I have known Arnie Deckwa for a long time. We were in high school during the same time frame in the late 1950's. Because of that I had a vague knowledge of Arnie's history and his story. So, when I was given his book, "The Singing Salmon Man From Cornet Bay," I set it aside, thinking that I would get to it when my current reading list had dwindled.
Three months and a couple of books later, I finally picked up Arnie's book and began reading. I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. Of course, the familiarity with the times and location was of immediate interest to me. When Arnie speaks of Cornet Bay and Deception Pass and the people from this area I could easily relate to them as I have visited those sites often and know some of the individuals personally. As I was reading, I found the book to be entertaining and a pleasant reminder of times past. The book is essentially a series of short stories or excerpts from Arnie's experiences from childhood to the present, written with home spun appeal and humor.
The stories are held together by several re-occurring themes which flow through the book from its beginning right down to the last chapter. A central theme would be "follow your dream." Arnie knew what he wanted in life and he set out to realize that dream. A similar theme found was, "never give up". From the stories told it was apparent that giving up would have been easy for most people as the opportunities to do so occurred often. But that was not Arnie's style. A third theme, the most important one to my way of thinking, was an underlying faith and commitment to the Saviour, Jesus Christ. Time and again, the stories came back to the fact that the dreams and the persevering can only be meaningful and rewarding if they are structured within the framework of His presence in our lives.
I understand that a lot of material was cut from this book to keep it a reasonable length. I'm waiting for the sequel.
Keith Fakkema
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