Rich Conversations: 027. Trout Fishing in America

Rich reflects on “Trout Fishing in America” by Richard Brautigan. Curiosity about San Francisco during the 1960’s motivated Rich to choose this book.

Last week I read Being Mortal by Atul Gawande last week but didn’t post the podcast episode. It was either very relevant or inappropriate because of the coronavirus situation. I couldn’t decipher so I sided with caution. It’s about death and empathizing with those who are dying. Modern medicine can only do so much. He writes about the history of caring for the elderly, the creation of nursing homes, and the evolution of assisted living. I still think it’s a very useful book.

This week’s book is quite a one-eighty from that. It’s Trout Fishing in America by Richard Brautigan. My book selections aren’t necessarily organized. I do have a Google spreadsheet with a list, but I don’t follow it. My reading journey is more about flow and connecting ideas. Whatever I’m most passionate or curious about in the moment usually ends up what I read.

I was on a long drive this weekend to rural Illinois. Along the way, started listening to the audiobook, Steve Jobs, by Walter Issacson. I didn’t know much about him other than he started Apple and created these user friendly products and technologies. I was fascinated by his upbringing in Silicon Valley. It’s interesting to me how impactful just who we’re around shapes us. He’s in the suburbs and families are working at electronics companies. He’s near the action and culture of San Francisco in the 1960s. It clearly played a large role. He was really into drugs, meditation, and Eastern spirituality. All that. I kind of just wanted to know more about that geographical area and experience. I thought about the book on my shelf, Trout Fishing in America. I first heard about this book while bartending. Someone—I don’t know who—mentioned it to me. It’s kind of a cult classic.

During my trip to Paris, I stopped by Shakespeare Company, which is a famous bookstore. Everybody told me to go there and when I did, there were crowds of people—mainly young women—taking photos of it. I’ve never been shoulder to shoulder in a bookstore before. Anyways, Trout Fishing in America was the first book that caught my eye. I bought it and intended to someday read it. And then I did this weekend. That’s kind of what my reading journey has been like: I just get ready and have books on hand that I think I’ll be interested in, and then the universe tells me when to read it.

Trout Fishing in America is a weird book. Super weird book. It’s not something I would read normally. I didn’t necessarily like it, but I appreciate it. And I get new ideas and insights because it’s so different. I do I describe this? There’s no plot. Trout Fishing in America means a bunch of different things: a character, a hotel, the actual act of fishing, and other things. The chapters take place in the Pacific Northwest, San Francisco, and camping in Idaho.

What interests me most is the background behind it. Steve Jobs influenced by drugs and San Francisco culture in the 1960’s. Richard Brautigan was living in San Francisco during that time. He wore old-timey clothes and a large western hat that would make you think he was a man from a different time. He wasn’t quite a hippie but he wasn’t quite a beatnik. He was kind of his own thing. Trout Fishing in America is abstract and surreal. It feels like it was written by a smart person who didn’t care about much in the world but decided to write a book about not caring about much in the world to show the world how smart he was. It’s an attitude that acknowledges so many people put forth effort to change the world but, meanwhile, he’s going to go out and live his life and not take the world too seriously. I enjoy the nature aspects of it. Placing myself in the western landscape and out by the creek. It has a type of masculinity that I don’t really find often in novels—or the novels I’ve read.

It’s a short read. It doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s different, which makes it kind of refreshing. I would read it just to make yourself think about whether you liked it or not and reflect then on why you liked it or not.