Brother Fish

By: Bryce Courtenay

Narrated by: Humphrey Bower

Length: 31 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

From the author of The Power of One comes an inspiring human drama and war story of three lives brought together and changed forever by the extraordinary events of recent history. Inspired by real events, Bryce Courtenay's new novel tells the story of three people from vastly differing backgrounds. All they have in common is a tough beginning in life. Jack McKenzie is a harmonica player, soldier, dreamer, and small-time professional fisherman from a tiny island in Bass Strait. Nicole Lenoir-Jourdan is a strong-willed woman hiding from an ambiguous past in Shanghai. Larger than life, Private Jimmy Oldcorn was once a street kid and leader of a New York gang. Together, they reap a vast and not always legitimate fortune from the sea. Narrated by celebrated, award-winning actor Humphrey Bower.

©2013 Christine Courtenay (P)2014 Bolinda Publishing Pty. Ltd

Critic reviews

• 2005 Audie Award Nominee, Literary Fiction

Stupendous

A superb book that covers historical realities but details human relationships. One of the best books I can remember

Outstanding!!!

One of the most enjoyable books ever. The narrator is superb! Yummy from beginning to end! Touching, deep, inspiring story of friendship and survival. Thank you, Bryce Courtenay and Humphrey Bower (who, BTW, I’ve also enjoyed in his performance of Shantaram.

Long and excellent

The narration wins this book over for me. The different accents and attitudes portrayed during conversations is just excellent. With dramatic history lessons througout to keep me entertained. This is my 1st by the author and narrator and now another two to add to my favorites. :)

Good but PAINFULLY long

STORY (fiction) - Brother Fish is almost 32 hours long. I would have rated it five stars had it been perhaps 12 hours. Maybe it's just me, but I find very few books worth a 32-hour investment. This book is character-driven and very well done. There are three main characters. Each one is likeable, richly portrayed and tells a detailed story of his/her difficult past. Jimmy is from the streets of New York. Jack is a poor fisherman's son, who grew up on a small Australian island. Nicole was born in Russia, then forced into surviving the dangerous streets of Shanghai. The characters' lives are partially intertwined because Nicole teaches Jack in school, then years later Jack meets Jimmy in a prisoner-of-war camp. Finally, the three work together as partners in a fish exporting business.

The book jumps between flashbacks and present day experiences and blends together well. A very large portion of the first part of the book is about Jimmy and Jack in the war and prison camps. There is lots of battles and suffering, with bits of Australian history and facts about the war with Korea. Then the book moves to Jimmy's early life as a gang member in New York and on a German tomato farm. Finally Nicole tells her story about her life as a young girl living in the Chinese underworld. Hers was by far my favorite. Wow, I would LOVE a book just about her! Throughout the book there were parts I enjoyed immensely, then other parts where I sped the listening speed to 2X just to get through. Much of the story is from Jack's perspective, so the narrator mainly speaks with an Australian accent and uses lots of Australian slang. As a listener from Texas (USA), I was able to understand the story completely, but there were many phrases which were unfamiliar to me.

PERFORMANCE - ABSOUTELY AWESOME! Performances like this make me wonder why I ever give five stars to others. Mr. Bower not only gives the characters their own distinct accent, but they have their own voice as well. There's Australian, German, Negro, Chinese, Irish, males, females, even singing. Just WOW!

OVERALL - This book is good, but I'd recommend only for people who are patient and willing to wait for a story to develop. I am NOT that patient. While this book is good, I was often frustrated and thought about giving up. I'm glad I didn't because the last ten hours were my favorite. While the F-word occurs occasionally, there is no actual sex during the book. There is quite a bit of violence, so I wouldn't recommend for younger listeners.

Great Narration

An interesting story with lots of interesting historical facts. The narrator does an amazing job on this one. I recommend this book.

Satisfactory....

Good story, really good narration - all in all a satisfactory experience......... but not really my cup of tea. The first part of the book was about the Korean war which was really good but the second half dragged for me and I found myself hanging in only because I was so invested already. I may check out some of this author's other works in the future, if only to find out why so many others rave about him - maybe I just picked the wrong book.

The Forgotten War

I didn't realize when I bought it that I had read another of Bryce Courtney's books, "The Persimmon Tree," and loved it. "Brother Fish" is primarily about the Korean War from the Australian viewpoint. Humphrey Bower (who narrated both books) gave every character a credible voice, from the protagonist's Aussie accent to an American black, to Korean soldiers, to a German woman. It's a complex story, following several characters, but it never became confusing. A great story, well told.

Amazing.

Normally I don't write reviews, but for this book I have to say it was amazing. The characters came alive and I loved them all.

Brother. Fish!!

loved it, it was long, but never boring. This is one of those that when it ends, you miss the characters!

Good with annoying aspects

Leaps from being tortured in war are followed by immersion in rather trivial domestic detail as if nothing but pride could remain. This lacks emotional honesty.

Also, the story was pretty good, and I love long books, yet I began to feel put upon by almost circular lapses into redundancy. The story gains momentum and then drags for nothing a good editing wouldn't easily correct.