The Sky Fisherman
by Craig Lesley
List Price: $13.00
Pages: none
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 0312147384
Publisher: Picador USA
Ripe with the concerns of a boy about to become a man, this novel explores
the many paths to adulthood through its various characters and their relationships
to the sometimes ravaging forces of nature. Culver, the narrator, is growing
into adulthood as his mother leaves his stepfather and they both return
to the town in which Culver's father, her fist husband, drowned. Culver's
Uncle Jake, a fishing guide, town leader, and witness to the drowning,
becomes Culver's surrogate father. The Sky Fisherman reveals the
intricate demography of a family trying to heal itself and survive. This
reader's guide is designed as a navigation tool as you chart your way
through this novel, which Carolyn See called, "an exquisitely delineated
map of America."
top of the page
1. Author Craig Lesley writes, "The Sky Fisherman is my gift to the small communities I cherish."How does the small town function in the story, and what does it contribute to it? Could the novel take place in an urban setting? Why or why not?
2. The primary elements of fire and water both figure prominently in the novel. What is their significance to the story? What is the relationship each element has to the other? How do fire and water relate to the loss and redemption in the book?
3. How does the novel portray Native American traditions and beliefs? What is their relationship to the beliefs of the white community? To the events of the novel?
4. The railway figures centrally in the novel. What role does the railway play in both building character and in revealing the economics of the region? How does the metaphor of transportation relate to Culver's concerns in becoming a man?
5. The Sky Fisherman contains examples of a both natural disasters and those caused by people. What is the relationship between these two types of tragedy? In what ways are they similar? Different? Describe the psychological effects of such events.
6. Uncle Jake is a larger-than-life figure in the narrative. What kind of hero is he? What does he represent to Culver? To the community? To the novel as a whole? What sort of adulthood does he signify?
7. What is Culver's relationship to his mother? What kind of woman is she? How have the circumstances of her life influenced her character?
8. At age fourteen, Craig Lesley was crushed by a farm machine and, as he puts it, "I know the swift, unpredictable nature of accident." What role do accidents play in the book? How -- and when -- do they haunt the various characters?
9. Is The Sky Fisherman a traditional coming-of-age story? Which characters come of age and how? What events contribute to these rites of passage?
10. Who, or what, is the "sky fisherman"? Which character, or characters, figure as fishermen of the sky? How might this symbol act as a metaphor, and for what?
top of the page
"A fascinating and rewarding study of a young man's coming to terms with his life and his heritage. "
—— Anna Maria Basquez, Rocky Mountain News
"The Sky Fisherman, a tale of fire and water and thirst and redemption in Central Oregon, is Lesley at his best . . . .This is a lovely work from a generous man. "
——Jonathan Nicholas, Portland Oregonian
