Warped, filthy, barnacle-encrusted yarn which drags its narrative anchor and marauds across a roiling main of recollections ghoulish and macabre.

Also very funny. Of particular interest to those with experience of, or ambitions to, cooking at sea. ( )

The story of a poor orphan boy who runs away to sea, has a series of adventures among a crew of misfits, and returns home somewhat the worse for wear. The sort of novel Melville and Faulkner would have written had they been collaborating and had a supply of hallucinogens handy. The tale Fishboy tells is dark and gruesome, yet also funny and moving, told in a lyrical style full of rich language and set in a surreal yet familiar world of ghosts, mermaids, and strange civilizations. Not recommended for anyone who prefers happy endings. ( )

The book is an American gothic, a southern ghost story, and a sea-tale, but its biggest strength is in the language. Structured like a novel, written like a poem. ( )