From the Far Side of the River: Chest-Deep in Little Fish and Big Ideas

Ronald Charles Epstein is a Toronto-based freelance writer and published poet.

Those who write about sports in general, or a particular one, are most
successful with material that can also appeal to people who are neither
fans nor jocks. Like David Letterman, the author of this collection of
verses and fishing essays reaches people by playing the fool. In the
Bahamian island of Bimini, he and fellow fishing writer Jake MacDonald
engage legendary bonefish guide Ansil Saunders. Unfortunately,
Quarrington’s ineptitude enables Jake and Ansil to bond at the
former’s expense.

Quarrington uses humorous anthropomorphic projection to amuse readers.
In the final essay, “A Little Place I Know” turns out to be “the
Diner,” a central Ontario fishing spot. This leads him to compare
smallmouth bass to “city work crews; they show up to eat at odd
hours.” He judiciously employs this device, leading readers to
conclude that they are reading a whimsical fish story, not a bad natural
history text.

Reality bites the escapist author. He spends 9/11 fishing in
Calgary’s Bow River, instead of watching news coverage with his family
because his estranged wife and two daughters are in Toronto. He
skilfully explains his separation, recalling “betrayal and heartache
(... this was the awful stuff that I had meted out, not received).”
Only sales figures will confirm the value of such compromised escapism.

From the Far Side of the River introduces a new dimension of
Quarrington’s personality to those who are familiar only with his
novel, Whale Music (1989), or its film adaptation.