Book Book – Fiona Farrell

Description

Author: Fiona Farrell
Publisher: Vintage NZ (2004)
ISBN: 978-1-86941-679-6

In brief

A woman in a war zone. A missing husband. A child on the run. Book Book isn’t just a novel — it’s a book about books, about stories we inherit and the ones we construct to survive. It’s funny, painful, and utterly original.

About the book

In a near-future Aotearoa that feels just familiar enough to be unsettling, a woman known only as “the teacher” flees her bombed-out home with a child and a copy of Little Red Hen. What follows is a surreal and moving journey — across landscapes, across memory, and across genres.

Fiona Farrell’s Book Book is set in the middle of a war, but it’s not a war novel. It’s a book about knowledge — the books we read to children, the books we burn, the texts that anchor our cultures. As the unnamed protagonist moves from town to town, encountering religious extremists, self-important scholars, and fellow wanderers, her one constant is a tattered children’s book and a fierce instinct to protect.

Blending satire, fable, postmodern pastiche and postcolonial critique, Book Book asks the reader: What would you carry if your world fell apart?

Shortlisted for several major literary prizes, this novel has been described as both haunting and hilarious — a rare feat.

Reviewer praise

“Frequently funny, always humane. A book about the books that shape us.” — Landfall Review

“Farrell writes with such clarity and compassion. Book Book is extraordinary.” — The NZ Herald

“Takes the mess of war and identity and binds it with wit.” — The Listener

“A road novel, a feminist fable, and a literary love letter.” — Metro Magazine

“From Byron to Apirana Taylor, from the Bible to Do Cry, Farrell brings the whole bookshelf to life.” — Goodreads reviewer

“Extraordinary offering from one of Aotearoa’s most agile literary minds.” — NZ Book Awards panel