Then when you pick up this book you would, and you'd add some of your own. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. Some people have written reviews saying that they found some bits funny but the humour was lost on me. This is a very rare phenomenon, in my experience. Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2004. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. Both were insanely brilliant, but for, obviously, very different reasons; Also try, "Snow Falling … Prime members enjoy FREE Delivery and exclusive access to music, movies, TV shows, original audio series, and Kindle books. Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Luckily I had read other recommendations. The penny dropped pretty quickly the second time around because it was like a gentle wave had moved over his head for he could see not only the fish that William Gould drew, but also a dark, disturbing tale about a colonial history of Tasmania with its racist white soldiers, convicts who laid in chains and the poor native indigenous people who were butchered, tormented and killed with one William Gould who showed what it was like to survive in those times. The list is rather impressive and includes Joyce, Melville, Conrad, Rabelais, Borges, Hemingway, Marquez, Swift, Morrison, Pynchon, Sterne, Dante, Ovid, de Quincey, Heller, Dickens, Camus, Faulkner, Fielding, Smollet, Dostoevsky and, by inference, Peter Carey (the reference is to Carey's character, Ned Kelly in The True History of the Kelly Gang). This reader isn't acquainted with all those named, but certainly understands the quality that Mr. Flanagan has been compared to! Smutty like "Sot-Weed," brutal like "Blood Meridian", Reviewed in the United States on September 1, 2014, "My wonder upon discovering the 'Book of Fish' remains with me yet. Throw in a reference to Wuthering Heights (in terms of the book's lingering effect upon the reader's imagination) and you see the sort of playing field Flannagan is occupying. The story is about an Australian penal colony and the horrors there. Please try again. Please try again. A magical, yet also a terrifying ride that was captured in over 400 amazing pages. His greatest feat, though, is in the creation of one of the most memorable characters in all of modern literature: William Buelow Gould with all his aliases. But this book … For those reader's who liked George Saunders's,"Lincoln in the Bardo" then you will absolutely love Richard Flanagan's, "Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish"! In the reviews that are printed in the Grove Press Trade edition, I counted 22 renowned authors the critics cite with whom to compare Flanagan. The worst that can be said of his character in "Gould's Book of Fish" is that he makes a habit of living on the wrong side of fate. Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2015. Something went wrong. And if you can handle, appreciate a clever writer who often re-defines what we think of as a definition, as well as our preconceptions of the banal to the horrific, then get this book. I had just read The Narrow Road to the Deep North, not having heard of Richard Flanagan before, and been blown away by it, so I looked up his other books and saw that this one had gotten all sorts of encomia from everywhere, so I downloaded it, and was immediately hypnotized.

Please make sure that you are posting in the form of a question. Gould's Book of Fish -- should you read it -- will probably be the most bizarre book you will read in the next 10 years. Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2016. Normally even with the greatest writers you know it's them.

Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. I would but you wouldn't believe me. "The narrow road to the deep north" was excellent and well worth reading but this is not worth the effort. The book is difficult to read the language and the imagery. Of course, if you only read Baldacci and Lee Childs, then this person reckons you won't like it. In terms of critical acclaim, the guy has arrived. To get the free app, enter your mobile phone number. Like a lot of Flanagan's work, it is not a comfortable read because he enables the reader to identify with his central characters, and consequently, we share in part at least, their difficult and harrowing experiences. This reader actually had a go at reading it twice to fully understand what was going on. This is an entertaining and interesting book, if somewhat brutal and surreal. Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2018. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations, Select the department you want to search in, Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2018. GOULDS BOOK OF FISH on Amazon.com. Prime members enjoy FREE Delivery and exclusive access to music, movies, TV shows, original audio series, and Kindle books. Top subscription boxes – right to your door, © 1996-2020, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Please try again. Several weeks after having read this book-twice-my head is still spinning in wonder and delight. After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2004. Not his best. Of course, if you only read Baldacci and Lee Childs, then this person reckons you won't like it.

And fish metaphors. What could anyone have done to deserve the fate of William Buelow Gould? This shopping feature will continue to load items when the Enter key is pressed. As well as fish.

"Gould's Book of Fish" was romantic while, "The Narrow Road to the Deep North" was brutal, tragic and in your face. It is utterly different from The Narrow Road, so different that it's hard to imagine that the same person wrote both books. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations, Select the department you want to search in.

Prime members enjoy FREE Delivery and exclusive access to music, movies, TV shows, original audio series, and Kindle books. This reader actually had a go at reading it twice to fully understand what was going on. Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2005. Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free. Not easy to read. Gould left behind scant biographical details, but he did produce a remarkable sketchbook containing illustrations of the local sea life. Please try again. After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. Is it worthwhile you ask. But, instead of being a barbaric book Mr. Flanagan has written a beautiful almost poetic book in nature that has been compared to Dickens, Sterne, Fielding and even Dostoyevsky. Please try again. Richard Flanagan has clearly had a lot of fun in challenging his readers with an arsenal of literary tricks-frame stories, shifting narrators, magical realism, time shifts, allusions, self-referentiality-all the while making them seem more invention than artifice. Buy Gould's Book of Fish Unabridged edition by Flanagan, Richard (ISBN: 9781740946056) from Amazon's Book Store. I mean, you read Kafka, you know it's Kafka, right? There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 7, 2018. Well worth reading but not a bundle of laughs, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 20, 2016. Why the Kindle will never replace the printed book, Goulds Book Of Fish is a visual gem (in original hardback). There was a problem loading your book clubs. Armed with an overview, I tried it again. After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.