Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in 12 Fish - Hardcover

Flanagan, Richard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0802117112 ISBN 13: 9780802117113

Publisher: Grove Pr, 2002

Synopsis

A forger and thief sentenced to life imprisonment in a penal colony in Tasmania, William Buelow Gould escapes, only to once again land in prison, where the prison doctor Lempriere utilizes his painting talents to create an illustrated taxonomy of the country's exotic sea creatures, in a novel set in early nineteenth-century Australia. 35,000 first printing.

About this title

Review:

Gould's Book of Fish, an extraordinary work of fact-based fiction by Tasmanian author Richard Flanagan (Death of a River Guide) is a journey through the fringe madness of Down Under colonialism. Set during the 1830s in a hellish island prison colony off the Tasmanian coast, the novel plucks a real-life thief and prisoner, English forger William Buelow Gould, from the pages of history to act as protagonist-narrator. Through Gould's unique capacity to blend hyperbole, hyperrealism, and self-effacing honesty, the reader acquires a shockingly clear picture of daily torment on the island. Yet more remarkable is Gould's portrait of bizarre ambitions among prison authorities to further principles of art and science amidst so much misery. Key to such plans is Gould's talent as a painter and illustrator. The compound's surgeon, nursing hopes of publishing a definitive guide to the island's fish, leans heavily on Gould's ability to record the taxonomy of various species. Though Gould accommodates his masters, the manuscript, in his hands, becomes testimony to their perverse dreams of civilization and his own quick-witted survival instincts. Throughout, Flanagan never loses the well-imagined voice of Gould's candor or the character's dense descriptive powers, talents that translate into a thrilling text that reads like a blend of Melville and Burgess. --Tom Keogh

About the Author:

Richard Flanagan is the author of Death of a River Guide (Picador) and The Sound of One Hand Clapping (Picador), both of which were published to international acclaim.

About this edition

• Publisher: Grove Pr
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0802117112
• ISBN 13: 9780802117113
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 404