Fly Fishing the River of Second Chances: Life, Love, and ...

Waiting for the Sequel...:
Jennifer Olsson's Fly Fishing the River of Second Chances is not so much a book about fly fishing as it is a travel memoir of the secrets of Sweden as seen through an American's eyes. Jennifer's chapters are pieces of the simplistically complicated Swedish life. She comes to this rural area above Stockholm with her son to start a new relationship with a Swedish fly fisherman. She has to adjust to this culture in a rental cottage that lacks the most basic necessities. Her choices are few at the local store but Jennifer learns this is a metaphor for all things Swedish, that fewer choices are better. Jennifer writes with the cadence of Swedish life - uncomplicated and unhurried. She describes the people whose lives she enters with the same casualness that Swedes have toward one another. Swedes like to know everything about everyone without letting on they know. Jennifer knows and she tells us. Mrs. Olsson does take us fly fishing occasionally. But the reader will not learn any fishing secrets from this professional fisherwoman. Her observations are of the beauty of the grayling, an indigenous fish to the waters of Gimdalen, and to the unusual Swedish characters who fish Lars and Jennifer's stream. It is good to read that not all things Swedish are likable to Jennifer Olssen no matter how ingrained in this Scandinavian life they are, as her experience with eating surströmming reminds us. We cheer when she is invited to go moose hunting but refuses to carry or shoot a gun, and we empathize with her at the death of calf as she strokes its warm head. She takes us to a barn dance where dating rituals are a throwback to a time before. We walk with Jennifer through the pine forests across beds of fir needles and bathe in the silence and the beauty. We hunt for berries and mushrooms, and battle mosquitoes the Swedes are naturally resistant to. After finishing this book, I hope that Jennifer Olssen takes us back when she returns to her renovated cottage to uncover the next layer of life in Gimdalven. As for the review by gunnarswede, he must be Norwegian.

Another Swede speaks out:
Gunnar's (a typical Swede) review criticized this book for being narrow-minded, critical and cliché about Swedes and for encouraging stereotypes about "bipolar herring-munchers who live deep inside the forest in little red houses without indoor plumbing." Well, I'm Swedish, and I had a completely different reaction. Reading it made me feel like I was at home - it brought back so many wonderful memories and I felt it truly captured the Swedish spirit. Where he saw criticism of Swedes from the author, I instead saw respect and admiration. Swedes are different than others, but that's not necessarily a negative thing. And I completely disagree that there should have been more about the son. As a matter of fact, I could have done without the emotional drama and lovey-dovey bit all together. All I need is some good fishing, and to feel like I'm back in Sweden at Midsommar.

Reinforcing the stereotype:
In case you didn't know: Swedes are bipolar herring-munchers who live deep inside the forest in little red houses without indoor plumbing. The Swedish men always prefer to live with their mom until she dies - sometimes longer... In some cases though, in their mid-forties when they hit a mid-life crisis, they go to Thailand to buy a bride and bring home to the mosquito infested village. Swedes rarely say anything at all, if they do it is something shallow about the weather or expressing the urge to get stupid-drunk on moonshine. Swedes also hunt or collect everything they eat i.e. moose and lingonberries. Swedes are indeed primitive, but really harmless and fun to watch. This is the portrait Jennifer Olsson paints of Sweden. The general problem with this book is that Olsson hasn't bothered to look outside the little village she resides in to get an idea of what life is like in the rest of Sweden, but she frequently makes statements like "Three out of four Swedes prefer moonshine, fermented herring and cloudberries over burgers, fries and a super-sized coke". The entire book gives a disturbingly distorted view of life in Sweden. If I set out to replicate her mission from a Swedish perspective I would have to abandon my dysfunctional family in Sweden and move in with a salmon fishing guide in Alaska preferably in a native Indian territory. Then I would report to my fellow Swedes about the wildly exotic, "Americans" living in teepee's hunting buffalo on dirt bikes, making a living on revenues from tax-free cigarette sales and having wild parties in the chief's double-wide - and then claim that:" This is America and this is how Americans live and interact with each other! Instead of dozens of anecdotes about all the "cute-but-weird-Swedes" and their habits it would have been nice to know more about the fishing, how your son reacted to this drastic change in environment and your friends responses. Now we are stuck with an overly ego-centric Bill Bryson-like burlesque but without the depth, irony and humor he masters. I'm sorry to break it to you - but almost anyone can join a moose hunt if they ask politely and promise to shut up for the duration of the hunt. Gunnar - a typical Swede

Fly Fishing the River of Second Chances:
Jennifer puts something for every reader in this delightful novel. She brings back memories of family time; both good and bad. She entices the reader into the challenge of starting life over again, under any circumstance. The aspect of fly fishing is generously covered throughout, but one doesn't have to be a fan to completely indulge the novel. Hats off to Jennifer and Lars.

Honest and funny:
This book is a lovely memoir. It's honest, funny, poignant and filled with great details about life (and food!) in rural Sweden. It is also supremely optimistic--about the possibilities of love and the possibilities of rehabilitating a stream that had been damaged by years of logging abuse. This is a story about restoration, personal and environmental. A very enjoyable read.