Fishing With John

by Edith Iglauer

This is a love story; an unlikely convergence of two people from different worlds who were able to make a rich and tender life together, and not only endure each other's company in alarmingly close quarters but revel in it.

Edith Iglauer was born in Cleveland and lived an urban, sophisticated life in New York until she met and married John Daly, a commercial fisherman in British Columbia. She spent more than four years on his forty-one-foot troller, the Morekelp until his sudden death.

John Daly was an impassioned and greatly talented fisherman who was convinced that he could "think like a fish"; an amateur philosopher who worked out, and followed, an orginal set of beliefs and principles; a mystic who, after forty years of fishing, felt himself to be at one with the sea and the mountains along the British Columbia coast; a scholarly looking, high-spirited, full-blown eccentric who covered the white walls of his pilothouse with his favorite quotations in bold black letters ("Lawyers spend their professional careers shoveling smoke. O.W. Holmes")

Fishing with John established Edith Iglauer as one of BC's most popular writers. This unusual West Coast love story sold 16,000 copies in hardcover and continues to be a bestseller in paperback.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Travel, Memoir

305 pages, Paperback

First published January 28, 1988

About the author

Edith Iglauer attended Wellesley College and the School of Journalism at Columbia University. She covered WWII as a correspondent and later became a staff writer for the New Yorker, where she mostly wrote about Canada. Her experiences led her to write several nonfiction books, including a memoir about her marriage to a salmon fisherman, which was turned into a TV movie.

Reviews

[Arthur Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rare instance where the film was actually better than the book.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of my husband's favorite books and I finally got around to reading it. What an interesting story of two very different people who find each other and are able to live in close quarters with respect and kindness as well as strong opinions on a small salmon fishing boat in British Columbia, Canada. Ms. Iglauer writes in full detail about the fishing industry, the tools of the trade, and her point of view as a big-city woman out of her element and often terrified by what is required of her. I could identify! I loved the story of John's proposal (involving a toilet seat) and the people and land- and seascapes in some of the most remote places in North America. A book to carry you away.

[Max · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is one that keeps coming to mind over the years so I have added it to my "read" category. What a great life, what it means to live, including the downside, and what a way to Die.

[Vicki H · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book more than 20 years ago and it has stuck in my mind. The author died this week at 102.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoroughly enjoyable read. At times, funny, but mostly enchanting. Two exceptional people from two different worlds find love and the pleasure of a simple life on a cramped fishing boat on the BC coast. About community, respect, and the world of commercial fishing, plus a love story. Delightful.

[Geoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took a long time to finish (more because of timing than the story) but was eye-opening. The work completed by fishermen is amazingly hard and filled with danger at every turn. A good west coast life, well lived.

[Norma Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an unlikely pairing as Edith Iglauer, a 50-ish New York city woman who is divorced and has already raised her family, is introduced by a mutual friend to John Daly, an eccentric fisherman from British Columbia. This is about how two people from completely different worlds make a life together on a forty-one-foot salmon fishing boat—the Morekelp--for four years, showing great love, respect and compassion for one another in the world of commercial fishing.

NOTE: There is a movie inspired by this book called “Navigating the Heart” starring Jaclyn Smith and Tim Matheson on YouTube.

[Marni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now I know something about commercial fishing in the Salish Sea. I really enjoyed this memoir by Iglauer. A friend introduced her to John when they were both over 50 years old. She married him and this is her story of their first fishing season together on a small fishing vessel.

[marcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

the love story is the under story that unravels slowly. the fishing community, the ways of the fishing boat are prominent in the story.
wonderful heartfelt characters that give this story life and humor.

[Janet Look · Rating 4 out of 5]

good but not enough exploration of their inner world such as their attraction to each other. this book was more about boats, fish and landscape, the movie filled in the voids in the book.

[Ron Evans]

An old man alone with his boat fishing for salmon off the coast of British Columbia.

[Mj Weisenburger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Understanding yourself in order to lie and love

[Darcee Bidgood · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent book but did not like the movie.

[Jane Silcott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another favourite.