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Gould's Book of Fish
Gould's Book of Fish | Richard Flanagan
7 posts | 12 read | 11 to read
Winner of the Commonwealth Prize New York Times Book ReviewNotable Fiction 2002 Entertainment WeeklyBest Fiction of 2002 Los Angeles Times Book ReviewBest of the Best 2002 Washington Post Book WorldRaves 2002 Chicago TribuneFavorite Books of 2002 Christian Science MonitorBest Books 2002 Publishers WeeklyBest Books of 2002 The Cleveland Plain DealerYears Best Books Minneapolis Star TribuneStandout Books of 2002 Once upon a time, when the earth was still young, before the fish in the sea and all the living things on land began to be destroyed, a man named William Buelow Gould was sentenced to life imprisonment at the most feared penal colony in the British Empire, and there ordered to paint a book of fish. He fell in love with the black mistress of the warder and discovered too late that to love is not safe; he attempted to keep a record of the strange reality he saw in prison, only to realize that history is not written by those who are ruled. Acclaimed as a masterpiece around the world, Goulds Book of Fish is at once a marvelously imagined epic of nineteenth-century Australia and a contemporary fable, a tale of horror, and a celebration of love, all transformed by a convict painter into pictures of fish.
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blurb
HeathHof
HeathHof
Gould's Book of Fish | Richard Flanagan
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A little late but here is my supporting our local little indie bookstore. (Not pictured are one for an upcoming swap and Goosebumps: Thee Scarecrow Walks at midnight (book tax from my daughter for having to go along))

35 likes
review
LaviniaG
LaviniaG
Gould's Book of Fish | Richard Flanagan
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Bailedbailed

Just given up on it almost halfway through it.
I love an atmospheric book, I love art, I like experimental writing & can definitely appreciate descriptive language, I enjoy historical fiction, and I‘m all for an unreliable narrator. But I can‘t with this one, it doesn‘t engage me in the slightest. There are other books out there. #richardflanagan #gouldsbookoffish

review
AnimalRiotPress
AnimalRiotPress
Gould's Book of Fish | Richard Flanagan
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Pickpick

Really loved this crazy book. Sentences were 🔥 and the story is wild. For any fans of books like #CloudAtlas by #DavidMitchell, highly recommend. #booksmatter #amreading #amwriting #writing #reading #experimental

10 likes1 stack add
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Billypar
Billypar
Gould's Book of Fish | Richard Flanagan
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#bachelorette #fiercefeb
Bare with me here...this may be cheating, but I'm choosing the tagged book based on the really fun Michel Gondry-directed music video in which Bjork finds a big book buried deep in the ground with blank pages that begins writing her biography (starting with 'I found a big book buried deep in the ground', etc.). I've always had a soft spot for 'found book' postmodern frames, and the tagged book is a cool variation on this.

Billypar @batsy @Cinfhen 7y
batsy Clever connection! 😊 The video is just stunning, isn't it. I'm curious to read this because of you, I know you liked it from your review and I enjoyed another book by him
[tagged book]Death of a River Guide: A Novel
7y
Billypar @batsy Ooh- I stacked that one- sounds great- I haven't read any other Flanagan's. Whether you end up liking it or not, Gould's is nothing if not interesting all the way through, so I can vouch for that 🙂 7y
See All 8 Comments
Cinfhen Like the way your brain works 🙌🏻😍 7y
Centique Well I loved The Narrow Road and I‘m quite fond of fish so... Stacked! 😂 7y
Billypar @Cinfhen Why thank you! 🤓 7y
Billypar @Centique Each chapter is the name of a fish and has a corresponding illustration 🐟🐡🐙🦀🦐 7y
Centique @Billypar well that sounds perfect 😍 7y
30 likes2 stack adds8 comments
review
Billypar
Billypar
Gould's Book of Fish | Richard Flanagan
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Pickpick

I wasn't sure what to say about this strange and wonderful book, and then I found a quote from Donna Tart's The Secret History that I just started and it seems to fit perfectly, despite the fact that it describes a contemporary Californian town and not a 19th century Tasmanian penal colony:

Billypar "There is to me about this place a smell of rot, the the smell of rot that ripe fruit makes. Nowhere, ever, have the hideous mechanics of birth and copulation and death--those monstrous upheavals of life that the Greeks call miasma, defilement--been so brutal or been painted up to look so pretty; have so many people put so much faith in lies and mutability and death death death." 7y
ReadingEnvy Wow great connection. I have this book on kindle but after suffering through the narrow road to the deep north I thought I'd wait a while. 7y
Billypar @ReadingEnvy I really liked it, but it's definitely not for everyone. I do think it's the kind of book where you'll know if it's for you after the first chapter or two. 7y
20 likes1 stack add3 comments
quote
Billypar
Billypar
Gould's Book of Fish | Richard Flanagan
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I am definitely in a 'normal place' this week by this quote's standards. I think I need to move to Tasmania and start dreaming of becoming a seahorse.

19 likes
blurb
GuiltyFeat
GuiltyFeat
Gould's Book of Fish | Richard Flanagan
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Here's my collage for #bookssetbythesea.

I didn't really get on with the Flanagan book to the extent that I never tried his Booker winner, but I love that this UK hardback printed each chapter in a different colour of ink to represent the different inks the narrator was able to make from the fish he caught.

#septphotochallenge #somethingforsept

BookishFeminist That is a really cool cover concept. 8y
KarenUK 💗the choices 😊 8y
42 likes3 stack adds2 comments