The Last Fish Tale by Mark Kurlansky, a Review
Kurlansky Explores Gloucester With Engrossing Ease
Sep 2, 2009
Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Mark Kurlansky has made a very good career for himself writing about food, cod fish, and even Salt. One of his most recent, The Last Fish Tale:The Fate of the Atlantic and Survival in Gloucester, America's Oldest Fishing Port and Most Original Town, shows readers not only a colorful history of Gloucester, Massachusetts, but also how an ocean overfished threatens its way of life.
Gloucester, Art, and Cod Fish
Gloucester is the oldest American fishing port and, according to Kurlansky, America’s most original town. To support these claims, he opens his book with a charming prologue of a traditional Gloucester event involving pole walking and drunken celebration. Through his charming narrative, Kurlansky paints a very friendly and familiar cross-section of Gloucester citizens in their way of life.
The next big chunk of the book recounts history, but never in a drab fashion. Readers learn about the founding of Gloucester (along with several failed settling attempts), driven through scenes of shipwrecks, sickness and just overall failure. Kurlansky is also sure to recount the importance of fishing and cod fish to the city (not town; Gloucester citizens hate for their city to be called a town).
Still a part of the history, Kurlansky takes his audience through the life of art in Gloucester. He even opens his book, before the prologue, with a bit of a poem by one-time Gloucester resident Charles Olson. Other notable artists who were attracted to the gloire of Gloucester were Rudyard Kipling, T.S. Eliot, and Emile Gruppe.
In the later, most poignant chapters, Kurlansky adopts a more foreboding tone, explaining what has happened to Gloucester in the global overfishing crisis. The city can no longer fish for its once-staple catch, cod, which is the very fish that now brings more and more tourists each year. And because Gloucester has suffered so much with the drastic decline of cod, they are forced to welcome in their tourists searching for the “authentic Gloucester experience.”
Readability, Recipes, and Style
Mark Kurlansky is certainly one of the more talented journalistic writers, and can turn even a seemingly dull topic like the history of salt into a fascinating tale of suspense and woe. He accomplishes this again in The Last Fish Tale with similar ease. Kurlansky takes a small American fishing port and breathes life into it, allowing readers to identify and feel a part of their community.
Really complimenting the book's atmosphere are the Gloucester recipes scattered throughout, which break up sections and supply to the narrative an entirely unique dimension of flavor and authenticity. Some of the recipes include: Rosalia’s Fish Chowder, Skully-Jo Fish Bake, and a delectable-sounding Crab Soup. There are 12 recipes throughout.
Kurlansky’s style is extremely accessible, though never condescending to its audience. He once again makes interesting a tale most may otherwise never know, of America’s most original town. Not lost on the reader, though, is his observance of the global overfishing threat. Will this be the last fish tale? Or will scientists and politicians find a good balance that encourages fish stock growth? Kurlansky, of course, can’t answer these questions, but he poses them with authority and grace.
The Last Fish Tale: The Fate of the Atlantic and Survival in Gloucester, America's Oldest Fishing Port and Most Original Town, by Mark Kurlansky. Ballentine (2008) ISBN: 0345487273
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