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The Fish
'There is a fish on the sand; I see it clearly. But it is not on its side, lying still. It is partly upright. It moves. I can see its gills, off the ground and wide open. It looks as though it’s standing up.'
A few decades into the twenty-first century, in their permanently flooded garden in Cornwall, Cathy and her wife Ephie give up on their vegetable patch and plant a paddy field instead. Thousands of miles away, expat Margaret is struggling to adjust to life in Kuala Lumpur, now a coastal city. In New Zealand, two teenagers marvel at the extreme storms hitting their island.
But they are not the only ones adapting to the changing climate. The starfish on Cathy’s kitchen window are just the start. As all manner of sea creatures begin to leave the oceans and invade the land, the new normal becomes increasingly hard to accept.
A few decades into the twenty-first century, in their permanently flooded garden in Cornwall, Cathy and her wife Ephie give up on their vegetable patch and plant a paddy field instead. Thousands of miles away, expat Margaret is struggling to adjust to life in Kuala Lumpur, now a coastal city. In New Zealand, two teenagers marvel at the extreme storms hitting their island.
But they are not the only ones adapting to the changing climate. The starfish on Cathy’s kitchen window are just the start. As all manner of sea creatures begin to leave the oceans and invade the land, the new normal becomes increasingly hard to accept.
256 pages, Paperback
Published October 6, 2022
11 people are currently reading
406 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
October 21, 2022
There is a great story here but I was defeated by the writing style in particular the dialog-heavy scenes which are filled with what feels like unnecessary cliche beats to the point where I was distracted from what was happening.
...she catches me in her gaze
her brown eyes smiling
she scrunches her nose
she raises her eyebrows
a smile showing at the corners of her mouth...
Many readers don’t notice these beats as they read, any more than they do the periods at the ends of sentences. But I’m not one of those readers.
...she catches me in her gaze
her brown eyes smiling
she scrunches her nose
she raises her eyebrows
a smile showing at the corners of her mouth...
Many readers don’t notice these beats as they read, any more than they do the periods at the ends of sentences. But I’m not one of those readers.
December 8, 2024
This book has so much: compelling characters, a compelling what if, follow through on the what if, strong craftsmanship. Unfortunately what it does not have is an ending.
CONTENT WARNING:
Things to love:
-The different POVs. I thought all of them were well thought out and told a different side of the story in an interesting and endearing way.
-The what if. How would the world react if suddenly fish started showing up on land?
Where it all fell apart:
-The end. I don't know what happened. The author tapped out or couldn't get what she hoped so instead of trying she just basically said "well, never mind." That is criminal, in my world. If you're going to send a book into the world, at least endow it with the courage of its convictions. There are so many better ways this could have gone that would have at least honored the characters and the world.
It would have been 5 stars, if it had stuck any landing.
CONTENT WARNING:
Things to love:
-The different POVs. I thought all of them were well thought out and told a different side of the story in an interesting and endearing way.
-The what if. How would the world react if suddenly fish started showing up on land?
Where it all fell apart:
-The end. I don't know what happened. The author tapped out or couldn't get what she hoped so instead of trying she just basically said "well, never mind." That is criminal, in my world. If you're going to send a book into the world, at least endow it with the courage of its convictions. There are so many better ways this could have gone that would have at least honored the characters and the world.
It would have been 5 stars, if it had stuck any landing.
January 16, 2023
Congratulations Joanne Stubbs on such a compelling and brilliantly written book. And congratulations to Fairlight books, for your continued ability to discover fascinating and unique stories and storytellers, this was another wonderful read. Having grown up in the West Country I couldn’t help having a natural affection for Cathy, especially with the lovely narration on the audiobook. The contrast of warm and well-drawn characters, like Cathy, doing their best to live normal quiet lives, while the natural world bends in disturbing ways was great. I was also enthralled by the fish, and the unsettling way they are described in the story. It reminded me of the way another wonderful author with an offbeat focus on the changing climate, Jeff Vandermeer, describes the odd creatures that populate his worlds.
This is a lovely meditation on climate change and the mysteries of nature – I highly recommend it.
This is a lovely meditation on climate change and the mysteries of nature – I highly recommend it.
August 9, 2022
*Sent to me to review*
I can't explain how much I loved this book. Joanne Stubbs' 'The Fish' is the first climate fiction novel I've read, and I'd hesitate to describe it as climate fiction because she manages to capture the emotion, anxiety and ignorance that anyone who has worried about the environment has either felt or witnessed.
The story is seen from the perspective of Cathy & Ephie in Cornwall, Margaret in Kuala Lumpur and Ricky and Kyle in New Zealand. It takes you on a journey which sees people from scientific backgrounds, religious backgrounds and those viewing the climate catastrophe from youthful perspectives, and shows just how much people struggle to adapt to the changing climate, even in the sea creatures seem to be.
"The cat knows something we don't... they have plenty of wild instinct left in them."
It echoes all too well the reactions we see in real life to climate change, from those overcome with anxiety and worry about how to help, to those who simply want to ignore what is happening, even when it is right in front of their eyes. In particular, Margaret's worry toward the situation and her husband's total apathy, as well as his mentioning of their gate that will keep everything out is a harrowing mirror of the people who continue as normal and think that it will never impact them. **SPOILERS AHEAD **
For a relatively short book, I have been left reeling and emotional about the state of our world, and knowing that if by some bacterial mutation chance, the fish literally started walking out of the sea, we still probably wouldn't change our ways.
5/5
I can't explain how much I loved this book. Joanne Stubbs' 'The Fish' is the first climate fiction novel I've read, and I'd hesitate to describe it as climate fiction because she manages to capture the emotion, anxiety and ignorance that anyone who has worried about the environment has either felt or witnessed.
The story is seen from the perspective of Cathy & Ephie in Cornwall, Margaret in Kuala Lumpur and Ricky and Kyle in New Zealand. It takes you on a journey which sees people from scientific backgrounds, religious backgrounds and those viewing the climate catastrophe from youthful perspectives, and shows just how much people struggle to adapt to the changing climate, even in the sea creatures seem to be.
"The cat knows something we don't... they have plenty of wild instinct left in them."
It echoes all too well the reactions we see in real life to climate change, from those overcome with anxiety and worry about how to help, to those who simply want to ignore what is happening, even when it is right in front of their eyes. In particular, Margaret's worry toward the situation and her husband's total apathy, as well as his mentioning of their gate that will keep everything out is a harrowing mirror of the people who continue as normal and think that it will never impact them. **SPOILERS AHEAD **
For a relatively short book, I have been left reeling and emotional about the state of our world, and knowing that if by some bacterial mutation chance, the fish literally started walking out of the sea, we still probably wouldn't change our ways.
5/5
March 12, 2024
All a bit fishy!! Intriguing premise and some good characters (lesbians!!) got me thru it, some clunky dialogue at points?? Enjoyed tho
January 20, 2024
I wanted to enjoy this a lot more than I did. It had such a strong premise and quirky sci-fi adjacent set up. I mean fish start walking out of the sea and crawl up onto land. Sign me up! But having read it, I'm not so sure
The story centres around three narratives - first, a gay couple in Cornwall growing rice in their garden, second an expat American missionary in Kuala Lumpur, third two teenage boys in New Zealand. It has a lot of unique moments where it speaks critically about climate change through storytelling. The book starts off strong, and the 'fish' narrative arc throughout is great! But the rest of the book left a lot to be desired. Some of the character arcs felt underdeveloped, and there were a lot of story threads that were building up to something but then left loose.
It was like when you need to sneeze then don't.
Rated 2.5 stars, rounded up 3 stars out of respect to the author.
The story centres around three narratives - first, a gay couple in Cornwall growing rice in their garden, second an expat American missionary in Kuala Lumpur, third two teenage boys in New Zealand. It has a lot of unique moments where it speaks critically about climate change through storytelling. The book starts off strong, and the 'fish' narrative arc throughout is great! But the rest of the book left a lot to be desired. Some of the character arcs felt underdeveloped, and there were a lot of story threads that were building up to something but then left loose.
It was like when you need to sneeze then don't.
Rated 2.5 stars, rounded up 3 stars out of respect to the author.
December 31, 2022
Two favourite quotes:
"How long will it be before everything in the sea turns on us? When they come, i will feel like we deserve it."
"There is one real problem here, and it's not the fish. it is us. it is a human problem, twisted deep into our daily lives.
It covers every surface, climbs the highest mountains, sinks to the bottom of the deepest seas. We leave shit everywhere we go."
"How long will it be before everything in the sea turns on us? When they come, i will feel like we deserve it."
"There is one real problem here, and it's not the fish. it is us. it is a human problem, twisted deep into our daily lives.
It covers every surface, climbs the highest mountains, sinks to the bottom of the deepest seas. We leave shit everywhere we go."
August 31, 2022
I reaaaally wanted to love this book. It sounded right up my street - lighter-hearted cli-fi? Sign me up!
Unfortunately, 'The Fish' is a rather meagre thing. For starters, it's shorter than average for a novel. More like an overlong novella. But my main issue is the fact that the plot is divided into three strands, with three sets of main characters - and Cathy and Ephie's strand was far more fleshed out than the other two. It was as if the author didn't really like the other characters, nor did she want to spend much time thinking about their inner/outer lives (most of all with Ricky and Kyle, who I kept getting mixed up). I just couldn't understand the point of including them. Their character arcs had no resolution - they just... stopped.
I've given the book two stars for the quirky premise of fish going weird, and the vaguely interesting science woven around this, but that's it. I strongly disagree with one quote for this book stating that it is a "powerful exploration of the devastation climate change wreaks on ordinary lives" - mainly because there's very little "devastation" (except for one character who has an accident) and the backdrop of climate change was woefully inaccurate and underdone. Land-walking fish I could swallow, but given that this is in the near future when "half the coastlines are gone" - something that will be apocalyptic, if/when it happens, the characters actually suffer almost no disruption to their lives. People still talk about flying to other countries. There is still coffee and chocolate. There is a disquieting insulation to this book, in its total blindness to the devastation that so many people on the planet would be experiencing, unseen by the lucky, dare I say privileged, characters.
(With thanks to Fairlight Books and NetGalley for this ebook in exchange for an honest review).
Unfortunately, 'The Fish' is a rather meagre thing. For starters, it's shorter than average for a novel. More like an overlong novella. But my main issue is the fact that the plot is divided into three strands, with three sets of main characters - and Cathy and Ephie's strand was far more fleshed out than the other two. It was as if the author didn't really like the other characters, nor did she want to spend much time thinking about their inner/outer lives (most of all with Ricky and Kyle, who I kept getting mixed up). I just couldn't understand the point of including them. Their character arcs had no resolution - they just... stopped.
I've given the book two stars for the quirky premise of fish going weird, and the vaguely interesting science woven around this, but that's it. I strongly disagree with one quote for this book stating that it is a "powerful exploration of the devastation climate change wreaks on ordinary lives" - mainly because there's very little "devastation" (except for one character who has an accident) and the backdrop of climate change was woefully inaccurate and underdone. Land-walking fish I could swallow, but given that this is in the near future when "half the coastlines are gone" - something that will be apocalyptic, if/when it happens, the characters actually suffer almost no disruption to their lives. People still talk about flying to other countries. There is still coffee and chocolate. There is a disquieting insulation to this book, in its total blindness to the devastation that so many people on the planet would be experiencing, unseen by the lucky, dare I say privileged, characters.
(With thanks to Fairlight Books and NetGalley for this ebook in exchange for an honest review).
October 6, 2022
*Thanks to NetGalley and Fairlight Books for providing a free arc to review!
While I was captivated by the events happening in this story, the manner it was told in ultimately never really came together for me. This is a work of climate fiction, exploring how humanity responds when drastic changes begin appearing in nature as a result of the climate crisis - for example, fish walking on land. It’s an interesting premise and for that alone I was excited to pick up the book.
What didn’t work for me were the three different protagonists. As a whole it felt disjointed, and I had different levels of investment in each storyline. I liked Cathy, who lives in Cornwall near the ocean, but I felt that her relationship with her wife Ephie played into too many ‘unhappy marriage’ tropes without adding anything to the story. (I did, however, find the latter part of Cathy’s story fascinating. The scene with her and the shovel was phenomenal.) Ricky, a teen in New Zealand, interested me well enough, but his story seemed to have less moving parts than the other two protagonists; I kept waiting for more to happen. Finally, we have Margaret, an American expat living in Malaysia. I didn’t know how to feel about her, which is alright. Her chapters felt repetitive to me. That might have been an intentional choice by the author, given Margaret’s emotional state, but I still grew tired of her wallowing and eventual panic.
So this is an odd one for me. I really wanted to love it! The ways these characters experienced their world changing around them was the best part of the book. I was fascinated, and at times horrified and discomfited, by their world and their perceptions of it. The protagonists’ relationships with the people around them rarely moved anything in me, with few exceptions (both of which occurred in Cathy’s portion of the story). I dragged my feet reading this one because I just wasn’t all that into it. I’d be willing to give this author another go, though; I think she was onto something really special here, and I look forward to seeing what she’ll write next.
While I was captivated by the events happening in this story, the manner it was told in ultimately never really came together for me. This is a work of climate fiction, exploring how humanity responds when drastic changes begin appearing in nature as a result of the climate crisis - for example, fish walking on land. It’s an interesting premise and for that alone I was excited to pick up the book.
What didn’t work for me were the three different protagonists. As a whole it felt disjointed, and I had different levels of investment in each storyline. I liked Cathy, who lives in Cornwall near the ocean, but I felt that her relationship with her wife Ephie played into too many ‘unhappy marriage’ tropes without adding anything to the story. (I did, however, find the latter part of Cathy’s story fascinating. The scene with her and the shovel was phenomenal.) Ricky, a teen in New Zealand, interested me well enough, but his story seemed to have less moving parts than the other two protagonists; I kept waiting for more to happen. Finally, we have Margaret, an American expat living in Malaysia. I didn’t know how to feel about her, which is alright. Her chapters felt repetitive to me. That might have been an intentional choice by the author, given Margaret’s emotional state, but I still grew tired of her wallowing and eventual panic.
So this is an odd one for me. I really wanted to love it! The ways these characters experienced their world changing around them was the best part of the book. I was fascinated, and at times horrified and discomfited, by their world and their perceptions of it. The protagonists’ relationships with the people around them rarely moved anything in me, with few exceptions (both of which occurred in Cathy’s portion of the story). I dragged my feet reading this one because I just wasn’t all that into it. I’d be willing to give this author another go, though; I think she was onto something really special here, and I look forward to seeing what she’ll write next.
August 31, 2022
Thank you to Netgalley and Fairlight Books for giving me early access to this incredible debut by Joanne Stubbs!
"The fish" is a climate fiction told from the point of view of 4 different characters spread across the globe (UK, Malaysia and New Zealand). Although definitely not action packed, passed the 20% mark, I thought this was an absolute page turner.
Set in the near future, the world is shaken by bizarre happenings: incredible storms come out of nowhere, ravaging everything around them, some species of fish start walking, starfish are found everywhere on coastal towns.. The environment evolving so rapidly causes a palette of different but violent reactions.
This timely tale explores how different people try to cope with sudden and important change to their world and daily lives. There are mentions of quickly forgotten pandemics and although this is not the focus of the story, I think it really resonates with everything we've all been going through lately.
The fish is a very satisfying and innovative story, unlike anything I've ever read before!
July 29, 2022
4.5 rounded up. Loved it. Review to come!
July 27, 2024
terrifying and super engaging. wish it was longer.
September 9, 2022
The Fish by Joanne Stubbs is a slow burn of a book that looks at the havoc climate change is creating and the various ways we, as humans, deal (or not) with it.
With a lot of novels that address climate change there is a big moment where even the most reluctant people finally have to do something, even if it is just run away. This story more closely resembles what we are doing and, unfortunately, will continue to do. Little things to adapt, try to warn people, basically just learn to live in the new norm. The problem is that as change occurs more and more rapidly, there never really is a new norm. We can change crops, this season, but no guarantee they will grow next season (if there is still a recognizable season).
Nature, here represented by the fish, adapts in a forward direction. Humans try to maintain that which is no longer sustainable. Call it hubris, call it stubbornness, call it stupidity. It doesn't matter, change will overtake us as we continue to think we can either control it or avoid it.
For me, this is what the novel drives home. We stay so focused on our day-to-day, making the barest of changes to deal with what is happening, while those changes have already moved beyond our adjustments. These are people just like us. Young and old, climate change deniers and those who acknowledge it but don't know what to do about it, urban, suburban, and rural. We are these characters, and we are being overrun by a situation we have known about for decades but have done next to nothing about. Are we to feel sorry for our species as much as we feel sorry for these individuals? They didn't really bring all this down on themselves, but the larger they, the we of our world, did.
This is a work I would recommend to those who have read the action-driven works about climate change and wonder about that same scenario but from the perspective of the common person's daily life and the disruptions at that scale. Three locations looked at here, yet they speak to the entire planet.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
With a lot of novels that address climate change there is a big moment where even the most reluctant people finally have to do something, even if it is just run away. This story more closely resembles what we are doing and, unfortunately, will continue to do. Little things to adapt, try to warn people, basically just learn to live in the new norm. The problem is that as change occurs more and more rapidly, there never really is a new norm. We can change crops, this season, but no guarantee they will grow next season (if there is still a recognizable season).
Nature, here represented by the fish, adapts in a forward direction. Humans try to maintain that which is no longer sustainable. Call it hubris, call it stubbornness, call it stupidity. It doesn't matter, change will overtake us as we continue to think we can either control it or avoid it.
For me, this is what the novel drives home. We stay so focused on our day-to-day, making the barest of changes to deal with what is happening, while those changes have already moved beyond our adjustments. These are people just like us. Young and old, climate change deniers and those who acknowledge it but don't know what to do about it, urban, suburban, and rural. We are these characters, and we are being overrun by a situation we have known about for decades but have done next to nothing about. Are we to feel sorry for our species as much as we feel sorry for these individuals? They didn't really bring all this down on themselves, but the larger they, the we of our world, did.
This is a work I would recommend to those who have read the action-driven works about climate change and wonder about that same scenario but from the perspective of the common person's daily life and the disruptions at that scale. Three locations looked at here, yet they speak to the entire planet.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
November 2, 2025
I enjoyed reading this. The kernel of the book is fantastic. We look at the culmination of individual stories in Cornwall, Malaysia and New Zealand as the force of global warming hits us - paddy fields in Cornwall and sealife leaving the polluted oceans for land . This is perhaps part of a new genre - "climate fiction"?
The personal perspective in the three strands I feel was constructed to show how the impact of a variety of lives are forced into forks in the road moments. For me, I would have preferred one of the strands as although each story encompasses change, I think I would have enjoyed the fiction trying to be less "everyman/woman" and more character driven. Any of the three perspectives could carry the load but (probably because I live in the UK) preferred this narrative.
I found it an easy (albeit alarming) read which reminded me in parts of On The Beach (Nevil Shute) published 1957 when the nuclear threat was at its peak. A fiction of its time.
The personal perspective in the three strands I feel was constructed to show how the impact of a variety of lives are forced into forks in the road moments. For me, I would have preferred one of the strands as although each story encompasses change, I think I would have enjoyed the fiction trying to be less "everyman/woman" and more character driven. Any of the three perspectives could carry the load but (probably because I live in the UK) preferred this narrative.
I found it an easy (albeit alarming) read which reminded me in parts of On The Beach (Nevil Shute) published 1957 when the nuclear threat was at its peak. A fiction of its time.
February 3, 2024
Only got good once i was almost at the end. Also weirdly depressing. I like how the 3 perspectives are all so different, like such different people. Also new zealand mentioned say whaaat. I really like fish and this kinda did that some justice. Found it hard to empathise with cathy and marge tbh, im a ricky fan (and ephie)
January 20, 2025
I think my star rating reflects how much I enjoyed the book rather than the writing style or story, which would mean this book did its job brilliantly, and it should really get 5 stars.
It made me feel uncomfortable and confused and empathetic… so I didn’t enjoy it very much. It was a very real and possible perspective on the social and geographic impacts of climate change, even though the main focus is walking fish!
So amazing job from the author for opening my eyes despite my human ignorance preferring to read about fairytales than the harsh reality of quarantines, car crashes and dying fish.
It made me feel uncomfortable and confused and empathetic… so I didn’t enjoy it very much. It was a very real and possible perspective on the social and geographic impacts of climate change, even though the main focus is walking fish!
So amazing job from the author for opening my eyes despite my human ignorance preferring to read about fairytales than the harsh reality of quarantines, car crashes and dying fish.
January 25, 2023
Well, this was bloody great. I'm a sucker for books containing any kind of climate disaster, and I was worried I might struggle to suspend my belief, but this really worked for me. Fish have started walking out of the sea, and we follow several character narratives all around the world, during the different stages of this phenomenon. I loved it, and the audiobook was amazing. For lovers of Jeff Vandermeer, Sequoia Nagamatsu, and Charlotte McConaghy.
February 25, 2024
Our world can feel so secure, with every day following neatly after the previous one. Some things seem stable and secure. So what happens when suddenly, fish start leaving the ocean behind for jaunts on the land? What has changed? And will everything keep changing, or will we find a way to turn things back? Thanks to Fairlight Books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. My sincere apologies for the delay.
Climate change is bound to have an immense impact on our lives in the coming decades. Especially coastal communities will be affected and, to be very honest, this is not being properly addressed by our governments or by international bodies. With all of that on the horizon, one could ask what the point of writing books about it is. Well, storytelling is how we engage with the world around us, how we ask hard questions, and how we prepare ourselves for difficult choices. The genre of 'Climate fiction', or Cli-Fi, has arisen over the past decade or two and is used in reference to books which engage with climate change. The term Cli-Fi can apply to a pretty wide selection of books, most of them speculative in nature, from the Science Fiction, Fantasy, Dystopian, and Lit-Fic genres. The Fish would also fall under this umbrella term, set in our own world as it is. In her novel, Joanne Stubbs steps ever so slightly into our future, where coastal communities across the world are already threatened and humans have made some efforts to address their impact on the world. Stubbs' novel focuses mostly on the emotional and psychological impact of climate change on humans, so on the way in which it will affect the way we see our own place in the world, for example, rather than the actual consequences. I think for that it is very interesting and many of those aspects are well done by Stubbs. If you're looking for a novel to dive deep into climate science or to be unforgiving in its judgement, though, this is not that book.
The Fish is told through three different perspectives. We start with Cathy, who lives on the coast in Cornwall with her wife, Ephie, who is a marine biologist. They are very happily married, but the sudden appearance of fish who move onto land cause friction in their marriage. Where they are fascinating things to be studied for Ephie, the fish cause a deep unease in Cathy. The second storyline follows Ricky and his friend Kyle who live in New Zealand and are in their final years of high school. They're young, dealing with growing up in a changing world, and when the fish begin to appear it forces them even further to consider where they want to go in life. The final storyline focuses on Margaret, an American expat who lives in Kuala Lumpur. She finds joy in her faith and her missionary work, but the appearance of the fish is something she cannot overlook and it causes a crisis of faith and trust, which she cannot shake. I really liked the way in which Stubbs employed these different storylines. The characters are united by certain common experiences, like a major, world-wide storm which sets off the fish-weirdness, but due to their differing locations and backgrounds, the characters are each affected in different ways. The storylines did feel a little unequal to me. I became very fond of Cathy and Ephie almost immediately and it felt like they had to most extensively sketched-out backstory and characters. Ricky and Kyle were also interesting because this story highlighted the way in which climate change affects the young, whose lives are still in front of them. They either give in to the doom of a changing world, or choose to make changes where they can. To be entirely honest, Margaret's storyline did not hit for me. On the one hand I appreciated the way in which Stubbs showed how an event like this can shake someone's faith and understanding of the world. On the other, however, I get the ick a little from the conviction that comes out of missionary work. This is a personal thing, but it meant that I wasn't as invested in Margaret's story line, even though it had a lot to offer. I think I would have preferred, however, to get a perspective from someone actually from Kuala Lumpur, for example, rather than an expat's perspective.
This is Joanne Stubbs' debut novel and I really enjoyed the premise of her novel. She's got some great ideas going on. Her characterisation is, across the field, also very well done. As I said above, some of her characters truly shine and she has a great eye for the little details that make a character come alive. The Fish is not a long novel, clocking in at roughly 250 books, and the pace is solid. Rather than getting detailed descriptions of everything, we hop from one perspective to another and get insights into specific moments. For me, the writing felt a little dialogue-heavy and there are some seemingly relevant story threads which aren't resolved. I did like the way in which The Fish attempted to tackle something as massive as climate change and the disastrous impact it will have on coastal communities through an attention grabbing premise like "fish walking on land". It catches a reader and then tries to build from there. I did feel that, considering the novel takes place at a moment when coastal communities are already affected by rising ocean-levels, that the impact is relatively mild. I appreciate that Stubbs didn't want to write a climate dystopian novel, so I'm not expecting a high body count, but the novel felt surprisingly cozy at times, considering the themes we're playing with. For a debut novel, however, I think The Fish shows a lot of promise and I'd definitely pick up future works by Joanne Stubbs.
The Fish has an intriguing premise and engages with the impact of climate change on different coastal communities. While the storylines are a bit unbalanced and not everything feels fully addressed by the end, I did enjoy the novel.
URL: https://universeinwords.blogspot.com/...
Climate change is bound to have an immense impact on our lives in the coming decades. Especially coastal communities will be affected and, to be very honest, this is not being properly addressed by our governments or by international bodies. With all of that on the horizon, one could ask what the point of writing books about it is. Well, storytelling is how we engage with the world around us, how we ask hard questions, and how we prepare ourselves for difficult choices. The genre of 'Climate fiction', or Cli-Fi, has arisen over the past decade or two and is used in reference to books which engage with climate change. The term Cli-Fi can apply to a pretty wide selection of books, most of them speculative in nature, from the Science Fiction, Fantasy, Dystopian, and Lit-Fic genres. The Fish would also fall under this umbrella term, set in our own world as it is. In her novel, Joanne Stubbs steps ever so slightly into our future, where coastal communities across the world are already threatened and humans have made some efforts to address their impact on the world. Stubbs' novel focuses mostly on the emotional and psychological impact of climate change on humans, so on the way in which it will affect the way we see our own place in the world, for example, rather than the actual consequences. I think for that it is very interesting and many of those aspects are well done by Stubbs. If you're looking for a novel to dive deep into climate science or to be unforgiving in its judgement, though, this is not that book.
The Fish is told through three different perspectives. We start with Cathy, who lives on the coast in Cornwall with her wife, Ephie, who is a marine biologist. They are very happily married, but the sudden appearance of fish who move onto land cause friction in their marriage. Where they are fascinating things to be studied for Ephie, the fish cause a deep unease in Cathy. The second storyline follows Ricky and his friend Kyle who live in New Zealand and are in their final years of high school. They're young, dealing with growing up in a changing world, and when the fish begin to appear it forces them even further to consider where they want to go in life. The final storyline focuses on Margaret, an American expat who lives in Kuala Lumpur. She finds joy in her faith and her missionary work, but the appearance of the fish is something she cannot overlook and it causes a crisis of faith and trust, which she cannot shake. I really liked the way in which Stubbs employed these different storylines. The characters are united by certain common experiences, like a major, world-wide storm which sets off the fish-weirdness, but due to their differing locations and backgrounds, the characters are each affected in different ways. The storylines did feel a little unequal to me. I became very fond of Cathy and Ephie almost immediately and it felt like they had to most extensively sketched-out backstory and characters. Ricky and Kyle were also interesting because this story highlighted the way in which climate change affects the young, whose lives are still in front of them. They either give in to the doom of a changing world, or choose to make changes where they can. To be entirely honest, Margaret's storyline did not hit for me. On the one hand I appreciated the way in which Stubbs showed how an event like this can shake someone's faith and understanding of the world. On the other, however, I get the ick a little from the conviction that comes out of missionary work. This is a personal thing, but it meant that I wasn't as invested in Margaret's story line, even though it had a lot to offer. I think I would have preferred, however, to get a perspective from someone actually from Kuala Lumpur, for example, rather than an expat's perspective.
This is Joanne Stubbs' debut novel and I really enjoyed the premise of her novel. She's got some great ideas going on. Her characterisation is, across the field, also very well done. As I said above, some of her characters truly shine and she has a great eye for the little details that make a character come alive. The Fish is not a long novel, clocking in at roughly 250 books, and the pace is solid. Rather than getting detailed descriptions of everything, we hop from one perspective to another and get insights into specific moments. For me, the writing felt a little dialogue-heavy and there are some seemingly relevant story threads which aren't resolved. I did like the way in which The Fish attempted to tackle something as massive as climate change and the disastrous impact it will have on coastal communities through an attention grabbing premise like "fish walking on land". It catches a reader and then tries to build from there. I did feel that, considering the novel takes place at a moment when coastal communities are already affected by rising ocean-levels, that the impact is relatively mild. I appreciate that Stubbs didn't want to write a climate dystopian novel, so I'm not expecting a high body count, but the novel felt surprisingly cozy at times, considering the themes we're playing with. For a debut novel, however, I think The Fish shows a lot of promise and I'd definitely pick up future works by Joanne Stubbs.
The Fish has an intriguing premise and engages with the impact of climate change on different coastal communities. While the storylines are a bit unbalanced and not everything feels fully addressed by the end, I did enjoy the novel.
URL: https://universeinwords.blogspot.com/...
August 16, 2022
The story is set in a near future in which climate change is already very visible. In particular, many coastal strips have disappeared under water. A city like Kuala Lumpur is now located near the sea. Furthermore, the world suffers giant storms in places where they are currently still unimaginable. In that dystopian setting, at a certain moment several such storms appear worldwide almost at the same time. When they clear up, sea creatures have washed up on the beaches everywhere. But it doesn't stop there: the animals move further inland. Starfish cling to kitchen windows, fish find their way into the houses through the bathtub drain, etc. Things go even worse when people discover that those sea creatures are poisonous, even when touched. And that's just the first phenomenon that pops up...
The book has plot lines in Great Britain, Malaysia and New Zealand. Joanne Stubbs has visited the places in her book and describes things from her own experience. This is not limited to the "tourist information". The author extends this by incorporating some local customs and language. In each place, one character receives focus. With Ricky, we get to see a New Zealand teenager's vision on climate change and witness how this age group is dealing with it. Cathy is about fifteen years older, married to Ephie, and lives in the south west of GB. Ephie works on marine analysis in a lab and gets swamped with work doing research into the new phenomenon, which means Cathy is often alone in the months after, and is very anxious. Her fears are not only caused by the fish's bizarre behaviour. She is insecure about herself, which makes her very afraid of losing her wife to one of her (presumed) smarter and more beautiful colleagues. Finally, there is Margaret, an American expat in Kuala Lumpur to where she followed her husband. She is in her fifties, trying to make sense of her life as a "wife of" in a foreign country. Among other things, she is involved in the local Church, and visits brothels to talk about her faith. The fish that suddenly appear make her doubt the meaning of it all.
The idea of fish coming ashore is interesting. After reading the book description, I immediately expected it would evolve towards an exciting confrontation between mankind and fish. Yet the first half of this relatively thin book is mainly about getting to know the three main characters. The part describes relationship problems that characters experience, with no more than a hint of climate problems in between. There is no action, the author mainly focuses on the emotions of the characters. That in itself is not unrealistic because even if your garden is permanently flooded or dried out, life continues and you have no choice than to adapt.
The main characters don't really stand out above the other people they interact with. Chapters bear the name of the main character, but it would have made equal sense to use the names of the cities or countries. Cathy is the exception. Chapters about her are the only ones told in first person. There is no reason to, and it appeared to me that the author was closer to Cathy than to the other characters, and found her view more important. She's developed more in depth and I learned more about her than about the other two protagonists combined.
The author pays a remarkable amount of attention to details. Small gestures characters make during their interaction with others are often mentioned, and small actions are extensively described. A tie, for example, is not simply pulled, but is pulled in one fluid movement. Stubbs often adds colour, smell or sound details of everyday objects being used. It's clear that some writing course techniques were extensively applied. It gives the story depth and does therefore not disturb, but it's okay to leave a shoe just a shoe every now and then without any more details. Details are sometimes simply irrelevant. It's likely that by the time Kuala Lumpur is having its own coast, every car will be electrical, so there is no point in mentioning explicitly that a car is electrical.
When those damned fish finally appear halfway through, the writer limits the description of the phenomenon from the three points of view, as if it were a side-plot. The relational tensions between these characters and their surroundings keep being the main story, which surprised me. Those tensions may take a higher flight due to the stress caused by what is going on, but the book doesn't elaborate on that a lot. Cathy is again the exception. Climate fiction has become increasingly popular over the last years and I've read a fair amount of such stories. I quite often find climate fiction to be slow books, which I don't mind at all. Even then, The Fish might very well be the slowest paced book in this genre I have read so far, and the least focused on the effects of climate change. The climate story is only a means, a stepping stone to describe how people cope with change and moments of stress in general. It's perfectly possible to replace climate by covid and write exactly the same book. It's not a bad book at all, but based on the book description I expected something more speculative.
The book has plot lines in Great Britain, Malaysia and New Zealand. Joanne Stubbs has visited the places in her book and describes things from her own experience. This is not limited to the "tourist information". The author extends this by incorporating some local customs and language. In each place, one character receives focus. With Ricky, we get to see a New Zealand teenager's vision on climate change and witness how this age group is dealing with it. Cathy is about fifteen years older, married to Ephie, and lives in the south west of GB. Ephie works on marine analysis in a lab and gets swamped with work doing research into the new phenomenon, which means Cathy is often alone in the months after, and is very anxious. Her fears are not only caused by the fish's bizarre behaviour. She is insecure about herself, which makes her very afraid of losing her wife to one of her (presumed) smarter and more beautiful colleagues. Finally, there is Margaret, an American expat in Kuala Lumpur to where she followed her husband. She is in her fifties, trying to make sense of her life as a "wife of" in a foreign country. Among other things, she is involved in the local Church, and visits brothels to talk about her faith. The fish that suddenly appear make her doubt the meaning of it all.
The idea of fish coming ashore is interesting. After reading the book description, I immediately expected it would evolve towards an exciting confrontation between mankind and fish. Yet the first half of this relatively thin book is mainly about getting to know the three main characters. The part describes relationship problems that characters experience, with no more than a hint of climate problems in between. There is no action, the author mainly focuses on the emotions of the characters. That in itself is not unrealistic because even if your garden is permanently flooded or dried out, life continues and you have no choice than to adapt.
The main characters don't really stand out above the other people they interact with. Chapters bear the name of the main character, but it would have made equal sense to use the names of the cities or countries. Cathy is the exception. Chapters about her are the only ones told in first person. There is no reason to, and it appeared to me that the author was closer to Cathy than to the other characters, and found her view more important. She's developed more in depth and I learned more about her than about the other two protagonists combined.
The author pays a remarkable amount of attention to details. Small gestures characters make during their interaction with others are often mentioned, and small actions are extensively described. A tie, for example, is not simply pulled, but is pulled in one fluid movement. Stubbs often adds colour, smell or sound details of everyday objects being used. It's clear that some writing course techniques were extensively applied. It gives the story depth and does therefore not disturb, but it's okay to leave a shoe just a shoe every now and then without any more details. Details are sometimes simply irrelevant. It's likely that by the time Kuala Lumpur is having its own coast, every car will be electrical, so there is no point in mentioning explicitly that a car is electrical.
When those damned fish finally appear halfway through, the writer limits the description of the phenomenon from the three points of view, as if it were a side-plot. The relational tensions between these characters and their surroundings keep being the main story, which surprised me. Those tensions may take a higher flight due to the stress caused by what is going on, but the book doesn't elaborate on that a lot. Cathy is again the exception. Climate fiction has become increasingly popular over the last years and I've read a fair amount of such stories. I quite often find climate fiction to be slow books, which I don't mind at all. Even then, The Fish might very well be the slowest paced book in this genre I have read so far, and the least focused on the effects of climate change. The climate story is only a means, a stepping stone to describe how people cope with change and moments of stress in general. It's perfectly possible to replace climate by covid and write exactly the same book. It's not a bad book at all, but based on the book description I expected something more speculative.
April 16, 2023
Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.
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.
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.
October 29, 2025
It's not often that a novel which feels very important to read, also feels very easily readable. The Fish provided this for me in a beautiful <300 page parcel. It's a common misconception that impactful and poignant writing should be dense, full of evidence and quotable in intelligent circles at every corner, but this idea of creating something which then feels more like a textbook than a novel, overshadows any meaningful story which might bloom from the author's opinionated themes.
Long story short, I finished The Fish in just over one morning and didn't struggle to do so either. The story is beautifully written, with recognisable characters and believable storylines, but also gives extremely unmissable light to the strong environmental/climate based theme which underpins the narrative for every character we meet, covering several walks of life. The gentle flow of the novel and almost poetic feel to the writing had distinct echoes, for me, of Our Wives Under the Sea (Julia Armfield) and I Who Have Never Known Men (Jacqueline Harpman), and showed very sensitively the commutative impact which nature and human beings incidentally have upon each other.
The Fish shows, concisely and effectively, how humans must stop waiting for change to happen, to make change. Also how we should take time to stop and notice the world around us before the consequences of our actions force us to, the allusions to COVID 19 making this feel all too familiar. I recommend not only to the environmentally concerned, but especially to those who may not usually give the current fragility of the natural world a second thought.
Long story short, I finished The Fish in just over one morning and didn't struggle to do so either. The story is beautifully written, with recognisable characters and believable storylines, but also gives extremely unmissable light to the strong environmental/climate based theme which underpins the narrative for every character we meet, covering several walks of life. The gentle flow of the novel and almost poetic feel to the writing had distinct echoes, for me, of Our Wives Under the Sea (Julia Armfield) and I Who Have Never Known Men (Jacqueline Harpman), and showed very sensitively the commutative impact which nature and human beings incidentally have upon each other.
The Fish shows, concisely and effectively, how humans must stop waiting for change to happen, to make change. Also how we should take time to stop and notice the world around us before the consequences of our actions force us to, the allusions to COVID 19 making this feel all too familiar. I recommend not only to the environmentally concerned, but especially to those who may not usually give the current fragility of the natural world a second thought.
March 19, 2023
‘There is one real problem here and it’s not the fish. It is us. It is a human problem, twisted deep into our daily lives.’
I was lucky enough to attend the book launch of ‘The Fish’ back in October and I am delighted to have finally had the chance to delve into this weird and wonderful cli-fi novel.
Having studied a lot of climate fiction at university, this is a novel I would have loved the opportunity to study through an academic lens which is a testament to its compelling exploration of human response to the environmental crisis. Denial, hysteria and fatigue are recurring emotions throughout the novel as the characters are increasingly forced to confront the stark reality of their sick planet.
‘The Fish’ epitomises the genre of ‘eco horror’ where sea creatures retaliate for their mistreatment by invading the land. Though the fish are vividly portrayed as monstrous and unsettling to look at, this ‘horror’ associated with the fish is cleverly placed in contention with an empathy towards them (particularly through Ricky’s story), with the real ‘horror’ lying in what humans are capable of and the anthropocentrism so deeply ingrained within society.
I adored all three storylines, however, without being biased as someone who has spent most of her life growing up in a Cornish fishing village, Cathy and Ephie’s storyline had to be my favourite and really warmed my heart. I’ve said it before but a huge congratulations to Jo on her debut novel, what an amazing achievement. Your hard work and talent shines through from start to finish!
I was lucky enough to attend the book launch of ‘The Fish’ back in October and I am delighted to have finally had the chance to delve into this weird and wonderful cli-fi novel.
Having studied a lot of climate fiction at university, this is a novel I would have loved the opportunity to study through an academic lens which is a testament to its compelling exploration of human response to the environmental crisis. Denial, hysteria and fatigue are recurring emotions throughout the novel as the characters are increasingly forced to confront the stark reality of their sick planet.
‘The Fish’ epitomises the genre of ‘eco horror’ where sea creatures retaliate for their mistreatment by invading the land. Though the fish are vividly portrayed as monstrous and unsettling to look at, this ‘horror’ associated with the fish is cleverly placed in contention with an empathy towards them (particularly through Ricky’s story), with the real ‘horror’ lying in what humans are capable of and the anthropocentrism so deeply ingrained within society.
I adored all three storylines, however, without being biased as someone who has spent most of her life growing up in a Cornish fishing village, Cathy and Ephie’s storyline had to be my favourite and really warmed my heart. I’ve said it before but a huge congratulations to Jo on her debut novel, what an amazing achievement. Your hard work and talent shines through from start to finish!
October 4, 2022
‘When they come, I will feel like we deserve it.’
This unique and unsettling piece of climate fiction was a slow burn for me until about halfway through. From then on, I really wanted to find out what happened. I thought it was interesting looking at a global environmental disaster through the eyes of three such different characters and found them all thought-provoking and believable, especially Cathy and Margaret. I think this was a clever and insightful way to show how people can be affected differently by the same things.
Joanne Stubbs writes with an easy confidence which allows the reader to feel part of each person’s story. She is clearly very knowledgeable in her field and able to explain the devastation in the book, wrought by the effects of pollution and climate change, in a clear, concise manner. The imaginary scenarios created by the author – fish adapting to land, violent storms, poisonous mists – are horrifyingly credible. They certainly challenge the reader to think about the potential consequences of our self-centred lifestyle in new ways. These haunting words will stay with me: ‘Nature -that great beast of a woman – was out to get us all.’
This is a clever debut by a talented author. I will look out for Joanne’s next book with great interest.
This unique and unsettling piece of climate fiction was a slow burn for me until about halfway through. From then on, I really wanted to find out what happened. I thought it was interesting looking at a global environmental disaster through the eyes of three such different characters and found them all thought-provoking and believable, especially Cathy and Margaret. I think this was a clever and insightful way to show how people can be affected differently by the same things.
Joanne Stubbs writes with an easy confidence which allows the reader to feel part of each person’s story. She is clearly very knowledgeable in her field and able to explain the devastation in the book, wrought by the effects of pollution and climate change, in a clear, concise manner. The imaginary scenarios created by the author – fish adapting to land, violent storms, poisonous mists – are horrifyingly credible. They certainly challenge the reader to think about the potential consequences of our self-centred lifestyle in new ways. These haunting words will stay with me: ‘Nature -that great beast of a woman – was out to get us all.’
This is a clever debut by a talented author. I will look out for Joanne’s next book with great interest.
October 26, 2023
This novel was eco-fiction that explores how our pollution of the oceans could lead to horrific mutations of marine life that might threaten human life. If the oceans become too inhospitable for marine life, fish might mutate to compete with humans for life on land.
In this novel, fish mutate into poisonous, air-breathing creatures that can move slowly on land, sometimes using their mutated fins like legs. When the fish first started coming ashore, people were awed. However, unfortunately, for many humans, that awe quickly turned into disgust, and many of the fish were tormented and beaten to death. Then the fish struck back with paralyzing bites and soon were dangerous and everywhere.
We learn of all this through the eyes of three sets of characters--a young, scientific, gay couple; an older, religious, straight couple; and two teenage boys just becoming aware of the world around them and what paths they might follow.
This was not a fast-paced novel, but it did build a lot of tension from fear of the fish. While the author put a lot of effort into showing how people of different ages and beliefs might react, the characters were very stereotypical, making the novel feel more woke than real.
In this novel, fish mutate into poisonous, air-breathing creatures that can move slowly on land, sometimes using their mutated fins like legs. When the fish first started coming ashore, people were awed. However, unfortunately, for many humans, that awe quickly turned into disgust, and many of the fish were tormented and beaten to death. Then the fish struck back with paralyzing bites and soon were dangerous and everywhere.
We learn of all this through the eyes of three sets of characters--a young, scientific, gay couple; an older, religious, straight couple; and two teenage boys just becoming aware of the world around them and what paths they might follow.
This was not a fast-paced novel, but it did build a lot of tension from fear of the fish. While the author put a lot of effort into showing how people of different ages and beliefs might react, the characters were very stereotypical, making the novel feel more woke than real.
October 26, 2022
So imagine our past 3 years but replace certain virus with fish. Fish that walks and breathes on land, fish that can kill you with neurotoxins, fish that can cause fog that stops you from seeing the tip of your nose. Just imagine that scene. If pandemic was a horror story, to me this is a sign of apocalypse.
World is not heading in right direction. One day a storm comes and suddenly inland cities become shoreline. Flooded area don't clear up. You find fish in unexpected places, but you think it's because of the storm. But then, fish don't leave either. They walk on land, they breathe perfectly fine. This is all curious until the circus turns into a mad house and people start to die. Feeling of doom starts to settle in.
And comes a day where everything goes back to normal as if it never happened. Only the pain and loss stay with people. We follow this story from few different perspective: one is uber religious expat, another is a marine biologist's wife, another is a young adult boy. How they approach this event and how they are affected by it sets the tone of the story. I enjoyed reading this book very much; characters were very well developed and perfectly transferred that feeling of doom to me.
World is not heading in right direction. One day a storm comes and suddenly inland cities become shoreline. Flooded area don't clear up. You find fish in unexpected places, but you think it's because of the storm. But then, fish don't leave either. They walk on land, they breathe perfectly fine. This is all curious until the circus turns into a mad house and people start to die. Feeling of doom starts to settle in.
And comes a day where everything goes back to normal as if it never happened. Only the pain and loss stay with people. We follow this story from few different perspective: one is uber religious expat, another is a marine biologist's wife, another is a young adult boy. How they approach this event and how they are affected by it sets the tone of the story. I enjoyed reading this book very much; characters were very well developed and perfectly transferred that feeling of doom to me.
August 15, 2022
If you’re looking to get into the expanding genre of climate fiction (or cli-fi), then Joanne Stubbs’ debut novel, The Fish, is a great place to start. As hordes of fish begin to leave the ocean and climb onto the land for unknown reasons, the story follows the lives of 3 individuals: Margaret (a religious, American ex-pat in Malaysia), Cathy (married to scientist Ephie in Cornwall), and Ricky (a teenage New Zealander).
Various perspectives surrounding climate change are explored as the world attempts to adapt to life alongside fish. From ignorance to complacency to anxiety; all of which we see in real life and something I’m sure many can relate to in one way or another.
It was interesting to discover how these perspectives developed (or didn’t) throughout the story.
I particularly connected with both Ricky and Ephie’s reactions to the novel’s events - Ephie’s all-consuming curiosity and Ricky’s newfound motivation to help solve climate change.
For a debut I am certainly impressed!
Various perspectives surrounding climate change are explored as the world attempts to adapt to life alongside fish. From ignorance to complacency to anxiety; all of which we see in real life and something I’m sure many can relate to in one way or another.
It was interesting to discover how these perspectives developed (or didn’t) throughout the story.
I particularly connected with both Ricky and Ephie’s reactions to the novel’s events - Ephie’s all-consuming curiosity and Ricky’s newfound motivation to help solve climate change.
For a debut I am certainly impressed!
September 27, 2022
The concept totally hooked me and I was excited to read this as an aquatic lover.
Obviously, loving ocean life made this quite uncomfortable as the grotesque descriptions of crazed sea life are overwhelming (but necessary).
So why three stars? The story is split into three parts and the only one I really cared for was Cathy. While Margaret’s arc certainly surprised me, there was no real conclusion. This still works for me even if her ending felt a bit shock-jocky. Ricky? Missed the mark for me.
It felt like we were aiming for something like the Contagion movie where multiple narratives pull together in a time of chaos but in such a short book, just focussing on Cathy would have been better.
I do think she was a great example of the anxiety and havoc this situation would cause.
I enjoyed it and got ‘Tender is the Flesh’ vibes from this (not so) dystopian reality. I’ll certainly be checking out anything else that this author puts out.
**I was sent this novel to review by Fairlight Books and Netgalley.
Obviously, loving ocean life made this quite uncomfortable as the grotesque descriptions of crazed sea life are overwhelming (but necessary).
So why three stars? The story is split into three parts and the only one I really cared for was Cathy. While Margaret’s arc certainly surprised me, there was no real conclusion. This still works for me even if her ending felt a bit shock-jocky. Ricky? Missed the mark for me.
It felt like we were aiming for something like the Contagion movie where multiple narratives pull together in a time of chaos but in such a short book, just focussing on Cathy would have been better.
I do think she was a great example of the anxiety and havoc this situation would cause.
I enjoyed it and got ‘Tender is the Flesh’ vibes from this (not so) dystopian reality. I’ll certainly be checking out anything else that this author puts out.
**I was sent this novel to review by Fairlight Books and Netgalley.
October 15, 2022
3.75/5 🌟
Starfish, Joanne Stubbs’ debut has a very arresting premise. It’s set in a not too distant future, when Venice has succumbed to the sea, coastlines have eroded, volcanoes erupt regularly, polar bears are extinct and global temperatures have risen. The story opens with a couple who live in Cornwall, growing rice in their now flooded garden and with ethereal starfish inhabiting their windowsill. The narrative moves between this setting, and characters in New Zealand and Malaysia, taking a while to develop its eerie atmosphere. The sense of disquietude and mild horror builds when ghostly fish come out of the sea and move upright on land…
I think some aspects of the novel work better than others. Some of the characterisation could be more rounded but it’s a good storyline. This book is a clear call to live more mindfully on this planet, and for me, the speculative elements are very plausible.
Thank you Fairlight books for the review copy
Starfish, Joanne Stubbs’ debut has a very arresting premise. It’s set in a not too distant future, when Venice has succumbed to the sea, coastlines have eroded, volcanoes erupt regularly, polar bears are extinct and global temperatures have risen. The story opens with a couple who live in Cornwall, growing rice in their now flooded garden and with ethereal starfish inhabiting their windowsill. The narrative moves between this setting, and characters in New Zealand and Malaysia, taking a while to develop its eerie atmosphere. The sense of disquietude and mild horror builds when ghostly fish come out of the sea and move upright on land…
I think some aspects of the novel work better than others. Some of the characterisation could be more rounded but it’s a good storyline. This book is a clear call to live more mindfully on this planet, and for me, the speculative elements are very plausible.
Thank you Fairlight books for the review copy
April 3, 2023
A fantastic book that is let down by an ending that is, at best, lacklustre.
I was absolutely drawn into to this slow burn story about climate change and the creatures from the ocean breaching our shores - it was a really interesting persepctive, and I liked how there was a tangible sense of possibility to it all. Starfish emerging from the surf and fish walking on land? Unlikely, but not impossible. The idea in general is really strong.
I also really liked the characters. The lesbians in Cornwall, the teengers in New Zealand and the American living abroad in Asia - each of the three strands of the story were compelling, and while I did like one less than the other two (The teenage boy strand felt a bit pointless in places) I still liked the characters for the most part.
Where this went wrong for me was that it abruptly ended as soon as it got going. It's a slow burn of a book, and as the strange events mounted up, I was looking forward to a haunting ended that suggested more to come. Instead, it just sort of fizzled out and left me feeling cold. A real shame as I really enjoyed it up until the last few pages.
I was absolutely drawn into to this slow burn story about climate change and the creatures from the ocean breaching our shores - it was a really interesting persepctive, and I liked how there was a tangible sense of possibility to it all. Starfish emerging from the surf and fish walking on land? Unlikely, but not impossible. The idea in general is really strong.
I also really liked the characters. The lesbians in Cornwall, the teengers in New Zealand and the American living abroad in Asia - each of the three strands of the story were compelling, and while I did like one less than the other two (The teenage boy strand felt a bit pointless in places) I still liked the characters for the most part.
Where this went wrong for me was that it abruptly ended as soon as it got going. It's a slow burn of a book, and as the strange events mounted up, I was looking forward to a haunting ended that suggested more to come. Instead, it just sort of fizzled out and left me feeling cold. A real shame as I really enjoyed it up until the last few pages.
February 24, 2025
This is not the first apocalyptic novel about the ocean, and it won’t be the last - but it is unique.
The Fish brings the rising tides closer to humanity, in a way much starker than we bargained for. Fish that walk on land are a surrogate not just for tides rising, but for the ocean being unfit to aquatic life. Humans respond with horror, not because it is their own destructive doing, but because the idea of walking fish challenges their idea of sentience, and their sense of security.
The Fish reads like the love child of The Seep (Chana Porter) and Undertow (Michael Buckley).
Cathy, the queer Cornwall resident, consistently feels like the main character, even though Ricky (a teen in Tasmania) and Margaret (a middle-aged ex-pat in Malaysia) are arguably intended as equal, concurrent characters. Perhaps it is because Cathy alone is written in the first person.
I didn’t care much for Ricky and Margaret’s POV, although they did serve to illustrate people’s different reactions to apocalyptic events (reminiscent of COVID, to be sure). I thought Cathy showed the most emotional depth, and certainly a great deal of personal change (not necessarily growth, but tangible change).
While my star-rating might not seem it, I did find this a readable, and commendable novel.
Thank you to Netgalley and Fairlight Books for providing this eARC.
The Fish brings the rising tides closer to humanity, in a way much starker than we bargained for. Fish that walk on land are a surrogate not just for tides rising, but for the ocean being unfit to aquatic life. Humans respond with horror, not because it is their own destructive doing, but because the idea of walking fish challenges their idea of sentience, and their sense of security.
The Fish reads like the love child of The Seep (Chana Porter) and Undertow (Michael Buckley).
Cathy, the queer Cornwall resident, consistently feels like the main character, even though Ricky (a teen in Tasmania) and Margaret (a middle-aged ex-pat in Malaysia) are arguably intended as equal, concurrent characters. Perhaps it is because Cathy alone is written in the first person.
I didn’t care much for Ricky and Margaret’s POV, although they did serve to illustrate people’s different reactions to apocalyptic events (reminiscent of COVID, to be sure). I thought Cathy showed the most emotional depth, and certainly a great deal of personal change (not necessarily growth, but tangible change).
While my star-rating might not seem it, I did find this a readable, and commendable novel.
Thank you to Netgalley and Fairlight Books for providing this eARC.
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