Book Review: Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

A soon-to-be novel turned blockbuster movie, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is an artful portrayal of the numerous (and often times humorous) challenges of resource management.  In his debut novel, Paul Torday uses different communication media to construct an exciting and heartfelt story around a fisheries scientist, Dr. Alfred Jones, who gets sucked into the adventure of a lifetime involving a wealthy shiek, a lovestruck young woman, reconstructed deserts, the war in the Middle East, misguided British politicians, and best of all, salmon.

The most surprising and satisfying aspects of Salmon Fishin in the Yemen are how quickly the reader is drawn into the story and Torday's seemingly effortless prose.  When Dr. Alfred Jones is first forced to devise a plan for the unthinkable task of introducing salmon into hot, dry riverbeds, he is disgusted and insulted, which is well-aligned with any reader's skepticism.  However, even before our protagonist becomes a believer, readers have already been presented with multiple perspectives from different characters who logically see the benefits of such an effort.  So, despite the insurmountable challenges, strange moral dilemma, and potentially disastrous environmental consequences, readers find themselves routing for the project's success.  And, even once the situation spirals comically out of control, Torday's natural and fluid prose slowly awaken readers to a much broader and holistic notion of what "success" even means.

So as not to spoil the ending, I will just say that Torday brings the story to a close and aptly shows readers why resource management is so difficult.  One development project might simultaneously be politically contentious, disliked by multiple stakeholder groups, and have economic, human health, or religious implications, not to mention any actual design or implementation costs and challenges.  As a society, it is important to remember and even appreciate how much coordination effort, political will, and physical labor is invested to create everything that we see around us every day.  This flow of energy toward the status quo might also make it particularly difficult and time-consuming to create change.  But taking cues from Dr. Afred and his wise friends, we learn that sometimes "success" isn't what or where you thought it would be.    

Certainly a fun and light-hearted read and I highly recommend reading it before the movie comes out.  Let me know if you want to borrow it!