I adored this cover so just had to pick it up and it did not disappoint!!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me read this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

"This Wound Full of Fish" by Masso delves into personal struggles with emotional depth. Masso's narrative offers a mix of vulnerability and resilience, though pacing occasionally lags. The writing conveys raw emotions, yet some elements could be more refined. The book provides a glimpse into the human experience, inviting readers to connect with the journey, but its unevenness might leave some wanting a more consistently impactful exploration.

This Wound Full of Fish follows the plight of a white woman travelling on a boat along the river in Columbia. She grows more anxious as time elapses and over time reveals the truth about why the boy is not biologically her son, where they are going, and how happily she has raised the young boy.

We meet a loveable and memorable cast of characters along the voyage and our protagonist forms some beautiful friendships. This novel looks at love and kindness in the face of overwhelming sadness and it is a truly moving story.

Be prepared for heartbreak, spoiler alert, there is not happy ending in this book. I was taken by surprise and, despite being devastated, thought that the ending was exceptionally poignant. Well-executed and lyrically written, this is a wonderful novel and I am very grateful for the chance to read it.

This book is drastically different from what one may consider my ‘usual’ reads, and I’m still not sure how I feel about it, it showcased the love a mother has for her son, biological or not, it was heart wrenching as we were shown the tragedies of the country at the time, and the style it was written in was certainly unique as well. It’s a very well written book, but heartbreaking

This Wound Full of Fish is a short novel, following the journey of a mother and son down the Atrato river and into the Colombian jungle. Why they’re undertaking this journey is not immediately apparent, although it becomes clear, as the story of how they came to be where they are is revealed.

This is a reasonably short book, so this review is likely to also be short. I liked the book well enough, but I can’t say I have a whole lot to say about it. It was readable and a story that kept me engaged, but whether I will remember the specifics of it, or even more than vague generalities, in more than a few weeks’ time, is another matter.

This is a very character-driven book, not least because almost the entire of its plot relates to a journey down a river to reach a goal. And I think it does it reasonably well. Of course, the main character and her son are most fleshed out, but the side characters aren’t not so, which is good, since they meet a lot of them on their journey. It’s the characters they meet along the way that make the journey most interesting to me.

The ending, when it comes, feels a little abrupt. While it’s entirely possible that it was telegraphed earlier and I just missed it, so maybe it didn’t fully come out of nowhere, but it seemed quite sudden. This would be less of an issue if it didn’t also feel needlessly violent, while also leaving the (white) main character as the sole survivor of the triad and killing off the Black characters. I don’t know, it just felt a little at odds with the rest of the book.

So, really, I have mixed feelings on this one. It was a decent enough read, but one that was let down by the ending.