A beguiling account of one man’s absorption in and by a country. … He writes a terrific travelogue, capturing the grey light on the emptiness of the lakes, birch forests and bogs. The narrative is peppered with pithy observations and memorable characters.<\/blockquote>\nThen, in fairly quick succession, there was Paul Binding<\/a> in the Independent on Sunday<\/em>,
\nmarvellously seamless fusion of personal memoir and politico-cultural survey … This is a brilliant book, formidably intelligent in its control of complex material yet shining with humanity, and with the old Swedish belief that we all deserve a just, yet kind society.<\/blockquote>\nChristina Patterson <\/a>in the New Statesman:<\/em>
\nFishing in Utopia<\/em> is a wonderful exploration of a social experiment that did not entirely succeed, and did not entirely fail, and of a country that can stifle with its worthiness but still enchant, and of a man who loved and lost and loved again. It is also a book about learning to write clearly and honestly and well. And a beautiful, poetic, wise lesson in how to do it.<\/blockquote>\nAnd a review in the Daily Telegraph <\/em>which I am not sure I have got right, so I won’t link to it. Anyway, all this is marvellous (and the New Statesman<\/em> review has a bonus photo of the author with hair and beard.)\n\nI will post another piece about my travels shortly, but, alas work gets in the way of blogging these days, too.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I was watching the girls’ under 50kg arm-wrestling competition when my daughter texted me with the news of the Paxman review in the Guardian. A beguiling account of one man’s absorption in and by a country. … He writes a … Continue reading
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