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It Takes One To Catch One: Confessions of an Alaskan Wildlife Trooper
You Did What????
All fiction works have the ghost of truth aimlessly wandering through the pages. When a lawman or woman read these short stories, they will groan, knowing the statute of limitations has long since run. That and the fact these words would require corroboration and I wouldn’t know where to start and I am an Investigator.br>
The stories are a glimpse into the wayward life of a kid as seen through the weak old eyes of a 60 year old man. So take them for what they are, fiction.
All fiction works have the ghost of truth aimlessly wandering through the pages. When a lawman or woman read these short stories, they will groan, knowing the statute of limitations has long since run. That and the fact these words would require corroboration and I wouldn’t know where to start and I am an Investigator.br>
The stories are a glimpse into the wayward life of a kid as seen through the weak old eyes of a 60 year old man. So take them for what they are, fiction.
288 pages, Paperback
First published October 21, 2007
2 people want to read
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October 9, 2009
“It Takes One To Catch One”, by Steven A. Knutson. ISBN 978-1-4327-1390-4
Reading “It Takes One to Catch One” by Steven A. Knutson, was like being in the high Sierras near the John Muir trail under stars spread across the bowl of night like a crowded field full of blooming flowers sitting around a camp fire chased by wisps of smoke swapping stories with friends now gone. I’ve done that and more. But I haven’t hunted and fished like this author has. I haven’t been close to a grizzly with two cubs--so close that Knutson felt the touch of death as he tensed waiting for the claws and teeth to slash and bite.
The author of “Catch One” will tell you that this is fiction. It’s not fiction. It’s captured memories that are like a wild beast, and the story meanders as the author travels back through the years. Sure, there are flaws, but those flaws make this work perfect in the way it captures a wild, dying world most of us will never experience as we are tamed and conditioned to fool ourselves that we are free in noisy, crowded, smelly cities shared with graffiti, gangs and gray CO2 skies. What most of us breathe is not the pure air of Knutson’s world.
Every sentence; every fragment and every run-on or intended, misspelled word along with happy or unhappy faces in places of periods, sculpt a unique image of the author and the world he grew and lived in—a place most of us will never see as corporations and greed pave nature and turn it into a parking lots surrounded by condos, casinos and strip malls.
Knutson’s style is like ‘sitting around a wilderness campfire’ with bears, moose, dear and bobcat lurking nearby in the brush waiting. As you read, you might find yourself wondering what kind of rifle or pistol you have or should have and is it ready. If you want the rivers and mountains and forests of this world to stay wild, don’t tame this book. If you love to fish, Knutson’s stories will send you places you may only dreamed about.
To tame this precious beast that Knutson calls “It Takes One To Catch One” would be a crime. I’m sure some editor or grammar maven with a corn cob stuck up his ‘you know what’ would do it because of short sighted stupidity. If you are one of those ‘stuck in the mud’ editorial types, you might not like what a home-spun, wilderness artist does with the written word. To bad, your loss--our gain. Before I go any further, I want to point out that I taught English grammar and literature for thirty years. I also edit my wife’s novels (printed and sold in more than thirty languages and countries) before her manuscripts go to her publisher. I feel strongly that a style that goes with the character and voice of the artist are more important than a missing comma or quotation mark; fragment or run-on sentence.
I love to read books that take me places I have not been. “It Takes One to Catch One” was one of those books. I watched Knutson fish and trap not only wild animals for food and fur along with criminal types that would ruin what’s left of nature for a profit but also the car of a neighbor trying to run down another neighbor’s dog.
If you are a Bambi lover (a person that doesn‘t know what living in the real world means), someone that thinks squirrels and bears and deer are cuddly and cute creatures created by a Disney cartoon, this book is not for you. It will probably give Bambi lovers nightmares. On the other hand, if you miss being out in the wilderness and understand that ‘wild’ means danger of another type and you embrace that danger, don’t miss out on the adventures in “It Takes One To Catch One”. There are two-hundred-and-seventy-eight pages of laughter and ‘seat-of-the-pants’ adventure waiting.
Reading “It Takes One to Catch One” by Steven A. Knutson, was like being in the high Sierras near the John Muir trail under stars spread across the bowl of night like a crowded field full of blooming flowers sitting around a camp fire chased by wisps of smoke swapping stories with friends now gone. I’ve done that and more. But I haven’t hunted and fished like this author has. I haven’t been close to a grizzly with two cubs--so close that Knutson felt the touch of death as he tensed waiting for the claws and teeth to slash and bite.
The author of “Catch One” will tell you that this is fiction. It’s not fiction. It’s captured memories that are like a wild beast, and the story meanders as the author travels back through the years. Sure, there are flaws, but those flaws make this work perfect in the way it captures a wild, dying world most of us will never experience as we are tamed and conditioned to fool ourselves that we are free in noisy, crowded, smelly cities shared with graffiti, gangs and gray CO2 skies. What most of us breathe is not the pure air of Knutson’s world.
Every sentence; every fragment and every run-on or intended, misspelled word along with happy or unhappy faces in places of periods, sculpt a unique image of the author and the world he grew and lived in—a place most of us will never see as corporations and greed pave nature and turn it into a parking lots surrounded by condos, casinos and strip malls.
Knutson’s style is like ‘sitting around a wilderness campfire’ with bears, moose, dear and bobcat lurking nearby in the brush waiting. As you read, you might find yourself wondering what kind of rifle or pistol you have or should have and is it ready. If you want the rivers and mountains and forests of this world to stay wild, don’t tame this book. If you love to fish, Knutson’s stories will send you places you may only dreamed about.
To tame this precious beast that Knutson calls “It Takes One To Catch One” would be a crime. I’m sure some editor or grammar maven with a corn cob stuck up his ‘you know what’ would do it because of short sighted stupidity. If you are one of those ‘stuck in the mud’ editorial types, you might not like what a home-spun, wilderness artist does with the written word. To bad, your loss--our gain. Before I go any further, I want to point out that I taught English grammar and literature for thirty years. I also edit my wife’s novels (printed and sold in more than thirty languages and countries) before her manuscripts go to her publisher. I feel strongly that a style that goes with the character and voice of the artist are more important than a missing comma or quotation mark; fragment or run-on sentence.
I love to read books that take me places I have not been. “It Takes One to Catch One” was one of those books. I watched Knutson fish and trap not only wild animals for food and fur along with criminal types that would ruin what’s left of nature for a profit but also the car of a neighbor trying to run down another neighbor’s dog.
If you are a Bambi lover (a person that doesn‘t know what living in the real world means), someone that thinks squirrels and bears and deer are cuddly and cute creatures created by a Disney cartoon, this book is not for you. It will probably give Bambi lovers nightmares. On the other hand, if you miss being out in the wilderness and understand that ‘wild’ means danger of another type and you embrace that danger, don’t miss out on the adventures in “It Takes One To Catch One”. There are two-hundred-and-seventy-eight pages of laughter and ‘seat-of-the-pants’ adventure waiting.
Displaying 1 of 1 review