Gould's Book of Fish

Gould's Book of Fish, Richard Flanagan

I almost never fail to finish a book. Even John Irving's A Prayer For Owen Meany, which took me several years of intermittent attempts to finally finish and be disappointed by, got wrapped up in the end. But this one, an incoherent jumble of a book straddling the found-fiction, unreliable narrator and historical fiction genres, has succeeded where lesser books have failed.

Ostensibly the novel is the retelling of a 19th century diary of a convict transported to Australia by a present-day furniture restorer / scam-artist. But it just rambles on and on through page after page of incoherent episodes that might have something to do with colonialism, but mostly just come across as trying to be clever by banging on about fish. About a third in, I just gave up. While in my 20s I was prepared to tolerate Owen Meany's ridiculous parable, life's too short now that I've reached my 40s.

Unfortunately, this was the last of my picks from @mrbsemporium. However, it was the only duff pick of six books, and, given that they knew I'm an oceanographer, it probably seemed a safe one. Sorry @mrbsemporium, not my bag this time, but I really enjoyed the rest of your choices for me.