How I Came to Know Fish
  • Published: 9 July 2010
  • ISBN: 9780141192833
  • Imprint: Penguin Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 144
  • RRP: $29.99
Categories:

How I Came to Know Fish

Formats & editions
Paperback
15 Jul 2025
EBook
2 Aug 2010
Paperback
9 Jul 2010
Buy from…
Amazon Booktopia Dymocks QBD Readings Your Bookstore Abbeys Boomerang Find local retailers Find local retailers Collins Fishpond Gleebooks Harry Hartog Kinokuniya Robinsons The Nile Mighty Ape

'The quill made a JUMP! and disappeared. I could see it racing under the surface towards the marsh marigolds. The rod bent into an arch, and for the first time in my life I felt the delicious pull of a fish.'

How I Came to Know Fish (1974) is Ota Pavel's magical memoir of his childhood in Czechoslovakia. Fishing with his father and his Uncle Prosek - the two finest fishermen in the world - he takes a peaceful pleasure from the rivers and ponds of his country. But when the Nazis invade, his father and two older brothers are sent to concentration camps and Pavel must steal their confiscated fish back from under the noses of the SS to feed his family. With tales of his father's battle to provide for his family both in wealthy freedom and in terrifying persecution, this is one boy's passionate and affecting tale of life, love and fishing.
  • Published: 9 July 2010
  • ISBN: 9780141192833
  • Imprint: Penguin Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 144
  • RRP: $29.99
Categories:

Praise for How I Came to Know Fish

A moving, bittersweet coming of age . . . A collection that works its magic quietly

Kirkus Reviews

[The series] sheds remarkable light on the literature, culture and politics of the region...anyone coming fresh to the field will be captivated by the richness, variety, humour and pathos of a classic literature that, through a shared historical experience, transcends national and linguistic boundaries.

CJ Schüler, Independent on Sunday

This [series] is a wonderful idea ... They are absurdist parables, by turns hilarious, unsettling and enigmatic.

Nicholas Lezard, Guardian

I urge you to go and read them.

Adam Thirlwell, New Statesman

This new series of Central European Classics is important well beyond simply providing 'good reads'.

Stephen Vizinczey, Daily Telegraph
penguin pop image
penguin pop image