Fly Fishing the River of Second Chances: Life, Love, and a River in Sweden

Jennifer Olsson's Fly Fishing the River of Second Chances is not so much a book about fly fishing as it is a travel memoir of the secrets of Sweden as seen through an American's eyes. Jennifer's chapters are pieces of the simplistically complicated Swedish life. She comes to this rural area above Stockholm with her son to start a new relationship with a Swedish fly fisherman. She has to adjust to this culture in a rental cottage that lacks the most basic necessities. Her choices are few at the local store but Jennifer learns this is a metaphor for all things Swedish, that fewer choices are better. Jennifer writes with the cadence of Swedish life - uncomplicated and unhurried. She describes the people whose lives she enters with the same casualness that Swedes have toward one another. Swedes like to know everything about everyone without letting on they know. Jennifer knows and she tells us. Mrs. Olsson does take us fly fishing occasionally. But the reader will not learn any fishing secrets from this professional fisherwoman. Her observations are of the beauty of the grayling, an indigenous fish to the waters of Gimdalen, and to the unusual Swedish characters who fish Lars and Jennifer's stream. It is good to read that not all things Swedish are likable to Jennifer Olssen no matter how ingrained in this Scandinavian life they are, as her experience with eating surströmming reminds us. We cheer when she is invited to go moose hunting but refuses to carry or shoot a gun, and we empathize with her at the death of calf as she strokes its warm head. She takes us to a barn dance where dating rituals are a throwback to a time before. We walk with Jennifer through the pine forests across beds of fir needles and bathe in the silence and the beauty. We hunt for berries and mushrooms, and battle mosquitoes the Swedes are naturally resistant to. After finishing this book, I hope that Jennifer Olssen takes us back when she returns to her renovated cottage to uncover the next layer of life in Gimdalven. As for the review by gunnarswede, he must be Norwegian.

This book is a lovely memoir. It's honest, funny, poignant and filled with great details about life (and food!) in rural Sweden. It is also supremely optimistic--about the possibilities of love and the possibilities of rehabilitating a stream that had been damaged by years of logging abuse. This is a story about restoration, personal and environmental. A very enjoyable read.

Jennifer puts something for every reader in this delightful novel. She brings back memories of family time; both good and bad. She entices the reader into the challenge of starting life over again, under any circumstance. The aspect of fly fishing is generously covered throughout, but one doesn't have to be a fan to completely indulge the novel. Hats off to Jennifer and Lars.

Life, love and a river in Sweden are good words to describe this book. This isn't your typical book on fly fishing. Some fly fishing authors get too caught up in all the minute details of the sport. And, unlike most men, Jennifer doesn't try to impress the reader with her mastery of fly fishing. Jennifer describes fly fishing in its simplest form, and it even takes a back seat to some of the more important things in life, such as her love for Lars. This book is about romance, understanding the Swedish culture, and the life of a close knit community in the Village of Gimdalen. If you're looking for fly recommendations, latin names, or the hatch reports for the River Gim along the section called Idsjöströmmen you're looking in the wrong place. If you're looking for a heartfelt, romantic story that takes Jennifer across the ocean to find love then sit back next to the fireplace and read on. I would gladly spend my time fly fishing with Jennifer and Lars any day.

Fly Fishing the River of Second Chances will leave you with a feeling as warm as holding a kitten to your cheek. Olsson contrasts her life in the United States with life in a tiny village in Sweden where she, a professional fly fishing guide, discovers a love "forever and always". Her second chance. Her deepest love. She writes with warmth and in plain language how she learned to live on two continents. Her affection for her Swedish village and its inhabitants comes flying off the pages.