Fishing for Stars

By: Bryce Courtenay

Narrated by: Humphrey Bower

Length: 22 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

Simultaneous release of the sequel to the best-selling The Persimmon Tree.

Nicholas Duncan is a semi-retired shipping magnate who resides in idyllic Beautiful Bay in Indonesia, where he is known as the old patriarch of the islands. He is grieving the loss of his beautiful Eurasian wife, Anna, and is suffering for the first time from disturbing flashbacks to WWII, the scene of their first meeting and early love. His other wartime lover is the striking Marg Hamilton, a powerful and influential political player in Australia who has remained close to Nick. Marg suspects Nick is suffering the onset of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and organises for a specialist to meet with him in Sydney. But when they meet, Tony Freedman stirs long-buried emotions in Nick and the two men don't hit it off.

Nick leaves in an explosion of anger and finds himself in hospital after being hit by a car. Tony visits and encourages Nick to write as a form of therapy - to write about Anna. So he sets about writing about the woman who has inspired him since his late teens, and in doing so draws us into the compelling tale of the life he has lived post war-hero days building a shipping empire, navigating international corruption, supporting his wife's third-world education crusade and loving the women who inspire him. Set in the exotic locale of the spice islands during the excitement of post-war prosperity and possibility, and driven by strong, colourful characters, this book is truly epic in scope. Is it possible for a man to love two women?

©2013 Christine Courtenay; 2008 Bryce Courtenay (P)2008 Bolinda Publishing

Ehh...

I love Bryce Courtenay and have listened to most of his books, loved the first book but this sequel seemed a bit like a history class, too preachy. I found myself drifting off in some parts when the detailed history became too long. Still one of my favorite writers though.

Sorry I Purchased

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Not time well spent. This was the retelling of a previous book and nothing new to offer. So disappointed as I loved all the others. One more of Courtenay's already purchased. Hope it will be a credit well used

What do you think your next listen will be?

Fortune Cookie

Did Fishing for Stars inspire you to do anything?

No!!!

Good read

The Persimmon Tree was awesome. Fishing for Stars as sequel not as much. Although a great story & perfection in reading, there was too much information regarding the environmental & political minutiae. Sadly this left me bored & thinking about fast forwarding which I would never have done in the other Courtenay books I have listened to.

Detailed historical fiction

I first read THE PERSIMMON TREE. The two books should both be read. The author has detailed, almost ponderous, descriptive history of the South Pacific just before World War II and the Japanese invasion of the many Sutherland's Pacific islands. Told from an Australian man's point of view, it was ver illuminating. I did not know about the culture of the various ethnic groups on the islands, Japan or Australia . At times it is very graphic and there is a lot of sexual customs. But they are described frankly and it is informative, not tawdry. I have read much about the European theatre of WWII, but knew nothing about the Japanese aspect. Many of the names mentioned re true people. As the novels combined span about 60 years, the politics, finances of the Pacific were surprising and fascinating. The audio version was well done and I don't think I could have read such detailed novels in print from. It was shocking to me to learn about the corruption and nuances of Asian businesses. Makes me wonder if America is operating the same way! Enlightening read.

Wonderfully engaging

Absolutely couldn’t put this down! Read The Persimmon Tree and couldn’t wait to see how the lives of Nick and Anna turned out so bought this sequel- although it could be read independently and would be just as good. A little too much sexual content for my liking but read beyond this to the true story.

Political

I have loved Bryce’s books, but this one was very political in activism and other areas of politics. Not what I was expecting.

Not Courtney ' s best

While it was great to catch up with Nick, Anna and Marg, this story went on an and on and on about politics, history and environmental issues. Toward the end I skipped large amounts just to get back to the story.

Masterful storytelling duo

Courtenay and Bower are born storytellers. I listened to The Persimmon Tree, and immediately followed up with this sequel, Fishing for Stars.

I enjoyed them both immensely, especially the Javanese and Japanese historical aspects, which were new to me and very interesting. Also, the insights into Japanese language and customs were interesting and entertaining.

Nick was, typically of Courtenay's characters, rather too good to be true, while Anna was beguiling, her father disgusting, the natives all very good folk and the immigrant settlers all very bad. Nevertheless, this can be overlooked in the interests of a most entertaining story. A lovely, long, good one.

Mr Bower is a brilliant narrator, and I became so engrossed in the various voices, which were constant and unflagging, that i actually forgot it was all being read by one person.

I found there was a little too much repetition, although its understandable in the second book, for those readers who hadn't read the first.

What really bored and irritated me though, was the way the author used the latter part of the novel 'Fishing for Stars' as a soapbox to preach environmentalism. On and on and on ..... and then there's this little frog you're welcome to send donations for ..... by all means, but perhaps this isn't right platform?

I am sympathetic to the cause, and very aware of the problem. I live in a country where the struggle against the savage and barbaric poaching of rhino and also elephant is a constant and heartbreaking struggle.

IMHO, too much of the frogs, rivers and environmentalism detracted from the novel and felt rammed down my throat, but i guess the point was well made and for a good cause.

You still cant go wrong with Bryce Courtenay and Humphrey Bower!

Absolutely wonderful!!!!

I love the characters as they continued their lives from the Persimmon Tree. I highly recommend it .

Pretty good, not great

What did you like best about Fishing for Stars? What did you like least?

The Japan angle was very interesting. So was the drug rehabilitation angle. Anna becoming a cunning business tycoon and belittling Nicholas at every opportunity got a bit old. How many times does she have to tell him he is an idiot? So did the entire Marg Hamilton angle. It was ridiculous...At the beginning of the book I had complete buy-in to the characters of Anna, Nicholas and Marg. By the end I could have cared less what happened to them. I just wanted to be done with them.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The continuation of the Japan angle, other than that I found the story dragged a lot.

What does Humphrey Bower bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Humphrey Bower is literally a genius as a reader. He brought to the story some interest for me, without him I would have likely turned the audiobook off long before.

Could you see Fishing for Stars being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

No way...

Any additional comments?

About 2/3 of the way thru the book I started hoping it would end. The whole Marg/Anna back and forth did not work for me. Neither did the entire Tasmania section. Neither did anything that happened after they came back from Japan. The word "Gobsmacked" could have been used a few less times, and I actually think he repeated sections of the book multiple times by accident. It simply did not flow like his other stories.