run as cold as that of these swimming creatures, both large and small, you will find else much in Reeling in Russia to keep you fully engaged. If you happen to actually like this sport you will have an extra bonus; you can imagine yourself in the flywaters in which Montaigne wades and learn about a fascinating people in the process.

George A. Singer