Review: Following Fish: Travels Around the Indian Coast

Following Fish: Travels Around the Indian Coast by Samanth Subramanian
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

To be fair I was absolutely intrigued by the black and white cover photo of this book when I encountered this in Blossom Book House Bangalore (If you can do check it out, it’s a bibliophile heaven) and wanted to read it so badly. And the icing on the cake being the recommendation from Ramachandra Guha, that’s right on the cover. The only catch being I was afraid if the book is all about fish as seafood, for I couldn’t care less about that. And as soon as a kind goodreads user(Vivek Singh), replied to my question allaying my fears that this book is much more than just seafood I devoured the book (pun unintended), the moment that reply came as notification in my mobile. Thank you, Vivek.



If you’re someone who has ever gone fishing or someone who loves seafood or someone who lives close to a sea you’re going to totally love this book. I wasn’t any of that. So I had to constantly google whenever the author mentioned any fish or any coast across his travels. Equipped with knowledge provided by Google, I was able to enjoy it better. I saw a whole series on sailfish to understand the intensity of the narrative in a chapter and it was worth it. The entire book would have been one hell of ride if only the author included more photos of different fish/beaches he mentioned (preferably color). Lack of good color photos was a definite handicap in this kind of books.

Not all narratives are dealt thoroughly. Goan and Paravar narratives were dealt a bit more comprehensively and had a feel of good conclusion to them. I wish others were also handled in such manner. Another minor gripe is that the author tries too hard, at places, to try and impress with his metaphors and descriptions that don't go well with the flow and remain sharp and out of place. He should have tried for smoother ones or altogether avoided them.

Nevertheless, a goodread.

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