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Loading... Gould's Book of Fish (2001)by Richard Flanagan
 velvetink | Mar 31, 2013 |  My first Richard Flanagan novel, and I doubt it will be my last. I listened to the audiobook, superbly narrated by Humphrey Bower. Next time I read this it will have to be the standard print - not because I didn't love Bower's narration, but because it's the sort of book where you need to flip backwards (and probably forwards) to try to understand it better. This is a work of fabulous imagination, rooted in Australia's dark past, at once a fantasy and an expansive philosophy. There are few likeable characters, yet we can see something of ourselves in many of them. I was initially attracted to the book because it is set, in part, in the harsh convict prison of Sarah Island, Tasmania. I read a lot of Australian history, and I'm lucky enough to have been to Sarah Island. But the island of the book is barely recognisable - and therein lies the first of the author's many fabrications. Flanagan descriptions are convincing and utterly believable: yet when he tips reality on its head we wonder why we didn't see it coming. This is a book that will surprise, disgust, engage and move the reader: most authors would be happy enough to achieve just one of these! (  ) russwood | Mar 31, 2013 | I haven't read such a disturbing, dark book in a long time. It was unforgettable, and the beauty of the writing was such a contrast to the subject matter. Plus, it made me do a bit of research on Van Diemen's Land and the Penal Colony system just to see if it was as terrible. It was. ( ) beckydj | Mar 31, 2013 | This novel is unique in my experience. Well-written and constructed, it is a very appealing book. In an amazing fashion it tells a fascinating story of the lives of prisoners in nineteenth century Tasmania. It is told in the form of a book within a book, as the original "Illuminated" text morphs into the story of Billy Gould, an itinerant painter whose journeys end badly. The novel is a mix of meditations and wild stories, jumping to and fro, each outlandish scene to be superseded by one stranger still. Along the way he even encounters another painter, John James Audubon. The book itself is beautiful and the story is a delight even as the author's style overwhelmed me. (  )1  jwhenderson | Aug 20, 2011 | For once a book that lives up to the blurbs! Masterly. (  ) Mouldywarp | Oct 25, 2010 | no reviews | add a review
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Wikipedia in English (4)
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- Mixed with spittle & rancid pickled pork fat, he makes ink to paint his fish. (