nickreallylovestoread's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
This book could have been about 150 pages longer. It's a strange feeling reading this, as the ending feels random, like Johnson decided one day to stop this project, and ended it that day. Fiskadoro is a dark, post-apocalyptical novel about a young boy's journey through multiple walks of life in a new civilization after a nuclear holocaust. Like his other works, Johnson excels at examining character, and Marie, Mr. Cheung's mother, is my personal favorite in this story. If you read Train Dreams and thought the main character's reclusive nature needed a tropical setting, then check this out. There's some great prose here, but plot-wise didn't do it for me.
greenblack's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
truelizrose's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
jodyjsperling's review against another edition
3.0
I’ll read this book again eventually. It was tough and deliberate. Certain moments awed me. Much confused me. I need to slow down and contemplate this book next time I read it.
runningbeard's review against another edition
3.0
So much seems to be going on in this book that perhaps it's crammed too tightly in just over 200 pages. Every memorable and vivid character is their own "stranger in a strange land" as identity, history and memory seem tossed into a wonderous flux, and yet...
dadoodoflow's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
twilfitt's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
jcr610's review against another edition
4.0
Denis Johnson is a perfect kind of writer to tackle a postapocalyptic tropical landscape, and this delivers well. There's a mystic, mythic element of Fiskadoro and the other characters that was beautifully wrought alongside what might be called more naturalistic postapocalyptic landscapes. The story is a little shaggy and doesn't quite deliver on what it winds itself up to be, but there are enough transporting passages to make the short book worth a thoughtful read.