Review of LaBlance Fish Tales Two
Posted: 09 Feb 2024, 14:19
[Following is a volunteer review of "LaBlance Fish Tales Two" by Peter F LaBlance.]
This book has a memoir-like style, with each chapter featuring a different fishing-related story from the LaBlance family. The grammar and writing are appalling, and many of the stories are repetitious and center on minor complaints against the government rather than fishing. The early stories in this book are interesting, but that's about the only good thing to say about them. The prose in "LaBlance Fish Tales Two" is of poor quality. Many typos (til used instead of until, set instead of sat, fine instead of find, and so on) involve more than just a simple misplaced letter. In addition, the author frequently flips between first, second, and third person points of view. Similarly, even within a single story, the author alternates between the past and present tenses. Occasionally, he speaks in an extremely informal manner (see, for instance, the photo caption on page 16 that says, "Don't know who took this picture"). This gives the impression of reading a journal rather than a published book. Not only are commas overused, but they can also be absent in important sentences. This makes it challenging to comprehend the author's main points. To put it briefly, this book requires extensive revision.
The early stories have unique and captivating content that makes them enjoyable to read. The stories themselves are terrifying and captivate the reader, despite the frequently perplexing shifting perspective and tense. The reader is left wondering what will happen next by the abundance of details. Sadly, as the book goes on, the stories just keep happening in slightly different settings or with other persons. Although money amounts are occasionally used in these stories to indicate profits, it would be beneficial for the reader to have a baseline given the wide temporal disparity between the stories. For instance, the author claims in Chapter 1 that in the late 1800s, one could make $20 by delivering mail over the Great Lakes' ice. It is only relevant for the reader to know this if they are also informed as to whether $20 is sufficient for a week's worth of groceries or a whole year's wage.
Lastly, the author's disrespect for women and his detest of authority are two issues in this book that make for uncomfortable reading. The story of a woman who falls overboard and requires assistance to get out of the water is told by the author on a lake. The woman is helped by the author's father, but as she is attempting to hide her identity, she trips and falls out of the water. The father lets the woman fall all the way to the ground and doesn't even bother to aid her when she is fully clothed, claiming that her modesty is unimportant. I find this to be an absurd and frustrating justification for allowing someone to possibly drown.
******
LaBlance Fish Tales Two
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
This book has a memoir-like style, with each chapter featuring a different fishing-related story from the LaBlance family. The grammar and writing are appalling, and many of the stories are repetitious and center on minor complaints against the government rather than fishing. The early stories in this book are interesting, but that's about the only good thing to say about them. The prose in "LaBlance Fish Tales Two" is of poor quality. Many typos (til used instead of until, set instead of sat, fine instead of find, and so on) involve more than just a simple misplaced letter. In addition, the author frequently flips between first, second, and third person points of view. Similarly, even within a single story, the author alternates between the past and present tenses. Occasionally, he speaks in an extremely informal manner (see, for instance, the photo caption on page 16 that says, "Don't know who took this picture"). This gives the impression of reading a journal rather than a published book. Not only are commas overused, but they can also be absent in important sentences. This makes it challenging to comprehend the author's main points. To put it briefly, this book requires extensive revision.
The early stories have unique and captivating content that makes them enjoyable to read. The stories themselves are terrifying and captivate the reader, despite the frequently perplexing shifting perspective and tense. The reader is left wondering what will happen next by the abundance of details. Sadly, as the book goes on, the stories just keep happening in slightly different settings or with other persons. Although money amounts are occasionally used in these stories to indicate profits, it would be beneficial for the reader to have a baseline given the wide temporal disparity between the stories. For instance, the author claims in Chapter 1 that in the late 1800s, one could make $20 by delivering mail over the Great Lakes' ice. It is only relevant for the reader to know this if they are also informed as to whether $20 is sufficient for a week's worth of groceries or a whole year's wage.
Lastly, the author's disrespect for women and his detest of authority are two issues in this book that make for uncomfortable reading. The story of a woman who falls overboard and requires assistance to get out of the water is told by the author on a lake. The woman is helped by the author's father, but as she is attempting to hide her identity, she trips and falls out of the water. The father lets the woman fall all the way to the ground and doesn't even bother to aid her when she is fully clothed, claiming that her modesty is unimportant. I find this to be an absurd and frustrating justification for allowing someone to possibly drown.
******
LaBlance Fish Tales Two
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon