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elenasquareeyes's review against another edition
2.0
How I Came to Know Fish is Ota Pavel’s memoir of his childhood in Czexhoslovakia, fishing with his father and his Uncle Prosek on the peaceful rivers and ponds of his country. But everything changes when the Nazis invade – Pavel learns to steal their confiscated fish back from the SS while his family still tries to provide for him and his brothers.
How I Came to Know Fish is a very short book, just over 130 pages long it’s a simple story about an innocent childhood and how that changes during war. It’s kind of a love story about fishing and will strike a chord more with those who love to fish and know the ins and outs of the best way to catch different fish.
While I was not particularly interested in the fishing part of the book (mainly as I have no real knowledge or interest in fishing myself) it was still well-written and accessible for fishing novices like me. It was when the memoir was more about how life was like in Czechoslovakia when the Nazi’s invaded that the story picked up for me. Patel recounts events quite bluntly, things like the fact his father and brothers were ordered to go to work camps is almost a passing footnote. As a Brit when we learn about World War II in school we largely learn about Britain’s part in the war, Nazi Germany itself but very rarely learn about the countries the Nazis invaded and how they controlled the people there.
Seeing how things changed for the Pavel’s, a Jewish family, even in subtle ways like the fact they were no longer allowed to keep pets was truly eye-opening. And also, atrocities like the massacre of the village of Lidice, an event I’d never heard of but Ota Patel could see the smoke from the ruins of the village from his hometown affected whole generations.
If you like a simply written story about a family, their love of fishing and how life can change during war then maybe pick up How I Came to Know Fish, it won’t take a lot of time to read at all.
How I Came to Know Fish is a very short book, just over 130 pages long it’s a simple story about an innocent childhood and how that changes during war. It’s kind of a love story about fishing and will strike a chord more with those who love to fish and know the ins and outs of the best way to catch different fish.
While I was not particularly interested in the fishing part of the book (mainly as I have no real knowledge or interest in fishing myself) it was still well-written and accessible for fishing novices like me. It was when the memoir was more about how life was like in Czechoslovakia when the Nazi’s invaded that the story picked up for me. Patel recounts events quite bluntly, things like the fact his father and brothers were ordered to go to work camps is almost a passing footnote. As a Brit when we learn about World War II in school we largely learn about Britain’s part in the war, Nazi Germany itself but very rarely learn about the countries the Nazis invaded and how they controlled the people there.
Seeing how things changed for the Pavel’s, a Jewish family, even in subtle ways like the fact they were no longer allowed to keep pets was truly eye-opening. And also, atrocities like the massacre of the village of Lidice, an event I’d never heard of but Ota Patel could see the smoke from the ruins of the village from his hometown affected whole generations.
If you like a simply written story about a family, their love of fishing and how life can change during war then maybe pick up How I Came to Know Fish, it won’t take a lot of time to read at all.
gracer's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
I’m going to suspend my usually critical approach, just be generous, and lavish five stars on this book. Because it’s beautiful. It is so quiet and peaceful and deep. (This is where I make a joke about fishing and rivers.) It talks about the hardships of life without ever once labeling them as hardships or dwelling on the misery of those moments. In fact Pavel never seems to outright say that they’re hard, or bad; it’s a really fine example of the “showing vs telling” approach. You feel the misery of the boy as you read about young Ota getting caught illegally fishing during the war, or the times of hunger or borderline desperation, of which there are many, but you aren’t really thinking about that so much as caught up in the experience. And, as it’s a short book, the misery passes in a few pages and there’s something uplifting, even joyful.
This strikes me, overall, as a really optimistic way of writing. Which is funny, because “optimistic” is not a word I associate much with Czechs and their memories.
I read this very slowly, as I read everything these days because I am suddenly exceptionally busy, but with this book I didn’t mind so much. It was like returning to a quiet peaceful place. Ota Pavel’s life story is an interesting one, and a sad one, too, If you decide to look at it that way. But in the note at the end he writes about trying to remember what had been beautiful in his life, and realizing it was the experiences he had of fishing. And then he went and wrote a beautiful book about it.
This strikes me, overall, as a really optimistic way of writing. Which is funny, because “optimistic” is not a word I associate much with Czechs and their memories.
I read this very slowly, as I read everything these days because I am suddenly exceptionally busy, but with this book I didn’t mind so much. It was like returning to a quiet peaceful place. Ota Pavel’s life story is an interesting one, and a sad one, too, If you decide to look at it that way. But in the note at the end he writes about trying to remember what had been beautiful in his life, and realizing it was the experiences he had of fishing. And then he went and wrote a beautiful book about it.
jhnd's review against another edition
5.0
Just a wonderful and lovely book. On one level it stands with any childhood memoir. Innocent and insightful, warm and honest. And then it helped me understand central Europe the better, gives a new dimension on a part of the world I know some. Deserves to be more widely known.
rmaclean's review against another edition
4.0
Beautiful writing, simple but elegant. About a family surviving WWII and the beauty of fishing. Amazing read.