Love madness fishing

[Kevin]

[Mario]

i haven't bought the book but i really like the cover it looks very different which i like

[Nigel Rainton]

I've had this book for a while and just finished reading it for the second time. I was born at the same time as Dexter and grew up in the same area. I very much enjoyed the first half of the book, it brought back lots of memories. It was hard going, it is wordsmithed to death. I didn't relate to the 'madness', thankfully, and the last part of the book seemed to have tacked on for no good reason. I am in two minds about the book, it might be kept in the 'to be read again' pile or given away. I'll let you know :-)

[Ally]

I think a lot of material comes from early waterlogs

[Deaf Cat]

I have all (4?) of his novels. I was probably one of his rather spoiled grammar school boys of that era and area.
He isn't always easy reading; he doesn't ask his readers to like him, but he can certainly write.
And he gave us the English version of "The Fishing Box" - trench warfare as fishing - so he owes no one anything.

[Nigel Rainton]

Deaf Cat,

I was definitely a Grammar school boy, Bob Brookes figured that out from just my writing ! Scrabbling around in the dusty margins of a pond, being robbed by the tackle dealers and escaping parents to go fishing, levelled all the boys. It was only when we returned home or went to school that my outlook changed. I haven't read his other books, which would you recommend ?

[Shropshire Lad]

I have read this book, and really enjoyed it probably because I can relate to the characters and the hardships. I don't know Dexter personally and have never met him, but quite admire him living life on his terms doing what he loves best writing and fishing, although not an easy life it has to be better than stuck in a souless job in an office!

[Deaf Cat]

Nigel,
Joyride is the one that got me hooked - a 50/60's rural childhood
Little Nineveh is progression into an adolescent nightmare
They are all worth the effort. I like to think that he is a laid back jolly fellow with a twisted sense of humour / sharp observational skills because If they are true autobiography I would have to feel sorry for him rather than just screwing my face up!

[Nigel Rainton]

I assumed from the details, the slang and my memories of that era, that it was an accurate autobiography. I will try 'Joyride'.