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Blues
From the revered Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and writer, comes his National Bestseller on one of the world’s oldest and most popular activities, fishing. Presented in narrative form as a conversation between a Fisherman and the Stranger, Hersey draws upon his own experiences and passion as the fisherman reflects on the age old sport, offering his own insights and thoughts. From the depths of the ocean to the creatures near the shore, Hersey perfectly answers why fishing has been such an integral part of humanity.
“Almost no one has answered “why fish?” better than Mr. Hersey . . . what he does best of all is evoke wonder.”— New York Times Book Review
“ Blues is, of course, about much more than the pleasures and techniqu3es of fishing; it is, as Fisherman tells Stranger, about interconnections—the ties between mankind and the natural world, among others.”— The New Yorker
“Wonderful . . . He gives us a rich and vivid sense of ocean life. . . . The whole thing is as stately as a minuet, and as graceful.”— Chicago Sun-Times
“Almost no one has answered “why fish?” better than Mr. Hersey . . . what he does best of all is evoke wonder.”— New York Times Book Review
“ Blues is, of course, about much more than the pleasures and techniqu3es of fishing; it is, as Fisherman tells Stranger, about interconnections—the ties between mankind and the natural world, among others.”— The New Yorker
“Wonderful . . . He gives us a rich and vivid sense of ocean life. . . . The whole thing is as stately as a minuet, and as graceful.”— Chicago Sun-Times
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
17 people are currently reading
292 people want to read
About the author
John Hersey
116 books864 followersJohn Richard Hersey, a Pulitzer Prize-winning American writer, earliest practiced the "new journalism," which fuses storytelling devices of the novel with nonfiction reportage. A 36-member panel under the aegis of journalism department of New York University adjudged account of Hersey of the aftermath of the atomic bomb, dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, as the finest piece of journalism of the 20th century.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
August 30, 2016
This is a hard book to rate. It is a treatise on fish and marine ecosystems, done in the style of a Plato type "conversation". It is loaded with facts about fish and fishing and includes recipes for cooking fish and poetry about fish.
August 13, 2019
A mix of science, philosophy, poetry and cooking told through the fictitious dialog between a stranger and a wise old fisherman. A bit repetitive and trite in sections, but overall an often beautiful and informative read about a specific type of fish and it’s relationship to man and nature.
November 30, 2024
“S: Does talking to the fish help?
F: My granddaughter, Sierra, wasn’t having any luck one day. I told her to try spitting over the side. She did—and bang! We had one” (47).
“I have something to confess. I adore the race of terna, and I have a violent prejudice against herring gulls. Do you think I’m a racist?
S: Do you hate all gulls?
F: I rather like laughing gulls.
S: Then you’re not a racist. You’re a picker and chooser.
F: I hope so. Laughing gulls are very helpful; they point the way to particular fish; to snapper, blues, as you’ve seen, and, when they wheel in a certain way out here on Middle Ground in late summer, to Bonito, a delicious fish, but not easy to catch.
S: Why do you hate hearing gulls?
F: They’re miserable scavengers. They’re the rodents of birding. There are far more of them at the town dump then out here. They dote on carrion and gurry from draggers in the harbor. The terns are pure and devoted fisherbirds; they hover over bait and go down to it with the grace of Olympic high divers. The gulls don’t know how to dive; they just crash into the water with horrible belly whops which scare the bait away half the time, so they just sit there looking bewildered. Then they fly off to follow the Islander, hoping that tourists will toss up peanut butter Nabs for them to catch. They chase other birds off, as if they owned all airspace” (148).
F: My granddaughter, Sierra, wasn’t having any luck one day. I told her to try spitting over the side. She did—and bang! We had one” (47).
“I have something to confess. I adore the race of terna, and I have a violent prejudice against herring gulls. Do you think I’m a racist?
S: Do you hate all gulls?
F: I rather like laughing gulls.
S: Then you’re not a racist. You’re a picker and chooser.
F: I hope so. Laughing gulls are very helpful; they point the way to particular fish; to snapper, blues, as you’ve seen, and, when they wheel in a certain way out here on Middle Ground in late summer, to Bonito, a delicious fish, but not easy to catch.
S: Why do you hate hearing gulls?
F: They’re miserable scavengers. They’re the rodents of birding. There are far more of them at the town dump then out here. They dote on carrion and gurry from draggers in the harbor. The terns are pure and devoted fisherbirds; they hover over bait and go down to it with the grace of Olympic high divers. The gulls don’t know how to dive; they just crash into the water with horrible belly whops which scare the bait away half the time, so they just sit there looking bewildered. Then they fly off to follow the Islander, hoping that tourists will toss up peanut butter Nabs for them to catch. They chase other birds off, as if they owned all airspace” (148).
July 12, 2008
Fantastic little life lessons. I also liked the chapter ending recipe.
Want to read
June 7, 2022*********************************
*Hiroshima 3 stars
*A Bell for Adano TBR
*Blues TBR
*Hiroshima 3 stars
*A Bell for Adano TBR
*Blues TBR
June 25, 2021
The author was very informative but if I had to fish with him in real life, I'd toss him overboard. Too bad a bluefish didn't bite off his tongue, the man didn't shut up about facts and figures the whole time, what a know it all, LoL! Though he did have some decent fish recipes at least...
March 18, 2025
“Eating fresh-caught fish at a round table with friends - what could be better?”
Like the Stranger, I knew nothing about fishing before this and now I’ve learned so much - about the joy of a daily hobby, the connection between humans and the natural world, and of course, bluefish. Every book should end their chapters with a poem and recipe.
Is fishing about to be my side quest for 2025?
Like the Stranger, I knew nothing about fishing before this and now I’ve learned so much - about the joy of a daily hobby, the connection between humans and the natural world, and of course, bluefish. Every book should end their chapters with a poem and recipe.
Is fishing about to be my side quest for 2025?
November 8, 2021
I first read this when it came out in paperback in 1988. I suspect this was a find in a book store - or as I think about it a bit I wonder if it might have been a present from Joan. The store label on the back of the book says it was from Benjamin Books. Googling the name, however, only gets me to a Benjamin Books in Ottawa and I certainly don’t think I was in Canada, let alone Ottawa, at any time that year. Perhaps it was acquired in a book store out on Long Island, somewhere around Easthampton, which is where we had rented a house for a couple of weeks that summer. Or who knows?
This is the second time through the book - it was one of the books on the list for the Anglers Club book group. I am not sure if I liked it better the second time through. Perhaps I did so because I am now so much closer to the age of the Fisherman (his 72 - my 78) and because I have done so much more fishing for blues over the intervening 30 or so years. They have become, as I think there were so certainly so for Hersey, my favorite fish. They aren’t wary, ‘tho they are quite capable of fleeing when necessary, and they aren’t picky. And there have been countless times when they are more fun than just about anything. All of that is true today, but I think the first time through there was a wonderful freshness to the book; I am not sure I had been aware that someone could be enthralled about such a ‘common fish’. This is certainly no common fish. Worthy both of a well written book and of diligent effort to catch them from boat or shore.
The Platonic discourse is not new, used by many since Plato - THE COMPLETE ANGLER, Issac Walton probably the most readily referenced and more recently THE COMPLETE CRUISER, L. Francis Herreshoff. It can be a cumbersome trope, the entire purpose is to set up a false dialogue, a dialogue in which the protagonist - Plato, the Angler, the Fisherman, the Sailor - is put a question ranging from the simple to the complex, from the personal to the general that is used as a launching point for a longer disquisition on the matter which is actually what matters to the protagonist. In this case bluefish, tides, the modern world, the sanctity of the seas, and on. In BLUES these longish ramblings are presented as though they, the Stranger and the Fisherman, are talking as they slowly troll for blues off the northeastern shore of Martha’s Vineyard. Rarefied chats indeed. I can understand why some who have been out for blues when their appetite and fight are up would wonder how any fisher could have time for such gentle and rarefied discussions when blues are about and on the line. The Fisherman’s boat, the Spray, named after Joshua Slocum’s sailboat on which he made the first solo circumnavigation may have permitted such easy discourse. Hersey calls it a ‘fat little boat’ at one point in the tale and perhaps its beam and slow turning inboard engine as they slowly cross the Middle Ground helped create that atmosphere. Each chapter includes wonderful and detailed recipes presented at the end along with the poem that had been mentioned or discussed, at least in passing, during the chapter defined by that particular day’s outing. “Trolling for Blues” by Richard Wilbur was quite apt in measuring both fish and angler.
This is the second time through the book - it was one of the books on the list for the Anglers Club book group. I am not sure if I liked it better the second time through. Perhaps I did so because I am now so much closer to the age of the Fisherman (his 72 - my 78) and because I have done so much more fishing for blues over the intervening 30 or so years. They have become, as I think there were so certainly so for Hersey, my favorite fish. They aren’t wary, ‘tho they are quite capable of fleeing when necessary, and they aren’t picky. And there have been countless times when they are more fun than just about anything. All of that is true today, but I think the first time through there was a wonderful freshness to the book; I am not sure I had been aware that someone could be enthralled about such a ‘common fish’. This is certainly no common fish. Worthy both of a well written book and of diligent effort to catch them from boat or shore.
The Platonic discourse is not new, used by many since Plato - THE COMPLETE ANGLER, Issac Walton probably the most readily referenced and more recently THE COMPLETE CRUISER, L. Francis Herreshoff. It can be a cumbersome trope, the entire purpose is to set up a false dialogue, a dialogue in which the protagonist - Plato, the Angler, the Fisherman, the Sailor - is put a question ranging from the simple to the complex, from the personal to the general that is used as a launching point for a longer disquisition on the matter which is actually what matters to the protagonist. In this case bluefish, tides, the modern world, the sanctity of the seas, and on. In BLUES these longish ramblings are presented as though they, the Stranger and the Fisherman, are talking as they slowly troll for blues off the northeastern shore of Martha’s Vineyard. Rarefied chats indeed. I can understand why some who have been out for blues when their appetite and fight are up would wonder how any fisher could have time for such gentle and rarefied discussions when blues are about and on the line. The Fisherman’s boat, the Spray, named after Joshua Slocum’s sailboat on which he made the first solo circumnavigation may have permitted such easy discourse. Hersey calls it a ‘fat little boat’ at one point in the tale and perhaps its beam and slow turning inboard engine as they slowly cross the Middle Ground helped create that atmosphere. Each chapter includes wonderful and detailed recipes presented at the end along with the poem that had been mentioned or discussed, at least in passing, during the chapter defined by that particular day’s outing. “Trolling for Blues” by Richard Wilbur was quite apt in measuring both fish and angler.
November 15, 2025
I'm not sure why the author thought this would work but, for me, it seemed awkward and amateurish in its delivery.
In his want to relay his love and learned knowledge of nature and fish, Hersey has two semi fictional characters known as " The fisherman" and "The Stranger" throughout. The fisherman is obviously the author, and the stranger is obviously us, the reader. Through this we get a mix of local and worldly knowledge of sea life and especially the fish known as a Blue. Each chapter uses a poem and a recipe to compliment whatever lesson we have learned from that day's fishing trip.
I'm not sure who this book was for other than the authors tribute to one of the loves of his life, Fishing for Blues. The writing comes over as amateurish and simple almost insulting to the reader.
For someone with the talent and success of this writer I think he should have left this one as his own personal letter to himself. IMHO.
In his want to relay his love and learned knowledge of nature and fish, Hersey has two semi fictional characters known as " The fisherman" and "The Stranger" throughout. The fisherman is obviously the author, and the stranger is obviously us, the reader. Through this we get a mix of local and worldly knowledge of sea life and especially the fish known as a Blue. Each chapter uses a poem and a recipe to compliment whatever lesson we have learned from that day's fishing trip.
I'm not sure who this book was for other than the authors tribute to one of the loves of his life, Fishing for Blues. The writing comes over as amateurish and simple almost insulting to the reader.
For someone with the talent and success of this writer I think he should have left this one as his own personal letter to himself. IMHO.
January 9, 2020
Quite honestly, a difficult book to finish. I appreciate the author’s insights on bluefish and fishing in general, but Fisherman is the last person I would every want to fish with. His intellectual arrogance reminded me of the main character in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and his constant talking made me want Stranger to shove him overboard. Mechanical and predictable, the narrative was uninspiring. My interest in the sea was the only thing that kept me going and the only thing to save this rating from a “1”.
January 10, 2020
I've only recently discovered John Hersey, having read "Hiroshima" (one of the greatest ever works of nonfiction) only this past fall, but he is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers.
As private a life as Hersey led, "Blues" is the closest thing to a memoir we were like to get from him. Filled with ruminations on fishing, life, death, our place in the greater system of nature, and plenty of delicious sounding recipes, "Blues" is the result of a life dedicated to writing and can truly be viewed as a master at work.
As private a life as Hersey led, "Blues" is the closest thing to a memoir we were like to get from him. Filled with ruminations on fishing, life, death, our place in the greater system of nature, and plenty of delicious sounding recipes, "Blues" is the result of a life dedicated to writing and can truly be viewed as a master at work.
April 8, 2021
Oh, what a fun book! Hersey's tale of meeting a fishing-doubter stranger on the pier and repeatedly taking him out into the waters off Cape Cod over a season to fish for bluefish and talk about fish and life and the magic and mysteries of nature. Each chapter is a separate day of fishing, replete with the mechanics and philosophies of the fisherman as well as the science of the sea, and ending with both a recipe and a passage or poem from a writer about fishing and nature. Beautifully descriptive and educational, and a lot of smiles along the way!
September 24, 2025
I didn’t love the structure of the books as a conversation between the fisherman and stranger. I liked the accounts of fishing Cape Cod for bluefish because I love fishing those water and it gives you a feel for being in the rips and hearing the Nobska lighthouse.
June 11, 2019
Collage of writing and art about bluefish and fishing in Hersey's style and with bits from his life mixed in like a bouillabaise. The Far East, the atom bomb, and more.
December 5, 2023
The title and cover art are not deceptive. This is actually a book about bluefish. Probably as good a book as could be written about bluefish.
December 6, 2023
I loved the teaching a rookie format, the recipes and the poetry. I wish we hadn't screwed up the bluefish catch since this wonderful book was written.
July 11, 2025
So good. Just two dudes fishin. Gotta read more John Hersey now.
September 14, 2016
I dearly love this book. For the nature enthusiast, the chef, the fisherman, the poet and the curious, this book will educate, inspire, and delight you! I will be seeking out John Hersey's other books.
May 22, 2016
It did take me quite a while to read this book. I would read one or two chapters at a time in between other books. There was nothing that had me so hooked that I had to read it straight through. At the same time, the episodic nature of it with the repeating pattern of its structure lent itself to this style of reading and I never put it away altogether.
Every chapter of this book contains a general noise of conversation between the two characters leading up to a long speech by the fisherman weaving some web of ecology, philosophy, ethics; a general recipe for preparing fish at the end; and a poem between each chapter.
They actually coalesce quite well. There is quite a bit of real knowledge included here (though some of it may be a little dated), and the language used to describe the ocean and fishing is beautiful. Allowing for a certain amount of pretension (the lack of names even after these people have been fishing together for months as one example of affectation), I enjoyed it.
Every chapter of this book contains a general noise of conversation between the two characters leading up to a long speech by the fisherman weaving some web of ecology, philosophy, ethics; a general recipe for preparing fish at the end; and a poem between each chapter.
They actually coalesce quite well. There is quite a bit of real knowledge included here (though some of it may be a little dated), and the language used to describe the ocean and fishing is beautiful. Allowing for a certain amount of pretension (the lack of names even after these people have been fishing together for months as one example of affectation), I enjoyed it.
May 10, 2012
3.5 Terrific content is, for me, marred by the presentation. The prose at first rubbed me entirely the wrong way, though did fairly quickly settle in to be enjoyable. I'm not sure what exactly I would have preferred here which might have conveyed similar information in a non-dry manner, but the unwavering structure of Plato-esque manufactured conversation, followed by recipe, followed by poem... fine intentions, just wasn't quite my thing. Were I to rate solely on content and intent, this'd be a 4.5.
June 10, 2011
"Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after." ~Henry David Thoreau
John Hersey reminds us of the circle of life within the ocean itself and within the scheme of our world as a whole.
He also gives us some pretty sound fishing strategy and several very good and easy to prepare recipes for bluefish!
An easy and worthwhile read - particularly for fishermen.
John Hersey reminds us of the circle of life within the ocean itself and within the scheme of our world as a whole.
He also gives us some pretty sound fishing strategy and several very good and easy to prepare recipes for bluefish!
An easy and worthwhile read - particularly for fishermen.
Read
September 2, 2013I keep trying to read this. It's about fish. And fishing. And the art of fishing. And some other things. I'm sure it's very thoughtful and deep. I now understand that one kid in my comparative lit class who wrote an entire paper explaining why his reading assignment was like watching paint dry.
Additionally, I keep reading the fisherman's words in the Pepperidge Farm guy's voice. This is probably not helping.
I didn't rate this because I have. not. gotten. through it.
Additionally, I keep reading the fisherman's words in the Pepperidge Farm guy's voice. This is probably not helping.
I didn't rate this because I have. not. gotten. through it.
Read
September 2, 2009Read this because we were sailing in the same area of the Vineyard that this narrative took place. It is hard to get excited about fish but this book did manage to make a "story" of what was essentially a lecture about how to fish for bluefish. The larger issue in the book was the need for intelligent environmental control - even back then, 1987
August 5, 2007
A professional author and novice fisherman learns to fish, and at the same time the habits of the voracious schooling bluefish off of the New England coast. Each chapter begins with a recipe for bluefish.
July 22, 2013
If like to put some 'science' behind your cast for Bluefish off the vineyard, this book helped me put some Logic into my intuition for what bait to use, which tide and when, and what why the Bluefish's Latin name fits perfectly, even after 35 years since I caught(and release -:)) my first
May 25, 2014
Blues by John Hershey (Knopf 1987)(799.11) is a series of essays on fishing for bluefish off Martha's Vineyard and the interaction of man, bluefish, and the ocean. My rating: 7.5/10, finished 2005.
June 7, 2016
Interesting form, i.e. Hersey writes a conversation between a fisherman and a stranger, who initially criticizes the sport of fishing before trying it and finding he enjoys it. Along the way, the fisherman explains different ways of cooking fish and Hersey finishes chapters with fishing poetry.
August 22, 2007
Somewhat slow and pedantic at times, but the immersion in the essence of fishing and the naturalism and conservation of the unique species called the bluefish makes for a good read.
June 13, 2008
hey! the description for this book is way way way way off! This is not a book about blues, it's a book about blue fish!
March 1, 2009
Possibly my favorite book of all time.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews