Leigh Seippel

Review of eBook

Frank Campbell and his wife, Francy Desmorais, fresh out of bankruptcy in which they’ve lost virtually everything and are now en-route, via Frank’s cherry red Lamborghini, from Manhattan to the nonworking Hudson Valley farm left to Francy by her uncle Everhardt.

Realizing they are lucky to have Time Farm, they manage to settle in, goats notwithstanding, prepared for a life in which none of their former accouterments are necessary. Francy returns to her painting with a passion, Frank meets eccentric Robert Taylor and together they begin a brewery business.

As Frank and Francy were crossing the bridge on the night they were headed to the farm, they saw a flyfisherman in the water below. He introduces himself to them; later he invites Frank and Francy to join him at the next meeting of the Anamorphosis Flyfishing Club. There they meet an eccentric group of people including, Arthur, a doctor who seeks to ease Frank’s depression . . . he suggests Frank teach himself fishing in order to gain some confidence in himself.

As he seeks to adjust to this new life, and the decisions that brought him to this place, Frank takes to flyfishing. But there are difficulties on the horizon and Frank may find that he is once again in trouble. Can he save himself? Can he save Francy?

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The implosion of Frank’s business strains his marriage . . . he’d used his wife’s inheritance as a personal guarantee to cover the debt of the private equity partnership. With everything gone, Frank waxes philosophical; his life experiences and his adventures with flyfishing are intertwined.

The story here is complex, intertwining the fundamentals of flyfishing with Frank’s ruminations about the events in his life. It’s both vulnerable and haunting, vivid and compelling. With captivating characters, a twisty plot, and surprising revelations, readers will find themselves drawn into Frank’s world. Some unexpected twists along the way take the story in unforeseen directions, but Frank’s continuing evolution is mesmerizing.

The writing here is often lyrical; bits of Hopkins, Eliot, and Theocritus find their way into the telling of the tale as does Marty Robbins. Strong characters and a vivid sense of place support Frank’s journey of discovery through the vicissitudes of life as he searches for his way forward. Readers will find the finely-woven threads of this tale create a vivid tapestry filled with intrigue and sparkling revelation.

Highly recommended.

I received a free copy of this eBook from Meryl Moss Media Group, City Point Press and NetGalley
#RuinANovelofFyfishingBankruptcy #NetGalley… (més)

Ruin, A Novel of Flyfishing in Bankruptcy, Leigh Seippel
This novel is intriguing as it offers insights into the thoughts of diverse characters, each with their own story. They are colorful and somewhat quirky and are possessed of the warts and foibles of real people. Francey (Desmorais) and Frank Campbell, married for less than a decade, both in their very early thirties, are attempting to start their lives all over again after Frank’s hedge fund was forced into bankruptcy. They have almost nothing left, save some remnants of their former high-flying life, one of which is a red Lamborghini, unfit for their future bare-bones new life. Even though there was no fraud involved in the foolish investment Frank’s company made, they were still sued and are now down and out. They are on their way to a ramshackle farm left to Francey by her Uncle Eberhardt, a man she hardly knew. None of the accoutrements of their former lifestyle are appropriate in a place where, if the door is left ajar, goats wander in and out of the farmhouse. So, they spend their first night outdoors, exhausted and restless, as they contemplate their future with as much hopefulness as they could muster, knowing that at least they are young enough to start over and lucky to have this place called Time Farm. When they awake in the morning, they clean up the parts of the house soiled by the four-legged creatures that had happily romped there, and then move their meager possessions inside.
Now picture a painting with five characters. We have already met Frank and Francey. Into this picture frame enters Robert Taylor, a black man who is estranged from his family because of some pretty nasty behavior by a sibling and his wife. When Frank engages him in conversation about carpentry, he finds out a lot more about him, and they quickly forge a friendship. They decide to make Good Dog beer together. Robert has experience, so if Frank lets him repair and use one of the outbuildings on the property, as the brewery, Robert will fund it entirely.
Then, if we look closely, we notice Jace Darrow, the very wealthy and handsome "flyfisherman", who in addition to involving them in the Anamorphosis Flyfishing Club, entices Francey, an artist, to return to the art world. He has gallery contacts and is only too happy to help her. She is overjoyed and gung ho to start painting again.
Jace lives with Joan Lucien. She is also involved in the fishing club. She is beautiful, has a hidden past, and wants to teach them how to flyfish. Francey is not sure she wants to be friendly with Joan, but takes quickly to Jace. Frank is not sure he wants Francey to be friendly with Jace.
Soon, a member of the flyfishing club, a retired, lonely doctor, Arthur Arbuthnot, meets the couple; he tells Frank to fish alone and not avail himself of Joan’s teaching. He believes Frank has to come to terms with his past and find himself again, before he seeks further instruction. He believes the solitary sport of flyfishing will be the perfect avenue for such a search. There are other characters, those met before and those met after and each has a role, but these have a more important part to play.
While some of the themes of the book encompass romance, grief, loss, infidelity, jealousy, and loyalty, the book also subtly introduces race relations and supporting the environment in a healthy way. Using quotes from varied authors like Eliot,Thoreau, Walton, and Walden and words from well-known songs sung by well known artists, the story moves along and encourages the reader to learn more about each subject introduced, not only flyfishing. Some of the details were unfathomable to me, and I did look up further information. For me a book that inspires a thirst for knowledge is a really good book. I had no idea what a fly was or what it was used for, I learned about bait and insects, odd places to go to travel and fish, the history of ideas I had not known, and I learned that catfish can walk on land. I gather that the sport of flyfishing inspires introspection and helps to center the soul. It seems very much worth trying, whether or not a person is troubled or contented with life. I have a friend who suffered a similar fate with the failure of a hedge fund and was interested in learning how others might have handled their failure. It can have devastating effects on family and friends as the losses are contagious. I wish they had tried flyfishing instead, since their lives were ruined.
In the end, when I understood what anamorphosis meant, as described in the art world as, “a drawing presenting a distorted image that appears in natural form under certain conditions, as when reflected from a curved mirror, I thought of it as trompe l’oeill. Was the author sending more than one message to me? Was it akin to sleight of hand? Were the characters multidimensional? Could that same word apply to the lives of Francey and Frank and those with whom they came in contact as they lived? The story was overlaid with the facts and with the spiritual. Lives changed as time passed. Ideas altered depending on who was interpreting them. Even the subject of race, when introduced, was centered, and it did not feel political, but rather part of the real world as success had nothing to do with it, rather it came from hard work, knowledge and ability.
So, although, at first, I was afraid that I would be unable to finish this book, because some of the sentences defied interpretation on first reading, and had to be reread, and others defied the rules of punctuation or contained vocabulary words and topics I had to research, and then, too, the timeline bounced back and forth sometimes creating confusion, I was very pleasantly surprised that I was really up to the task. I was completely captivated by the plot as all of the themes merged and came together like a well stitched piece of cloth. So reader, don’t give up, this book is really worth the read.… (més)