Jewfish

by Andrew Furman

Nathan Pray’s life is a mess. A rare cold snap in the subtropics has nearly obliterated his beloved snook population, as if rising seas, urbanization, and toxic red tide blooms weren’t trouble enough. What’s more, his domestic life has unraveled. Nathan’s father suffers through the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, his wife has left him for a more upstanding (and normal) Jewish husband, his adolescent son seems to have retreated into a dubious hip-hop identity, and his mother has her own problems. He’s a good man who just can’t catch a break. But Nathan’s luck just might be about to change. A lucrative sponsorship and a television role on a popular fishing program can be his for the taking if he will only compromise on some of his stubborn piscatorial principles. Inspired in equal parts by Ernest Hemingway, Bernard Malamud, and Saul Bellow, Jewfish chronicles the day-to-day life of a middle-aged fisherman, lovable in spite of his shortcomings, and shines a light on the environmental issues facing south Florida and the planet.

472 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 1, 2020