The Fish – Lloyd Jones

READ FOR NZ BOOK AWARDS 2023

A baby is born to a young, single mother in a caravan park, suffering from an unnamed condition which earns him the name the Fish. The story of the Fish, and the family’s shame and secrets are narrated by the Fish’s uncle, himself only a child.

●  Lloyd Jones often writes about otherness, about people who are different or isolated or put in a corner for no other reason than they make those around them feel uneasy. The Fish is no different.

The new baby, Colin Montgomery, is referred to as the Fish for his mostly unexplained unique features. The opening pages detail the shock and shame the family go through at having this new creature in their lives, birthed in a trailer park. But, as with all babies, a fierce sense of love and protection overcome the family and he becomes the centre of their world.

We find a place to hide the class photo. We worry that the Fish will see in the photo what has not been apparent to him in his short life so far. He is different. A fact that would perhaps astound him. My sister has given birth to difference. Worse, she has placed difference in our ranks. What the Fish ought to feel transfers itself onto us. The girl in the photo rearing away from our Fish makes me want to lean into her and bare my teeth.

As expected, not all is plain sailing. The family have secrets and peculiar life habits and are judged by outsiders in what becomes a book about alienation and social acceptance and tragedy. This atmosphere is enhanced by the setting, mid 20th Century New Zealand, post-war when close-mindedness was rife.

The narrator is a passive observer and also a child himself at the start and this works well as we are learning with him, about how to love the Fish, about the cruelties of the world. Sometimes the child uncle doesn’t know how to explain the complexities and that is okay because sometimes things don’t need to be over explained. Sometimes a few simple words make enough of an impact.

It did feel like there were some plot holes, or maybe plot decisions made for convenience but I didn’t mind because the book had an allegorical, slightly magical realist bent anyway. The writing is stunning and the New Zealandness of the time and setting shines through. I loved this book and was really surprised it did not make the NZ Book Awards short list. – Rachel

Published 2022
Text Publishing
272 pages