this was initially sold to me (from NetGalley's description as I was browsing for up and coming novels that may interest me) as a queer character's journey through grief from losing her sister. what I got instead is a disappointing narration of parties upon parties, days in this character's life, and disjointed pieces of her grief mired in extended metaphors. on their own, i love when metaphors are weaved into stories. however, this one's a short one, but still didnt manage to tie everything together in a way that's satisfying.

ok this next part will sound even less generous, but i think, from reading other people's reviews, you will agree with me when i say that the writing style featured in this one has a very pick-me-Hollywood attitude. like something that was supposed to have been a screenplay for a movie got rejected and consequently reformatted/repackaged into a novel, and rewritten in such a way that directors would turn this into a script. i don't know. all i know is that after having been walked through the main character's entire days and nights and boring parties upon boring parties i felt as if some stranger on the bus was telling me every single detail of their life up to this point. maam/sir i am not interested and i think you should let me sit in this bus in peace.

maybe it was my impatience as a reader that contributed to this judgment, but at the end of the day, i wish that if this were truly just a pick-me-Hollywood book, then it shouldve been rewritten after some novel-writing classes were brushed up on, because the premise truly is interesting.

thank you NetGalley and publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

ghost fish is a visceral and punching book that reflects heavily on grief. anyone who has a sibling, especially one they’re close to, will probably understand the chaotic and frantic inner thoughts of the protagonist, alison, after her sister dies by drowning. alison feels alone and is still trying to deal with the loss of her sister when a ghost fish suddenly appears to her. while at first she recognizes it can’t possibly be real, she begins to feel a duty to protect the ghost fish, as she feels she couldn’t protect her sister.

whereas some novels with purple prose get lost on me, this one shines through. the poetic and flowery writing reflects the mind of our protagonist. to me, it reflects alison’s slow descent into what can only be described as “madness”.

this novel is a great testament to how grief can impact us, it can change our lives and make us feel and do things we didn’t think were possible. the loss of a person so important to you is unthinkable until it happens and pennebaker encapsulated that perfectly.

the concept is really out there and there’s aspects of magical realism that reel you in and keep you on the edge of your seat. it is a short book but i think it started to drag a bit in the middle; there’s only so much you can do with the concept of a grieving woman seeing and taking care of a ghost fish. but either way, this is an astounding debut from pennebaker, and i’m looking forward to future novels from him.

thank you to little, brown and company for an ARC of this novel provided through netgalley!

Haunting and beautiful portrait of grief. I really enjoyed this book and how it reminds us that you can always try again. Lovely!

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for an ARC of Ghost Fish.

Sadly, I had to DNF this at 20%. It was somehow so wordy while also feeling like absolutely nothing was happening in the story at the same time. I gave myself a break and came back to it, but I just couldn't get interested enough to continue.

One of the best literary fiction works of the year. It was thoughtful and brought me to tears. I loved the story, its message and the portrayal of grief. It felt real, tangible. Anybody who has/is grieving would love this book. A perfect five stars. Full review to come soon.

(3.5) This book had really great moments and wonderful lines. It was a beautiful exploration of grief and loneliness. That being said, it started with such incredible momentum, but eventually fizzled out. It felt like there was no conflict, whether it be interpersonal or internal, and that left the book feeling a little flat. I absolutely devoured the first 60% of this book, but the last 40% left a little to be desired. It was a book that just kind of... ended... and there wasn't much to be said about that. I think there was just some more to be played with in this book, and I know the author is capable of it because the beginning is so strong.

I was so excited when I requested and was approved to read this book. I have to say that this was one of the strangest reading experiences I have ever had, and not in a good way. The writing is so oddly written that I wonder if this was a trial run to see if an AI-generated book could pass as being written by an actual human being. I have read A LOT of books in my life including some really awful ones, but even then it still felt like either the book was just not for me, or, it was just a not great book with the general consensus in the book community that the writing or pacing or something else was off and therefore the story suffered. That is not the case here as I could not even finish this because it truly felt like I was losing my mind while reading it. I just turned each page going "HUH????".

If this book was not AI-generated and someone actually wrote it, my opinion of the book would not change and I would probably be even more confused because I do not understand why this would be seen as being fit to publish in any way, shape or form. The writing is so jarring and unnatural sounding that I even had 2 of my family members read a paragraph because I considered that maybe I was having some sort of health event or something, but they both had the same reaction as me and said it was disorientating and, to them, either felt like it was written by or for a very young child.

I have never left a 1 star review the entire time I have been reviewing arcs on NetGalley, but I am now because I want to be honest about my reading experience. I am still so very confused about this book and how it came to be.

Look for my full review in Library Journal
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This was a tender and poignant debut novel. I appreciated the exploration of grief and the sometimes unconventional means we go through to cope, heal and move forward. I appreciated the magical realism aspects to the writing.

2.5 stars
The writing felt superfluous and the over-use of oceanic descriptors was a bit too on the nose. It felt like the author was telling instead of showing.

“There were rings on all her fingers except her thumbs. They glittered like Popsicles just pulled from a freezer.” This description of the rings sounds odd and unnecessary.

“Every cell in my body felt like it had turned into a dolphin, a diamond, a dark and endless sky” this quote feels superfluous and I think would be better presented if just one descriptor was used instead of three.

Ultimately, I just think this will be forgettable for me in the long run. It seems like an amalgamation of many novels I’ve already read before. While compulsively read-able it brought nothing new or fresh to the table. The climax didn’t really feel climactic. What I expected to happen is exactly what happened throughout the novel. While I do think the author has some writing talent I think the story being told could use work.

I struggle with understanding the LGBTQIAP+ tag. The main character refers to a fellow coworker with the quote, “I didn’t know if I wanted to be with her or be her” and that’s the extent of queer in this novel, not enough to justify the tag.

Wonderful. I mean, this book is precisely what it says on the tin (it's a ghost that's a fish that's also someone's dead sister, what more do you want?), a simple magical realism concept with enough of a twist to be intriguing and a vibrant enough execution to feel full and complex.

I was immediately pulled into Alison's world and voice: I finished the novel in two sittings within one day, and it's been a while since I've done that, even with a short novel like this. Some of it is the fact that it was a really nice day out and there are few pleasures like reading by an open window, caught in the breeze and the ray of sunshine beaming in. But this novel is particularly well-designed for it: There's a perfect balance between comfort and conflict, as the main character obviously carries significant grief and trauma with her and the city she lives in can seem like a malignant force (at least as far as we are embedded in her perspective, but seriously the more books set in New York I read, the less I ever want to live there), but she also finds tenderness along the way and you want nothing more for her to give into it rather than shrink away from anything good.

That tension, I think, is what kept me turning the pages even when I'd told myself I'd stop reading at the end of the hour and so on. Sometimes as a reader you feel like you have the power to drive the character toward the conclusion they deserve.

The novel hits some turbulence in its second part, seemingly struggling to land gracefully. Maybe that's okay. Maybe a perfectly executed symbolic end isn't right for this story, and a bit of chaos is more fitting. Nevertheless, the characterization of secondary characters takes a hit, and the whole structure of the novel is practically designed to lead to an information dump, for better or for worse. This may prevent the novel from meeting my wildest hopes, but it certainly doesn't prevent me from loving it. Gorgeous, resonant work, and Stuart Pennebaker is certainly one to watch. Whatever she writes next, I'm in.