Chapped 57, Chafing Britons, and Cerebral Adventure Boys

[Paul Mackin]

Think it was Rich who described Gould's Book of Fish.

P


John Bailey wrote:as well read as one, can one, any one?

>
> Richard Flanagan's 'Gould's Book of Fish' is highly recommended, folks, and
> has been called 'the first masterpiece of the 21st Century' (well, that's a
> strong way of putting it). Mr Mackin first mentioned it here a while ago and
> correctly noted the lovely coloured print and gorgeous binding (though I
> don't believe he used the word gorgeous.) The book has been highly divisive
> of opinions (and, like GR, reviewers have now turned to noting this
> contentiousness as a way of avoiding having to actually review the thing...)
> And of course Pynchon is often noted in reviews, my favourite being...
> 'Wildly ambitious, it has the cerebral-adventure-boy feel of Thomas
> Pynchon's "Mason & Dixon,"...'
> 'cerebral-adventure-boy', ha ha haaaa....
> http://ae.boston.com/books/reviews/fishbook.html
> see also...
> http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/generalfiction/story/0,6000,729724,00.html
> http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/04/05/1017206260960.html
> I had the fortune of listening to Flanagan speaking at a cafe a few years
> ago, and he is a very genial and intelligent fellow.