Book Review | The Fisherman By John Langan
Several months ago, I ran across someone’s Top 10 list, but this one was a little bit different. They had listed their Top 10 horror books that should have been made into movies. I love a good horror film, but even more, I love reading a good horror book. A book can go into a whole other level of detail, plot twists and side stories that basic economics prohibit a film from doing. I plowed through the suggested list, and finished with just two that scared and intrigued me enough to agree that they would have made a good horror film. One was my last review, Imaginary Friend, by Stephen Chbosky. This review is on The Fisherman, by John Langan.
A little tedious to get through in the first two chapters, the story begins with two widowers, different ages and different circumstances, learning to cope and move on with what is left of their lives. They find a common bond in fishing the local streams in the general area. However, not all the streams are peaceful, relaxing and places to get back to nature. One stream is off the grid, hard to find and when they start asking for information on the whereabouts, the old timers in the area won't answer their questions, simply warning the two off. Finally, one person relates the story of Dutchman’s Creek, that has been passed down through the generations. The story is strange enough to scare off one widower, but the other has some inside information and an ulterior motive for locating the mysterious creek. Friends until the almost end, the two go in search of Dutchman’s Creek and its dark, forbidding secrets. What they find is a century old bizarre, deadly other world, where the dead don't remain dead, the black ocean is home to an enormous Kraken-like creature, and their dead wives appear to them in different shapes. You are not getting any spoilers out of me!
I read mostly fiction books, but I always look for those small words of wisdom that an author will usually weave into their story. Lessons that can be taken from the fiction story but applied to real life situations. You can tuck them away someplace safe in your mind, and hopefully they jump out at the right time in the future. Perhaps they can save you some time and trouble, or perhaps you can appear as some wise sage as you advise someone else. Don't tell them where you got your wisdom from though. In John Langan’s novel, one passage struck me as solid advice. One of the plot’s main characters is reflecting on his painful, nightmarish experience from Dutchman's Creek, and he is contemplating doing more research to bring his experience to full closure, nailing it down airtight. After deliberating the pros and cons of seeking more clarification and information, his final mental conclusion rang true to me as solid advice. “But it was hard to conceive how the things I’d witnessed could have been salved by anything I might learn about them, so in the end, I let my investigations, such as they were, stop.” When it's time to move on, do it, simply move on.
