Underground Review: Keeper by Martin Donovan

If you ever wondered about life on The Mother of All English Chalkstreams (the Test), thenKeeper — a recent release from outdoor-only publisher Departure Publishing — is worth your time.

Keeper is a genuine, entertaining 

Keeper is a genuine, entertaining read (click for publisher's page)
It’s a memoir by English Riverkeeper Martin Donovan that chronicles a way of life some fly fishermen might find romantic, and while the author does tend to disabuse his readers of that notion, he also evidences a knack for writing like he’s sitting right across the table talking to you, a half-empty bottle of someting between you.


The writing itself is straightforward (don’t expect a lot of literary gymnastics), yet Donovan’s prose creates compelling scenes.


Some of Donovan’s anecdotes are hilarious; others are quietly revealing — especially those that draw a picture of a private, pay-to-play fly fishing structure little seen in the US. (Most American fly fishing guides will choke on Donovan’s assertion that American fly fishermen are far more likely to accept advice than English anglers.)


While I enjoyed Keeper, it’s not without its flaws. Some of the later chapters felt under-developed and tacked on, and the writer twice descends into “kids these days” rants, which feel small and rootbound, especially given the fun, airy nature of the rest of the book.


Still, Keeper is a genuinely entertaining book by someone living a unique kind of fly fishing life — one that borders on a “trout bum” existence, yet on England’s privately owned chalkstreams, is wholly removed from the American fly fishing scene.