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The Çlàckamas Print
Wednesday, October 11,1995
Local author reaches for the sky with new book
Brendon Neal
Opinion Editor
The Sky Fisherman by
Craig Lesley is a book that is great
throughout but leaves you with
many questions unanswered.
Lesley is a lifelong resident
of the Pacific Northwest; he was
born in the Dalles. He is an in
structor in the English Depart
ment here at CCC, currently on
sabbatical leave. He lives in Port
land, Oregon yvith two daughters
and his wife. His M.A. in En
glish comes from the University
of Kansas, and he received an
M.F.A. from the University of
Massachusetts at Amherst. He
enjoys the outdoors and spent
eight years with the Deschutes
River Guide Service in Oregon.
Sky Fisherman is a combi
nation of humor, drama and ad
venture in the outdoors. It is set
in Central Oregon near what is
now the Kah-nee-ta Resort.
The main character in Cul
ver. He is a teen-ager who is just
finding out who he is and what
secrets his family keeps hidden.
As the story begins Culver
and his mother run away from his
stepfather who is a railroad
worker, whose job is going down
hill and causes them to move from
one railroad siding after another,
each one being worse than the
previous.
They move into Gateway
near his uncle’s home. His uncle
Jake basically adopts Culver.
Culver’s father died in a boating
accident while rafting down a
flooded river with Jake. Culver
learns more about his father, Jake
and their friends as the book goes
on providing the backbone to the
story.
Much of the book takes place
in Jake’s store or on the river.
Jake runs an outdoor store as well
as guiding fishermen on the Lost
River.
Overlying the story is the
problems between whites and In
dians. The nearby reservation is
improving, but there is still a feel
ing of inequality between the two
races.
Murder and arson add to the
story, but play an unusual role as
the background rather than the
main theme. The burning down
of a mill causes the Indians to
have a chance to build their own,
giving them seniority and caus
ing white workers to loose their
jobs and face lower wages or un
employment.
The mill fire along with the
mysterious deaths by fire of two
whites is really never explained
in the story. The hints give sug
gestions but leave the reader won
dering.
The title of the book comes
from the constellations. Culver’s
grandfather described to his father
and uncle various constellations
as he saw them, all of which were
‘SE7EN’ is a hit with
its suspenseful terror!
Lora Wahrgren
Staff Writer
“Seven” has a recipe for ter
ror. It’s a dark, sad, suspenseful
movie. It really makes you think
about life,death and the things we
experience daily.
Brad Pitt plays defective
Mills, a rookie to the fast-paced
city life, but not to working Ho
micide. Pitt’s experience is no
match for the veteran detective
Sommerset, played by Morgan
Freeman. Sommerset tries to
guide Mills through all of the con-,
fusing brutal homicides that are
taking place day after day.
The movie’s plot has great
flow and never stops being sus
penseful. I felt out of breath at the
end of the movie. It was every bit
horrifying and more than I had
expected. As the movie pro
gressed and the climax came to a
raging end, I had realized that the
killers reasoning made some
sense in a twisted psychotic way.
There was a lot that had to be said
to explain sin and mankind and
punishment. I don’t think it mat
ters if you agree with him or not,
but if you left the theater with a
question in your head, it says a
lot about the impact of the movie.
The seven deadly sins are:
GLUTTONY- the act of eating
too much; ENVY- ill will over
another’s advantages, posses
sions, etc.; WRATH- intense an
ger, rage, fury, any action of ven
geance; GREED- excessive de
sire, especially for wealth - ava-
rice; SLOTH-disinclination to
work or exert oneself - laziness;
PRIDE-an over high opinion of
oneself and LUST-bodily appetite
- especially excessive sexual de
sire. These were the seven sins
from which the movie got its
name.
“Seven” is more intense than
“Pulp Fiction,” more psychotic
than “Natural Born Killers” and
more disturbing than “Silence of
the Lambs.” It took a combina
tion of all of these great movies
to create this awesome array of
sight and sound.
I definetly got a lot more out
of the movie than just droolling
over Brad Pitt’s new hair cut. I
got a lot to think about. I also
had a chance to hear Nine Inch
Nails opening in the beginning of
the movie. It was great because it
set up the psycho thrilling theme.
The movie is rated “R” for vio
lence, nudity, and language,
which I felt is very appropriate.
Even if you don’t like the sight of
dead, stinky, rotting bodies it
doesn’t matter because Brad Pitt
is worth watching all of that for.
Pitt and Freeman’s relationship
even has a humorous side to it that
makes up for the darkness
throughout the movie. Being
scared $#!*less makes it all worth
while. The movie was written by
Andrew Kevin Malker and di
rected by David Fincher. It is play
ing at most movie theaters, you
can find the times in the Orego
nian.
related to the outdoors: The Sky
Fisherman, Chinook Salmon, the
Leaky Boat, etc. Jake shows Cul
ver these constellations on their
first overnight boating trip to
gether.
While I am not normally a
reader of straight fiction, prefer
ring science-fi and fantasy, I
found this book interesting, en
tertaining and engrossing. The
characters are well developed.
Also, they and their lives are gen
eral so that we can all relate to
them. Especially people who live
in towns like Briggs, or Gateway.
I rate Sky Fisherman as
three stars. The book becomes
dark and gloomy as the story goes
on, however the overall experi
ence is excellent. The book flows
so that you really don’t notice the
lack of any traditional flow until
the end. If you enjoy fiction and/
or liked Lesley’s previous novels
you will really like Sky Fisher
man.
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