The Fly Trap, Fredrik Sjoberg
The Fly Trap, Fredrik Sjoberg
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The Fly Trap

Author: Fredrik Sjöberg, Thomas Teal

Narrator: Robert Fass

Unabridged: 5 hr 36 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/02/2015

Synopsis

A rare memoir of extraordinary, mesmerizing brilliance—and a Swedish bestseller—by an entomologist fascinated with the natural world and the hidden wonders of life, and which asks: What is it that drives the obsessively curious to exploration and the practice of collecting?Warm and humorous, self-deprecating and contemplative, The Fly Trap is a meditation on solitude, stillness, and the observation of beauty—be it found among insects or in art. Weaving a fascinating web of associations, histories, and personal memories, the book begins with Fredrik Sjöberg’s own experience as an entomologist on a tranquil, remote Swedish island and pulls in the tales of past heroic scientific expeditions to Burma and the wilderness of Kamchatka. As confounded by his unusual love of collecting flies as anyone, Sjöberg pauses to reflect on a range of ideas—the passage of time, art, freedom—drawing into dialogue writers such as Bruce Chatwin and D. H. Lawrence, and the lives of collectors such as René Edmond Malaise, inventor of the Malaise trap.From the everyday to the exotic, The Fly Trap revels in the wonders of the natural world.

About Fredrik Sjöberg

Fredrik Sjöberg is an entomologist, literary critic, translator, cultural columnist, and the author of several books. He has written on everything from the history of the environmental movement to the insect collection of the Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer. He lives with his family on the island Runmarö in the archipelago east of Stockholm.

About Thomas Teal

Thomas Teal has translated many works into English, beginning in the 1970s with The Summer Book and Sun City and more recently The True Deceiver and Fair Play. He also cotranslated Tove Jansson’s short stories in The Woman Who Borrowed Memories. He lives in Massachusetts.

About Robert Fass

A two-time Audie Award winner, veteran actor Robert Fass is equally at home in a wide variety of styles, genres, characters, and dialects. An eight-time Audie nominee with over 225 unabridged audiobooks to his credit, Robert has also earned multiple Earphones Awards. In addition, his work was listed among AudioFile's Best Audiobooks of the Year in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016, and 2018. Robert has given voice to modern and classic fiction writers alike, including Ray Bradbury, John Steinbeck, Carlos Fuentes, Jeffrey Deaver, and Nele Neuhaus, plus bestselling nonfiction works in history, politics, health, journalism, philosophy, and business.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Matteo on February 21, 2017

Videorecensione: [URL not allowed] Filosofia del collezionismo. Chi mai avrà definito gli insetti un argomento narrativo noioso? Un po' lo credevo anche io. Poi ho letto questo ibrido romanzo/saggio/biografia avvincente, affascinante e persino ironico. È andata a finire che ho racca......more

Goodreads review by Tittirossa on December 22, 2017

Essendo io una bottonologa (l'ho scoperto leggendo il libro, cioè una collezionista di cose inutili) questo libro mi si confà particolarmente, arricchendo la mia collezione di inutili saperi di un capitolo interamente dedicato alle mosche. E poi, last but not the least, è scritto benissimo!......more

Goodreads review by Marina on May 16, 2014

Not sure what to think about this book. It is a meditation on the nature of obsession, on collectors, on explorers, on classification. And just when you think it is all about entomology it suddenly ends with a discussion about art and forgeries. There are some witty and profound observations about l......more

Goodreads review by Outis on May 14, 2020

3,5/5 Vedevo questo titolo saltare fuori spesso su goodreads ma me ne sono sempre tenuta lontana perché immaginavo un romanzo un po' barboso con un tizio che collezionando mosche ritrova se stesso. I tizi che collezionano insetti ci sono, per il resto mi sbagliavo. Un po' saggio, un po' memoir, un po......more

Goodreads review by Elisa on February 07, 2016

L'arte di collezionare mosche non è forse uno di quei libri che ti cambiano la vita, ma di certo lo consiglierei a chiunque: raramente ho letto qualcosa di altrettanto appassionato e appassionante (e lo dico da entomofaga, se esiste qualcuno che a livello teorico non dovrebbe leggere un libro del ge......more

Quotes

“The minute observations from nature reveal sudden insights into one’s life.” Tomas Tranströmer, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature

“Entertaining…whimsical…rich…iconoclastic…brilliant.” Wall Street Journal

“Full of charm, the insects are almost incidental…It’s really a book about how to find meaning in life.” Times (London)

“[A] wry…poetic memoir.” New York Times

“Seductive reading…Sjoberg carries you along on his many excursions and detours…pulling together a digressive skein of stories across centuries and continents.” New York Times Book Review

“[Sjöberg] writes with infectious passion.” Independent (UK)

“A charming, off-the-beaten track, humorously self-deprecating memoir…a paean to some of the tiniest wonders of the natural world but even more to the benefits of intense focus…The Fly Trap stands as proof that great writing can lend a buzz to even the most unlikely subjects.” NPR

“A badass Swede you’ve never heard of…One of my favorite books of this year was The Fly Trap, by the writer and entomologist Fredrik Sjöberg, who appears to be the Geoff Dyer of Sweden: funny, astute, intellectually voracious, simultaneously self-absorbed, and self-critical.” New Yorker

“An intriguing defense of the selfish, even hedonistic pleasures of natural history. Thomas Teal’s translation captures Sjöberg’s quiet, hypnotic style, his deadpan jokes.” Times Literary Supplement (UK)

“Wry, digressive, and packed with fantastically clipped observations.” Guardian (UK)

Awards

  • London Times Pick
  • Amazon Best Book of the Month
  • New York Times Editor’s Choice
  • Amazon Best Books of the Year
  • New York Times Book Review Notable Book
  • NPR’s Great Reads
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