Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Brother Fish  By  cover art

Brother Fish

By: Bryce Courtenay
Narrated by: Humphrey Bower
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $19.49

Buy for $19.49

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

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

What listeners say about Brother Fish

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,516
  • 4 Stars
    657
  • 3 Stars
    221
  • 2 Stars
    68
  • 1 Stars
    75
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,412
  • 4 Stars
    228
  • 3 Stars
    53
  • 2 Stars
    25
  • 1 Stars
    24
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,099
  • 4 Stars
    416
  • 3 Stars
    142
  • 2 Stars
    41
  • 1 Stars
    42

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Not Just Another Fish Story - something special

I'm ashamed to confess, but I selected this book because it was Looooong and I figured I'd get my money's worth in using a book credit on it. Well, I did get that, in spades!

"Brother Fish" is a superb read -- the characters are memorable, the dialogue superb, the atmosphere excellent and the reader gets an education in everything from the Korean War to crayfishing, Chinese Warlords, and Russian expatriates. The storytelling is terrific, though the book is long it never falters, the author maintains a pace that keeps the reader engaged for well over thirty hours.

The writer also does two things that I don't see writers of any caliber achieve with frequency-- the first is that he is able to depict memorable, likable humans without a counterpoint of extreme villainy. The unsavory characters who people this book are, much of the time, given redemptive interactions. I believe it is much harder to create fully realized, truthful characters and keep them interesting without seeding the novel with intriguing villains as counterbalance. What this author has done is seed the novel with intriguing heroic characters. I think he forsook the cheap but heady thrills a great villain can bring to the table for a larger, more truthful look at the human experience and this only heightens the book's success.

Also, the writer creates interesting and authentic male and female characters -- major and minor, and the main female character is no less compelling or heroic than the males, also a treat!

I have one minor quibble with the wrap up of a romance in the end -- but I hate to even mention it because it is only that, a quibble. "Brother Fish" is an extraordinary read, Bravo to the author for gifting us with this novel!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

97 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

And a Cast of Thousands!

First of all, the narrator is a real artist, replicating all the voices and singing several songs. He can sound like Paul Robeson, a Russian countess, ordinary Australian blokes, ordinary Americans, Orientals of both sexes and every class from royalty to gangsters, and on and on. For long periods, he doesn't forget that he is one of the secondary characters telling a story. This performance is transparent and seamless.

The events of the book will take you from an island off Australia, to the Korean War, all over the Far East, and to rougher parts of the United States. Courtenay's outlook is global. If you can get through all the mud and blood of the Korean War, including serious wounds and a long time of miserable imprisonment, you will be rewarded with exotic locales and ultimate love and fulfilment. There's never a dull moment. Courtenay knows about race relations. In this story, a white Aussie soldier and a black American soldier become fast friends. They go into business together along with a most mysterious and wonderful older woman. While there are bad characters and bad things do happen, Courtenay is essentially optimistic. Even in prisoner of war camp, there are angels. The book is about brotherly love, excellence, intelligence, business sense. I feel like I know these people; if I could just buy the plane ticket, I could go see them. As my own immediate previous life was as a banker's daughter in China in the early 1900's, I could see, feel and smell the Shanghai and Hong Kong scenarios. The banker's daughter had to support younger siblings however she could. . . . Excellence is sexy; fluency in several languages is sexy; silk cheongsams and exotic cooking are very sexy. Ditto working hard and making lots of money, helping others, improving government policy, loving one another. Courtenay's book is inspiring and entertaining. It has a good balance of colorful description and fast action. It ties up all the tag ends of plot and ends well.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

75 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Rave Review

Having read Power of One a couple of years ago I was already a fan of Courtenay. I was impressed with the reviews for this narrator. Now, having listened to the whole thing, I am an even bigger fan of Courtenay, and a huge fan of Humphrey. After something in the vicinity of 300 hours of listening to audible books his narration was the best I have heard, bar none. That is saying something because I think Frederick Davidson (Dickens & Tolstoy) is terrific. But no one has shown the capacity to get into different national characters and dialects as has Humphrey. As for the novel itself, I appreciated the history and the insights into the Korean War, Japan, Hong Kong, and Australia of the period. I think that Courtenay is a great story teller. I did not find the characters shallow nor the book tedious. Quite the contrary. The book made me go on to other Courtenay/Humphrey collaborations. See Tandia.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

40 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

25 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Brother Fish

This is by far THE BEST audio book I have experienced. I adore Bryce Courtney and the person who narrates is magnificent in all of his narrations I have listend to so far. I laughed, I cried and I want to listen to it all again. You can not go wrong with this one.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

20 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Good story, but a little slow

I enjoyed this book, The story is interesting and the narrator (the first I have ever listened to with an Australian accent) Was perfect. The constant discussion of other peoples 'Prejudice' while having characters that represent every Stereotype imaginable got a little old. But on the whole I enjoyed this book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Why The Songs??!!

I'm leaving this review because I did not read anywhere that there would be songs in this "audiobook". I don't mean the author wrote a line or two of a song, as I've seen done in many audiobooks in the past. I mean, this guy wrote out the ENTIRE song into the story, and the poor narrator had to sing it in its entirety! The narrator is GREAT, by the way, but I didn't get this book to have songs sung to me... especially songs I don't like. It's an audio-BOOK, NOT an album of gospel music!!

To add salt to the wound, this book is VERY VERY VERY slow, after about a third of the way through it. Seriously, do we need to know about every little thing these characters do on a daily basis?? I half expected this author to go into detail about the breathing and sleeping habits of the main character at any time, describing and counting each breath, up to a million.

Yes, it is JUST THAT BORING. I'm not kidding.

I read "The Power Of One" and I thought it was fantastic. I have absolutely no idea how this book is rated as highly as it is, because it is a far cry from that one. It's as if the author literally was sleep walking through this one. It is so painfully boring.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

HATE Christians? Courtenay is the author for you!

During the hours I listened to "The Power of One", I was increasingly dismayed by the repeated castigation of persons of the Christian faith. Many hours were dedicated to taunting the evils of Christians. Now years later, I decided to try this author again hoping that perhaps the previous boook was the exception. Well I was wrong...Big Time. So, if you enjoy reading how Christians lock kids in closets for not repeating Bible verses correctly, then go on and read this story. This author definately has issues with people of the Christian faith. I have listened to over 700 books on audio depecting a wide breadth of isues and this is my first written review...I could not fail to alert readers who might find the author's EXTREME views offensive.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Can cause diabetes

The narrator, Humphrey Bower, is absolutely fantastic. If not for him, I would give it one star. He is able to raise it to two stars with his narration. Unfortunately the book does not live up to him. The three main characters are complete "boy scouts" (Honest, kind, trustworthy, brave, etc., etc. and oh so modest). They triumph over every adversity, never give up in the face of incredible odds and continually say: "Someone else is the real hero, not me" after every super heroic act they accomplish.

I did listen to the end and there were no signficant surprises. The author telegraphs virtually everything.

I read a few of the other reviews and I think maybe I must have read another book. The sections on the Korean war do have merit, but the rest is just treacle.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING

This was BC at his best. I never wanted this book to end. It was an incredible story rich with Korean War detail.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

15 people found this helpful