The Fish is a hubris soaked, sobering work of climate fiction by Joanne Stubbs. Released 6th Oct 2022 by Fairlight Books, it's 256 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.
This is a very dialogue dense and erudite, if dark, book. It's not light, or very humorous and there's precious little uplifting or redemptive here. Humans are a plague on the planet and in this dark near-apocalyptic near-future, the natural world has gone past the point of no return. We've known for decades and seemingly been powerless to act comprehensively to make any meaningful difference in the catastrophic path we're all on.
In the meantime, the appealing characters go about their daily lives, planting rice in a back garden paddy in Cornwall, adjusting to life in Kuala Lumpur which is rendered a coastal city by rising tides, and surviving brutal storms battering New Zealand. Parallel lives, all in the same (sinking) boat.
Four stars. In the vein of Silent Spring, and On the Beach. It feels uncomfortably prescient.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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