‘Slime Line’ Hooks the Alaska Salmon Industry

Revealing might be the best way to describe Jake Maynard’s debut novel, Slime Line, as the Mt. Jewett native leans on the highs and lows of his big-hearted narrator, Garrett “Beaver” Deaver, to provide inside dope on what it takes to bring a harvest of salmon from sea to table. Maynard doesn’t paint a pretty picture of the industry, but brings warmth and humanity to characters who struggle to overcome loss while finding their path forward.

From Jack London’s stories of the Yukon gold rush to John Krakauer’s attempt to retrace the steps of Christopher McCandless in Into the Wild, Alaska has held an outsized place in the imaginations of those looking to make a fresh start. It makes sense that Deaver, a reluctant college student at “Generic University,” dealing with an overactive mind and the sudden loss of his absentee father who lived an outsized life working on fishing boats in Alaska, might fall under the spell. His life will begin to revolve around 16-hour shifts, bolstered by increasing amounts of yaba, a methamphetamine cut with caffeine.

Slime Line, like other volumes concerned with work, is about people. From his friend Bayram, working a side-hustle by selling iPods, to the Polish girls who “stand on the toilet seats when they pee and so you have to wipe off the slime and scales first,” it concerns humanity and the pride that comes from belonging. For some, this solidarity means workers wanting to organize for better pay. For Deaver, it’ll begin to feel like working the “slime line” is akin to Stockholm Syndrome, where “each fillet’s a red, wet tongue. They’re saying, ‘Garrett, processor prince. Welcome to your future.’”

Thankfully, for Deaver, there’s Bonnie Kohle, an old-timer in the town of Klak who “once saw Jefferson Airplane at a house party in San Francisco. … [B]een mending netting since shortly after that.” Bonnie becomes the voice of reason as Deaver sinks into the long hours where he’s trailing “not even a feeling, but a sub-feeling, like a compass or the limbo before a good sneeze. I told myself I’d chase that feeling down or die trying.” 

Slime Line rates as a fun, insightful read about work that most Americans wouldn’t even consider doing. To this end, Deaver remains a straight shooter to the new hires. “I try to give them the gist of it. Bad food. Long hours. Socks so hardened by sweat they stand on their own. The cold concrete floor, the fluorescent buzz, the fish scales wedged under your fingernails that ooze pus. Sand-heavy muscles, sweet, sweet repetition, numbing your brain like a lab-engineered pill … The bonuses will come. Just worry about kicking ass and getting shit done. I say this is my mantra and you can use it too.” Remember this on the next visit to Wholey’s.