Fishbowl: A Novel - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1250073812 ISBN 13: 9781250073815

Synopsis

"A goldfish named Ian is falling from the 27th-floor balcony on which his fishbowl sits. He's longed for adventure, so when the opportunity arises, he escapes from his bowl, clears the balcony railing and finds himself airborne. Plummeting toward the street below, Ian witnesses the lives of the Seville on Roxy residents. There's the handsome grad student, his girlfriend, and the other woman; the construction worker who feels trapped by a secret; the building's super who feels invisible and alone; the pregnant woman on bed rest who craves a forbidden ice cream sandwich; the shut-in for whom dirty talk, and quiche, are a way of life; and home-schooled Herman, a boy who thinks he can travel through time. Though they share time and space, they have something even more important in common: each faces a decision that will affect the course of their lives. Within the walls of the Seville are stories of love, new life, and death, of facing the ugly truth of who one has been and the beautiful truth of who one can become. Sometimes taking a risk is the only way to move forward with our lives. As Ian the goldfish knows, "An entire life devoted to a fishbowl will make one die an old fish with not one adventure had.""--

About this title

Review:

"Amazing" (Cosmopolitan)

"Quirky, ambitious, with a touch of serendipity" (Red Magazine)

"Refreshingly original...quirky and colourful - if you want something different and unexpected to read this summer, this is definitely a break from the norm. ****" (Heat Magazine)

"You’ll fall in love with this great book and its quirky characters" (Bella)

"To decide to weave an intricate ensemble tale around the everyday lives, hopes and desires of those who occupy a high-rise apartment block is ambitious. To then decide that the hero of the story will be a philosophical goldfish – and that the novel’s ending will be given away inside the opening chapter – is just plain ballsy. But Canadian writer Bradley Somer pulls off the feat with ease." (Shortlist)

"Brilliant and quirky" (Sun on Sunday, Fabulous Magazine)

"Quirky fun...I couldn’t help falling (sorry!) for such a clever, irrepressible read" (Woman and Home)

"An irrepressible novel―breezy, funny, sexy, and bursting with life. Bradley Somer has enormous affection and empathy for his cast of all-too-human characters (including the goldfish named Ian)." (Tom Perrotta)

"Fishbowl boasts an abundance of mordant whimsy" (James Morrow author of Galapagos Regained)

"Touching and well-written." (Kirkus)

"Enjoyable touches of farce and wry asides abound, underscoring moments of reckoning in eccentric, yet deeply human, dilemmas" (Publisher's Weekly)

"Although Ian has only a goldfish’s seconds-long capacity for memory, readers will find themselves returning to the essential truths of Somer’s characters again and again" (American Bookseller's Association)

"Take the tumble with Ian. Perhaps like me you will fall, end over end, through these pages: expectant, engaged, enthused, curious, entranced, alarmed. Bradley Somer's captivating first novel is a delight" (Laura McBride author of the #1 Indie Next Pick We Are Called to Rise)

"Somer writes with game-changing empathy and curiosity. [He] tackles loneliness, life, love and death with wit and sensitivity, and the novel’s message – that “no single person lives their own life; we all live each other’s together” – is one that warrants repeating, even at a goldfish’s rate of recollection." (The Globe and Mail)

"The quaint lesson of Mr. Somer’s bagatelle is that people should take flight from the narrow confines of their fears and find adventure in the wider world of others. That, and get their bored fish a companion or two." (The Wall Street Journal)

"a very unconventional exploration of human foibles... Fishbowl is a marvellous portrayal of the tentative - and often funny - ways human beings muddle about trying to connect with one another." (The Toronto Star)

"I loved the whimsy in "Fishbowl." The characters are imaginative and bright, yet still clearly fiction." (The Daily Reporter)

"What other book can boast a goldfish as both the protagonist and eyewitness to the characters, dramas and events that unfold? Bradley Somer’s engaging UK debut novel, Fishbowl, does just that, taking the reader on a unique journey of escapism." (Culture Fly)

Book Description:

Tales of the City as seen by a goldfish - a charming and highly original literary novel

About this edition

• ISBN 10: 1250073812
• ISBN 13: 9781250073815
• Binding: Paperback