Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish in Aussie Readers

Sep 06, 2007 Magdalena rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

There are times when, as a book reviewer, it is tempting to simply put the adjectives on hold; when mere descriptors seem paltry next to the indescribable beauty of the book itself. Richard Flanagan's Gould's Book of Fish is that kind of book. Reading it open mouthed, gasping at the richness and complexity of the text that clearly defies categorisation and classification, one feels intimately connected, while in awe of what the author has produced. Gould's Book of Fish is a serious read; one of There are times when, as a book reviewer, it is tempting to simply put the adjectives on hold; when mere descriptors seem paltry next to the indescribable beauty of the book itself. Richard Flanagan's Gould's Book of Fish is that kind of book. Reading it open mouthed, gasping at the richness and complexity of the text that clearly defies categorisation and classification, one feels intimately connected, while in awe of what the author has produced. Gould's Book of Fish is a serious read; one of those desert island books you can read again and again and find still more meaning in its strange depths; both confirmation and destruction of those things you believe in (and cannot articulate). The book simultaneously makes a mockery of language, history, love, and humanity, while celebrating, and even immortalising them, much as Joyce's Finnegans Wake, or Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury did for the last century, although with a more straightforward storyline. Both Joyce and Faulkner are celebrated in the novel, as are other great authors from history such as Flaubert, Hugo, Blake, Keats, Cervantes, Sterne, Wordsworth, Pope, Borges, Voltaire, and Conrad.

For all of the shifts in Gould's Book of Fish, with things like time, history, identity, and power all variable, there are some constants, and this is the basis on which the book is built. Love is one of those constants. Another is its corollaries, racism, brutality, and hatred - clear and obvious evils. A third and more subtle constant is that sense of the mysterious beauty in life, and the world: "The knowledge of a world so awful, this sense of a life so extraordinary - how am I to resolve them?" Ultimately, as Gould says, this is a book about life, not death, and despite the inherent sadness, the brutality, the grossness, and the torture, what remains with the reader is how we ultimately escape with Gould; how the love, beauty, and even the story, remains, shining and glorious. In its gorgeous use of language, its extraordinary structure, its ambitiously realised depths, and above all, the magic it works on its reader, Gould's Book of Fish is a masterpiece. Read it for the interesting story, and find yourself, like Hammett, lost in its labyrinth depths, obsessed, changed forever, and your unrequited love of literature both challenged, and invigorated. ...more

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Nov 26, 2020 PattyMacDotComma rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-folk-myth-super-magic, politics-culture-social-war, australian-author, historical-fiction, kindle, award-win-listed, aa-ce, fiction

5★
“I am William Buelow Gould, sloe-souled, green-eyed, gap-toothed, shaggy-haired & grizzle-gutted, & though my pictures will be even poorer than my looks, my paintings lacking the majesty of a Girtin, the command of a Turner, believe me when I tell you that I will try to show you everything, mad & cracked & bad as it was.”

This is a story, a history, a fable that just washed over me in such a way that I accepted all of it and none of it as true. I did not know until after I’d read it that it wa ...more

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Sep 29, 2021 Catsalive rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2021, amw, audio

Once upon a time that was called 1828, before all the living things on the land and the fishes in the sea were destroyed, there was a man named William Buelow Gould, a convict in Van Dieman's Land who fell in love with a black woman and discovered too late that to love is not safe. Silly Billy Gould, invader of Australia, liar, murderer, forger, fantasist, condemned to live in the most brutal penal colony in the British Empire, and there ordered to paint a book of fish. Once upon a time, miracul ...more

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Mar 15, 2010 Velvetink rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: australia-new-zealand, fiction, historical-fiction, read-2010, the-arts-painting-etc, alternative-histories

"I scoop the roe out with my fingers, in truth it is not for this small salty pleasure that i covet the sea urchins, but for the bright purple spikes which it's shell is armoured like a lurid aquatic echidna."

- Mixed with spittle & rancid pickled pork fat, he makes ink to paint his fish. ...more

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Feb 21, 2014 Charmaine Clancy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: special, aussie

Let me start by saying there needs to be registered support groups for people who have read this novel. Not just willy-nilly chat rooms, but certified psych support and medication ... lots of medication. For it is a lonely world when you've read those last few bitterly beautiful lines, left with but one thought, 'Whaaaaa?' There is no one to comfort you, you float alone in a metaphorical ocean, accusing family members when they don't pick up on your book references, 'What manner of fish are you? ...more

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Dec 28, 2012 Tracey rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: australian, 2013

Gould’s Book of Fish by Richard Flanagan is a disturbing read. It is brutal in description and honest in its portrayal of convict life.
The book has been earmarked by many critics and reviewers as a masterpiece and an extraordinary piece of imagination. It is all these things but I found the book not disappointing or lacking but there was something missing for me, some connection that I could not make with the book. I am going to put that disconnect down to the paperback version of the book I hav Gould’s Book of Fish by Richard Flanagan is a disturbing read. It is brutal in description and honest in its portrayal of convict life.
The book has been earmarked by many critics and reviewers as a masterpiece and an extraordinary piece of imagination. It is all these things but I found the book not disappointing or lacking but there was something missing for me, some connection that I could not make with the book. I am going to put that disconnect down to the paperback version of the book I have. The reason being that the fish paintings are shoved up the back and from what I have seen of other versions of the books the paintings and colours are integral to the read.
The protagonist of the story is William Gould who has been imprisoned on Sarah Island for 49 years. On a simple level the novel tells the fiction story of Gould, as imagined by Flanagan, who tells about his quest to survive the harsh conditions of a prison island. On the more complex level the novel can be seen as the colonisation failure of Tasmania.
However you want to see the book the themes are big and complicated and can sometimes detract from the novel. The story of Twopenny Sal was something I also struggled with. From Gould’s point of view Sal is almost complicit in her position as woman used as she sleeps with whatever man can provide her with tobacco and alcohol.
I am not bothered about the criticisms about the lack of plot and dialogue but what I did find annoying was the characters. To be honest I found them on the main very one dimensional. Gould remains the same from page one to the end and the other manifestations that Gould relates to us are just as linear.
I found that towards the end of the novel the continual waxing on by Gould just boring. Sorry to all the lovers of the book but I did. It went on and on and I was screaming ‘shut up and just die will you’ Now I normally do not react that way to a character in a novel but I could not empathise with Gould at all.
I struggled with this book as to whether I loved it or loathed it.
...more

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Jul 21, 2009 Ian rated it did not like it · review of another edition

I found this a work of self indulgence on the part of the author - truely one of the more frustrating novels i have read. In fact it annoyed me so much, i felt I had to join this forum!!
I really cannot recommend, but it will remain in my library as a talking point that i am sure i will refer to for a long time as an example of an authors arrogance towards his readers.

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Sep 21, 2013 Jacinta Hoare rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: aussie-author, audio-book, 2013, historical-fiction

What an odd and unusual journey into utter madness and beyond.

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Jan 16, 2010 Lindsay rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, z2010, bookcrossing, australian

I did get a little lost at a couple of points in this book (probably because I was rushing to finish the end of it), but overall I did enjoy it and it had some very resonant ideas.

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