How I Came to Know Fish

Memories of childhood #2

by Ota Pavel, Robert McDowell (Translator), Jindriska Badal (Translator)

Unassuming and unforgettable, the stories of How I Came to Know Fish memorialize Ota Pavel's childhood in Czechoslovakia—his beloved family, the flash of fish in clear streams, and the annihilation of this world by the Nazis. His father (a wildly canny fisherman) first has his fish pond confiscated ("How can a Jew breed carp?") and then, with his two older sons, is sent to a concentration camp. Too young to work in the camps, Ota remains with his gentile mother. Fish save them from starving, as he takes to poaching carp reserved for the Wehrmacht. These stories, some of which originally appeared in a Czech version of Field and Stream, are profoundly poignant and have long been treasured by the Czechoslovakians.

Genres: Czech Literature, Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, Jewish, Holocaust, World War II

150 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

A Czech writer, journalist and sport reporter. He is primarily an author of autobiographical and biographical novels.

Reviews

[Caro the Helmet Lady · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't get me wrong - I liked this book just like the first one, the writing was still very good and the character of writer in his young days more than just sympathetic. But this book was 30% of young Otto and 70% of... fishing. Yes, you read me right - fishing. Hence How I Came to Know Fish title is rather literal. It was fishing story after fishing story, of course it wasn't the main subject, just a scenery, but still. And I find listening to fishing stories told by fishers as something extremely boring and tedious and sleep inducing. And I'm saying it with all the responsibility as a daughter of fisher, who is enjoying all these endless fishing shows on Discovery channel - he's definitely a target audience.
So it's my very personal problem with this book, not like it wasn't enjoyable in other ways. It's a good book, putting a sad smile on reader's face. And not because of fishing. And there's a great poetry in depiction of fish. Weirdly enough especially that you know they all will mostly go to author's belly after catching...

[Nikos Vlachakis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Μικρό βιβλίο για μεγάλα όνειρα. Σαν ζαχαρωτά που πέφτουν σε στρατόπεδο συγκέντρωσης.

Update: 8 μήνες και πολλά βιβλία μετά, συνειδητοποιώ ότι αυτά τα μικρά διηγήματα με έχουν σημαδέψει όσο κανένα άλλο βιβλίο τα τελευταία χρόνια. Δεν θυμάμαι επακριβώς τις ιστορίες ή τα λόγια, συχνά όμως μου έρχονται εικόνες, στον ύπνο και τον ξύπνιο, που με πιάνουν από το λαιμό, και πάντα απροετοίμαστο. Αυτή είναι η μαγεία της ανάγνωσης, η οικειότητα που δεν ξέρεις από ποια βάθη του ασυνειδήτου σου προέρχεται, και που δε χωράει ούτε σε αστεράκια ούτε και σε λόγια, είναι ένα βίωμα προσωπικό που σπάνια βρίσκεις τρόπους να το μοιραστείς. Δεν αλλάζω λοιπόν τα αστεράκια μου σε 5 (τι νόημα θα είχε;), ήθελα μόνο να μοιραστώ μερικές σκέψεις με τους λίγους συν-αναγνώστες που με θεωρούν αξιόπιστο :-)

[Laysee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have never fished and know nothing about fishing but I love this sliver of a book. It shines as I imagine fish scales do under the sun.

“How I Came to Know Fish” by Ota Pavel (Otto Popper) will appeal to folks who are fishing enthusiasts but it is more than a book about fish. It is the story of an unnamed child narrator and his Czechoslovakian family – the joys of a life simply lived in good and bad times – and the impact of the German occupation of Prague. It has a good balance of humor and pathos. It makes me laugh and it tugs at my heart strings too.

It is delightful to read the narrator’s first catch of a perch with a rod his Uncle Prosek fashioned for him. And yet I cannot help feeling sad reading lines like this: "The powerful fins of the barbel collapsed and what in life had resembled a beautiful airplane on a long-distance flight was extinct.”

The character who stole this story is the narrator’s Jewish father (Papa), Leo Popper. Papa is a fascinating character and most endearing. At work he is the champion award-winning salesman for Elektrolux. Off work he is an ardent fisherman who is happiest beside a river or asleep in a fishing boat. He is also a stealer of hearts. There is a wondrous chapter ("In The Service of Sweden") that is most entertaining. It captures Papa's infatuation with his boss's wife and the length he goes to have her portrait painted by an artist who dislikes painting women! The outcome is hilariously disastrous.

The novel begins in a light-hearted way and then the tone gets darker with the German Occupation. I am thankful that the story does not pound the reader with wartime atrocities. Papa's pond in Bustehrad is confiscated because Jews are not supposed to breed carp. Fishing is forbidden and that is so incredibly hard for the narrator and his father. Pavel has an understated but poignant way of elucidating a state of mind. The squeaking of Papa's bicycle as he rides to work in a Kladno mine is described as the singing of unusual songs: "They were truly very strange songs. Maybe there was in them the disgrace and revolt of one man. Maybe that bicycle sang what was happening in Papa's soul. One blow after another began to fall on him."

The Epilogue is heart-breaking. The title “How I Came To Know Fish” takes on new significance. Fishing is a redemptive pastime. The adult narrator finds himself in a mental institution. Nevertheless, on good days, his best memories are of his days by the river and of fishing. Fishing, even mere memories of fishing, affords a freedom that delivers him from the fog, dirt and muddy waters that run in the world.

As I anticipated, I found out at the end of reading this book that it pretty much tells the story of Pavel’s own life. The authenticity touched me profoundly. Read this book. It is tenderly and beautifully written.

[Vasilis Manias · Rating 4 out of 5]

Περίεργο βιβλίο. Ξεκινάει ως μικρές, σχετικά αδιάφορες ιστορίες ενός μικρού ψαρά, ενός παιδιού που ξεκινάει να μας διηγείται πως κυλούσε όμορφα η ζωή του μεγαλώνοντας με τους γονείς του σε ένα κόσμο ειρηνικό, γεμάτο καθαρούς ουρανούς και γάργαρα ζωντανά ποτάμια για να καταλήξει να αναζητάει μικρές στιγμές χαλάρωσης και επιστροφής στη μαγεία των νεανικών του χρόνων, ζώντας το παρόν του σε έναν τόπο εχθρικό, γεμάτο μίσος, πόλεμο και κυρίως παράθυρα με κάγκελα δίχως όπως αφηγείται με παράπονο ο ίδιος να έχει ή να θέλει να βλάψει κανέναν.

Και εκεί έγκειται η μαγεία. Το "Μια ζωή ψαρεύοντας" μεγαλώνει μέσα σου μέρα με τη μέρα, οι αθώες χαριτωμένες ιστορίες αποκτούν τεράστιο βάρος μέσα στο μυαλό του αναγνώστη, μοιάζουν απο ένα σημείο και μετά τρομερά οικείες, γιατί στο τέλος όλα τα παιδιά λατρεύουν να μεγαλοποιούν το παραμικρό που συμβαίνει στη ζωή τους, να ερμηνεύουν με απλή νηπιακή μαγεία όλα τα παράξενα πράγματα που συναντούν στην καθημερινότητά τους και τα οποία η σκέψη τους δεν τα βοηθάει να ερμηνεύσουν, φτιάχνοντας έτσι από το μηδέν τα δικά τους, κατάδικά τους παραμύθια με πρωταγωνιστές κυπρίνους, πανέμορφες πριγκήπισσες και σελωμένα αλογάκια της παναγίας έτοιμα να κάνουν το γύρο του κόσμου για ακόμα ένα βράδυ, για ακόμα ένα όνειρο.

Μικρό σε όγκο, τεράστιο σε βάρος, πλημμυρισμένο αισιοδοξία και μνήμες που φέρνουν αυθόρμητα χαμόγελα γραμμένο από έναν συγγραφέα που βασανίστηκε και υπέφερε τρομερά.

[Bob Jacobs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Erg mooi in zijn eenvoud. En die epiloog, zeg.

[Jennifer (Insert Lit Pun)]

I've had this on my shelf since 2016. Turns out it's wonderful, and waaay better than most books I read in that time. What the kids call a self-own.

[Esmé van den Boom · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5 Prachtige, speelse verhalen, soms ingetogen, soms vol bravoure. Wat een goed oog voor bijzondere situaties heeft Ota Pavel, wat een talent voor het opschrijven van het schijnbaar eenvoudige. Van het voorwoord van Jan van Mersbergen was ik niet gecharmeerd, en vissen vind ik tegenwoordig eigenlijk een verschrikkelijke hobby, en toch, en toch. Deze verhalen hebben me helemaal ingepakt en teruggebracht naar de momenten dat ik zelf, een jaar of 8, met mijn garnalennet op het strand stond of in een haven met mijn (illegale!) kruisnet viste. Ik was helemaal vergeten hoeveel magie er met het ophalen van dat net gepaard ging, met het zorgvuldige kijken, met de gesprekken met de andere mensen langs de kant, voorbijgangers die in je emmer keken, het glimmen van de schubben... Een boek om gelukkig van te worden!

[Infada Spain · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[João Reis · Rating 4 out of 5]

"How I Came to Know Fish", by Ota Pavel. Translated by Jindriska Badal and Robert McDowell.

A collection of autobiographical short stories. Ota Pavel recollects his happiest moments in life as he tries to fight off his mental problems, and he ends up writing about his childhood and youth in a pre- and post-invaded Czechoslovakia. His and his father's favourite hobby was fishing, which, together with poaching, would play an important role in their family's life and survival. In German-occupied Czechoslovakia, his father and his two older brothers were sent to concentration camps. But the sufferings of his family and Jews are not directly approached in these memoirs that can be read like chapters of a fragmented novella: the main issue is indeed fish and the relationships little Ota built around ponds, rivers, brooks, dams, and all other water surfaces containing fish.

His style is very "Czech" (a bit similar to Hrabal's, especially in books like his "The Little Town Where Time Stood Still" or "Cutting it Short"), with dark, dry humour presented in faux-naif unpretentious sentences. Despite delving into themes like fishing and poaching, which I am not particularly fond of for obvious reasons, it's an excellent book. Recommended.

[Tanto quanto sei, não há obras de Ota Pavel traduzidas para português.]

[George K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Η πολύ ωραία αυτή έκδοση περιέχει δεκαπέντε διηγήματα που όλα τους έχουν να κάνουν με τα παιδικά χρόνια του ίδιου του συγγραφέα, ο οποίος μεγάλωσε ουσιαστικά εν μέσω πολέμου, σε αρκετά δύσκολες εποχές. Και όλα τα διηγήματα περιλαμβάνουν το ψάρεμα και τα ψάρια, ποτάμια, λίμνες και λιβάδια, γενικά την ζωή στην επαρχία, στην φύση. Υπάρχουν πολλές ευχάριστες στιγμές στο βιβλίο, όπως και λίγες δυσάρεστες, αλλά το στοιχείο που είναι πιο έντονο απ'όλα τα υπόλοιπα είναι, φυσικά, η νοσταλγία για τα παιδικά χρόνια, την ελευθερία του ψαρέματος και της ζωής στην εξοχή. Η γραφή είναι πολύ καλή και με νοσταλγική διάθεση, η ατμόσφαιρα γενικά ευχάριστη, σαν βιβλίο διαβάζεται πολύ εύκολα, γρήγορα και κυρίως ευχάριστα. Προτείνω, πάντως, να διαβαστεί σε μικρές δόσεις, γιατί υπάρχουν αρκετά επαναλαμβανόμενα θέματα ελέω ψαρέματος. Όπως και να'χει, ��ξίζει και με το παραπάνω να διαβαστεί. Η ελληνική έκδοση πολύ ωραία και προσεγμένη απ'όλες τις απόψεις.

[Ella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Een prachtige ode aan het vissen - en vooral aan het leven en hoe dat leven het hoe dan ook nog altijd waard is om te leven.
Een boek dat me nog lang zal bijblijven!

‘De rivier dreef net als de wolken langs plekken waar het leven goed voor ons was geweest. Ik keek naar de stroming, zag vissen uit het water springen, zag de molens bij de stuwen en de stuwen die water bergen. Molenaars die nog steeds maalden en veerlieden die heen en weer voeren. Na zes jaar zag ik de rivier weer. Ik drukte mijn gezicht tegen het glas om niets te missen. Ik hield meer van de rivier dan van wat dan ook ter wereld en ik schaamde me daar toen voor.
Ik wist niet waarom ik zo van de rivier hield. Misschien omdat er vissen in zitten, of omdat hij vrij en ongebonden is? Omdat hij nooit blijft staan? Misschien omdat hij ruist en je wakker houdt? Misschien omdat hij hier al eeuwenlang is of omdat zijn wateren dagelijks in de verte sterven? Of omdat je erop kunt varen of erin kunt doodgaan?’
(p. 65-66)

[Araik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twee dagen mij met Ota Pavel gewaand op het Tsjechische platteland, in stilte luisterend naar de rivier en al zijn mooie verhalen

[Jaime · Rating 5 out of 5]

Largely autobiographical, Pavel's, How I Came to Know Fish is much more than a chronological collection of fishing stories. The stories begin simply, in a childish voice and perspective, but develop to illustrate a boy's growing awareness of the world around him. Likewise, the language becomes more nuanced, the imagery more symbolic, and the ideas and experiences more heartbreaking. While the surface plot may be a fishing story, the stories are meditations on life and survival, death and memory, humor, justice, and compassion. Pavel tackles some big subjects and some big fish! I would tell anybody to read this little known book, because it does what only the best writing can do: each story breaks your heart and then restores it in a single stroke.

[Hákon Gunnarsson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've never been into fishing, or any kind of hunting for that matter, (except hunting for photographs,) but two books have made me think I may be missing out on something. One is Norman Maclean's A River Runs Through It and Other Stories, and the other is this one. Both are written with such passion for the subject that I can't help be inspired.

It is biographical short story collection, and the stories have been arranged so there is a continuation. The first takes place before World War 2 and the last one after it. Ota Pavel's dad was Jewish, but his mother was not, making the family a target for the occupation forces. Almost all the stories center around fishing, but there are a lot of other things that come into them. These stories are about life, and death. Fishing is a hobby and even an art, but it also means survival during the war.

This book is not long, but it does what great literature does. It leaves the reader, at least this reader, with a picture that is much greater, and longer lasting that the page count would suggest. I have read it a few times already, and it is one of those books that I just can't get rid of, not that I would want to. There is something about the humor that runs through it, and the bitter sweet, and sometimes very serious subject matter that gets to me.

And that is why I think How I Came to Know Fish is very re-readable. Just one note though, I read the Icelandic translation, so I can't say anything about the English one.

[Nate D · Rating 3 out of 5]

Will Schofield, that keeper of wonders via 50Watts and Writers No One Reads, had a moving sale with the goal of dispersing some inessential literary clutter. A flat rate could get one a heap of mystery artifacts. A box arrived, I reached in, I withdrew something heretofore unseen. And this is HOW I CAME TO BE READING ABOUT FISHING IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA.

Starts frivolous and picturesque, but then history overtakes the action as it has a way of doing in mid-century Europe.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

More about Eastern European history than the angler’s lot. It is a sensuous book, especially about food - the honey season when the trees smelled sweet and seem to rise up into heaven as the bees circled them, the fish pickled in vinegar and onions, the juices running down your fingers.

[Elisa Goudriaan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prachtige verhalenbundel over wat vissen zelf en de activiteit van het vissen betekende voor een man gedurende zijn leven. Dit boekje bewijst maar weer eens dat het niet uitmaakt waar je over schrijft, als je het maar goed doet. In vissen ben ik namelijk helemaal niet geïnteresseerd, maar een boekje in sobere stijl, met hart en ziel geschreven en met humor, is zeer prettig om te lezen. De schrijver overleed al in 1973, maar deze fijne vertaling is in 2023 uitgekomen bij Koppernik. Gelukkig!

[Lorenzo Berardi · Rating 4 out of 5]

One cannot help but loving this thin thin book collecting a bunch of short stories written by Ota Pavel in the very last years of his short and troubled life.
Perhaps, one of the reasons to fall in love with "How I Came to Know Fish" is its brevity, a shortness that appears to be deeply related with the unfortunate but nonetheless joyful life of its author.

Born Otto Popper, Ota Pavel was the son of Jewish father and a Christian mother. A condition that saved him from concentration camps during the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia while his dad and elder brothers couldn't skip them but were among those who managed to come back home.

In communist Czechoslovakia the young Popper/Pavel became a good hockey player and an outdoor activities enthusiast choosing a career of sport reporter which allowed him to follow his two greatest passions: writing and hockey.
Everything looked smooth and fine for Ota Pavel, but on a bad day in 1964 a sudden crack in the thin Austrian ice claimed him and his brains. As he himself recounts in the "Epilogue" of this book:

"I went mad at the winter Olympics in Innsbruck. My brain got cloudy, as if a fog from the Alps had enveloped it. In that condition I came face to face with one gentleman-- the Devil. He looked the part! He had hooves, fur, horns, and rotten teeth that looked hundreds of years old.
With this figure in my mind I climbed the hills above Innsbruck and torched a farm building. I was convinced that only a brilliant bonfire could burn off the fog. As I was leading the cows and horses from the barn, the Austrian police arrived. They handcuffed me and took me down into the valley.
I cursed them, pulled off my shoes, and walked barefoot through the snow. I was thinking of Christ as he was led to the cross".

And from that moment on, the avalanche which eventually took the life of Ota Pavel nine years later due to a heart attack - he was only 43 - started to roll down the Austrian mountains heading to Prague. Pavel was delivered to doctors and spent the rest of his days from a mental hospital to another one. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder or so it seems.

Those were the days when Ota Pavel understood that the greatest time of his life was already behind him and he decided to recount the very best of it.
Those were the days when he wrote the short stories you can find in this book.

"How I Came to Know Fish" is a somehow chaotic but very poignant and ironic collection of Ota Pavel's childhood memories written with a surreal magical touch which makes them unique.
I'm not a great connoisseur of Czech literature and certainly Pavel was a very peculiar sort of writer having left only memoirs, short stories and sport articles (there is a second English translated book by him about fishing eels). And yet, the few childhood stories reunited here have the power to create an atmosphere of their own.

It's true there are a few elements (the provincial Czech town, the Nazi occupation, the young age of the protagonist, Ota/Otto's relation with is dad) which could remind a novel like "The Cowards", but I think that in his best moments, Pavel is even better than Škvorecký.

A short story like "At the Service of Sweden" is a delicious Czech cupcake with a bittersweet taste and an international irresistible touch. And the rest of Ota's short stories are equally brilliant in their obstinate looking at the bright side of life, poking fun at the Nazi occupiers rather than crying on an ill fate.

Sure, the thread here is the time spent fishing outdoors, feeding carps and looking for the perfect pond to catch them. But the power of this book is in its message: as long as you have a rod (wits) and know how to use it, no one will ever be able to pull you down.

PS: It seems like the original Czech version of this book titled "Smrt krásných srnců" (The Death of Beautiful Deer) includes at least a couple of short stories set in the 1950s. Only those at Penguin know why there was no room for this stuff in the English edition of the book. Perhaps a second short stories collection by Ota Pavel will come later on?

[Sander · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ha allen,

Hoewel ik het vaak niet over mijn hart kan verkrijgen om een boek geen vijf sterren te geven, nu ik dat van een zekere arrogantie vind getuigen aangezien iemand zijn best heeft gedaan om voor jou een prettige leeservaring neer te zetten of wellicht simpelweg heeft geschreven uit een eigen existentiële noodzaak, baal ik daar nu toch een beetje van. Hierdoor wordt namelijk niet helemaal duidelijk in hoeverre dit boek mij heeft geraakt. Ik zou het wel twaalf sterren hebben gegeven, mits dat mogelijk zou zijn geweest. Ondanks dat ik altijd een persoonlijke aversie voor vissen heb gehad, weet dit boek op een ontzettend elementaire manier de schoonheid van de natuur en de tragiek van de menselijke conditie uit te lichten. Het boek is daarbij des te meer beladen door de kennis dat Ota Pavel uiteindelijk vanwege zijn krankzinnigheid niet langer aan het vissen is toegekomen, dat voor hem de rechtvaardiging van zijn bestaan betekende. Als de Nederlandse verstedelijking en mijn kleinburgelijke maatschappelijke behoeften mij niet dusdanig zouden hebben geknecht, zou ik met de hengel in de hand de eerste de beste kano hebben gestolen om een odyssee te maken over de rivier. Wat een ontegenzeggelijke schoonheid gaat er eigenlijk uit van het platteland en de primaire eenzaamheid van moeder natuur.

Ik zou dit boek letterlijk aan heel de wereld aanraden. Man, man, man...

Later.

[Andreashide · Rating 5 out of 5]

Llegué a este libro animada por el deseo de encontrarme en sus páginas al espíritu de un gran amigo y librero que disfrutó mucho la narrativa de Pavel. Es hermoso cuando empiezas una lectura buscando a alguien y terminas encontrándolo, pero sobre todo, encontrándote a tí misma. El mundo de la pesca es extraño para mí y sin embargo, a través de un mundo lejano en tiempo y espacio, con una escritura realista y sin ornamentos, logré conectarme con una experiencia que es ante todo experiencia del silencio y observación de la naturaleza. A través de relatos cortos sobre momentos puntuales en su relación con la pesca, Pavel comparte reflexiones profundas sobre la vida, el ser, los vínculos y los afectos con humor, música y poesía. Conforme avanza el libro se gana en intimidad con el autor, sin ser enteramente un libro autobiográfico. Al final, el precioso prólogo de Karel Sintankc pone broche de oro a un libro entrañable.

[Danny Jacobs · Rating 4 out of 5]

De voorbije maand las ik telkens in korte afleveringen ‘Hoe ik de vissen ontmoette’, de ontroerende memoires van de Joods-Tsjechische schrijver Ota Pavel. Hij neemt ons mee naar zijn onbezorgde jeugd en de magische tijd waarin de wereld gevuld leek te worden met het vissen langs rivieren en rond meren in het bijzijn van twee sprankelende verhalenvertellers: zijn vader en zijn oom Prošek. Achter de zonnige, liefdevolle anekdotes over de natuur en het vissen verzamelen zich de schaduwen van de donkere tijden die Pavel de rest van zijn leven zullen achtervolgen.

Ota Pavel (1930-973) was een Tsjechische schrijver, journalist en sportverslaggever. Hij wordt geroemd om zijn korte verhalen en autobiografische romans. Zijn carrière als sportverslaggever kwam tot een einde toen bleek dat hij een bipolaire stoornis had. In 1966 moest hij ook stoppen met zijn werk als journalist en werd hij verschillende keren opgenomen in een inrichting. In deze moeilijke periode schreef hij zijn mooiste werken. In 1973 stierf hij aan een hartaanval.

[Leah]

loved it. reminds me of under a cruel star

[NeDa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Рибарството ме бе научило да бъда търпелив, а спомените ми помагаха да живея.

[Matthew Hess]

I would recommend this book just so you can read the last sentence.

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

came today in the post - a lovely hardback edition though (second hand).

A beautiful book, tender and affecting, funny and tragic. The characters brim with life, bloody hell even the fish have character. Meg has already posted an excellent review, have a look at that:

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/.... (Update: review gone...)

Not sure i can add much more but might come back and have a go when I've thought about this more, and fully digested its wriggly delicious contents.

Just a few lines to be getting on with:

Eel tastes of long distances, its fat made of wide-ranging foods and ocean grass.

She smiled, but her look was the same that it had always been, and her pupils reflected the roast chicken he clutched in his right hand. At that moment Papa perceived the barrier between himself and Irma Koralek. It was a barrier that he, a travelling salesman, could never cross, not even if he sold a vaccuum cleaner to God himself.

We hurried up the oak-studded, rocky hill where hundreds of white mushrooms grew among stones. Kneeling, we touched them; some were overgrown, some had brownish, cracked caps.. Yet all of them were different, as if each had been created by a different painter.

[Charlotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wil je een uur gelukkig zijn, ga je dan bezatten. Wil je drie dagen gelukkig zijn, ga dan trouwen. Wil je je hele leven gelukkig zijn, word dan een visser.

Nrc zegt een juweel van een boek en ik kan me daar alleen maar bij aansluiten. Bovendien een uitstekend vakantieboek.

[Renata · Rating 5 out of 5]

I only wish this book was twice as long....
The stories in this book touch on life and survival, death, humour, compassion. With his pen he breaks your heart , then you turn the page and he makes you laugh.... Mostly for me, I heard my father's voice as I read this book - such similarities of experiences ! Truly enjoyed it, wish Pavel had written more, it's sad he died so young.

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aan mijn vrienden die dit maar een 2 of 3 vonden - you just don’t get it!!!! Je moet als kind minstens één levensveranderende natuurervaring hebben gehad of een plattelandskind zijn geweest om (bijna) een traantje te laten bij de epiloog.

[Charlotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vast prachtig als je van vissen houdt, maar dit werd me op een gegeven moment te veel.

[Pepijn de Groot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Schitterende verhalen. Van dit boek kreeg ik zin om met mijn blote klauwen op stromend water te slaan en naar pumperdentliche vissen te grissen. Voor vissen heb ik alleen minder geduld dan voor lezen.