Review: Fly-fishing Epiphany
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 7, 2011
A man must realize his tournament winning fly-fishing father is just an obsessive and compulsive human being with flaws before he can overcome self-doubts to deal with his own alcoholism and mature as a man.***Author Randy Kadish draws parallels between main character Erik's and his tournament winning fly-fishing father's battle with alcoholism, unspoken horrors and feelings of failure as they both pursued unattainable goals. After cancer and alcohol took his father's life, Erik picks up the fly rod and obsessively practices fly casting, sacrificing his studies so he can cast over 100 feet to win the next tournament for his father. For both, fly-fishing became an out, a way to side step the bottle rather than face their own demons.Although the author's vivid descriptions of certain scenes engage the reader and generate interest in the main plot, the three main characters could have been more fully developed. This reader was left wondering whether the author deliberately left out what demons the father failed to face and what were the fly casting techniques left by his father.Overall it was a quick paced coming of age story.