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A review by yvlie
Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish by Richard Flanagan
5.0
"That a book should never digress is something with which I have never held." (190)
This is a book full of marvellous, exciting (and yes, sometimes tiring) digressions. It circles its subjects matter, its main themes coming and going like the waves.
It deals with colonialism, Eurocentrism and - most of all, I would say - implicated subjects, negotiating guilt, memory and forgetting along the way. Definitely also recommendable for anyone interested in ecocriticism.
There is so much in this book, I highly recommend reading it. Be aware, however, if you do not like a postmodern style - I have to admit, even though I sometimes enjoy postmodern techniques, it gets a little annoying at times. At others, it's super fun.
Last words: At one point, the frame narrator remarks about the Book of Fish: "The author wrote in colours; more precisely, I suspect, he felt in colours." (17) -- for some reason, this quote stayed with me while reading the novel and it somehow captures the feeling of reading the book for me.
This is a book full of marvellous, exciting (and yes, sometimes tiring) digressions. It circles its subjects matter, its main themes coming and going like the waves.
It deals with colonialism, Eurocentrism and - most of all, I would say - implicated subjects, negotiating guilt, memory and forgetting along the way. Definitely also recommendable for anyone interested in ecocriticism.
There is so much in this book, I highly recommend reading it. Be aware, however, if you do not like a postmodern style - I have to admit, even though I sometimes enjoy postmodern techniques, it gets a little annoying at times. At others, it's super fun.
Last words: At one point, the frame narrator remarks about the Book of Fish: "The author wrote in colours; more precisely, I suspect, he felt in colours." (17) -- for some reason, this quote stayed with me while reading the novel and it somehow captures the feeling of reading the book for me.