Brother Fish (2004) is a story spanning four continents and eighty years though the story primarily takes place in Australia and Korea.

The story deals with the friendship of Jacko McKenzie, a native of the (fictional) Queen’s Island in the Bass Strait, and James ‘Jimmy’ Pentecost Oldcorn, an orphan American ex-soldier, who have been meeting at the Gallipoli Bar of the ANZAC Hotel, Launceston, Tasmania for 33 years, since their release from a prisoner of war camp in Korea. …

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Brother Fish is better, I think, than more acclaimed Courtenay’s The Power of One.

Fish perfectly skewers the “White Australia policy“, when African American war hero Jimmy wants to move to Tasmania. (Courtenay was born in South Africa 1933.)

And never have I thought so much about the Korean War. It was horrific. … Sadly, I mainly think of the TV show M.A.S.H. when it’s mentioned.

This is only the third book of Bryce Courtenay‘s I’ve read. It’s amazing. I highly recommend the audio version. Humphrey Bower (Narrator) is superb. He also narrated my favourite book all time, Shantaram.

I should simply buy all the books that Humphrey Bower narrates. He’s that good.