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Cold Fish Soup
- Narrated by: Adam Farrer
- Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins
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Cold Fish Soup
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Summary
A BBC Radio Scotland Audiobook Club Pick
Before Adam Farrer’s family relocated to Withernsea in 1992, he’d never heard of the Holderness coast. The move represented one thing to Adam: a chance to leave the insecurities of early adolescence behind. And he could do that anywhere. What he didn’t know was how much he’d grow to love the quirks and people of this faded Yorkshire resort, in spite of its dilapidated attractions and retreating clifftops.
While Adam documents the minutiae of small-town life, he lays bare experiences that are universal. His insights on family, friendship, male mental health and suicide are revealed in stories of reinvention, rapacious seagulls, interdimensional werewolves, burlesque dancing pensioners and his compulsion towards the sea.
Cold Fish Soup is an affectionate look at a place and its inhabitants, and the ways in which they can shape and influence someone, especially of an impressionable age. Adam’s account explores what it means to love and be shaped by a place that is under threat, and the hope—and hilarity—that can be found in community.
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Critic reviews
“Raw, vulnerable, honest … like a warm loving hug … [and] very, very funny.” Alan Bissett, BBC Radio Scotland Audiobook Club
“It reminded me of Victoria Wood – so well-observed … very honest, hopeful.” Bruce Devlin, BBC Radio Scotland Audiobook Club
"Cold Fish Soup understands the oddity, tenderness and brutal ordinariness of small-town life. Adam Farrer is a bold new voice in nonfiction writing. His keen observations are as gentle as they are wry, as attentive to the bleak truths of loss and deprivation as they are to the eccentric humour of humans being entirely themselves... Witty, charming, moving and real." Jenn Ashworth
What listeners say about Cold Fish Soup
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- manjipoo
- 25-05-23
Raw, personal, humorous
Adam draws you in to his personal experiences from a seaside Town that is quickly being left behind, he adds a roller coaster of humour and sadness about his family life too.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Jimalor
- 23-02-23
Nipple tassels and suicidal siblings. Eroding coasts and tired seaside towns somehow work.
Suicidal author and siblings, a racy and wonderful mother. A most disjointed and yet wonderful family brought together as a entertaining, funny, sad and throughly readable story.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- NR
- 05-02-24
Great autoniographical story full of humour
I loved listening to Adam narrate this. Full of humour and not afraid to be really honest with tough subjects -mental health, suicide, depression,loneliness, rundown seaside towns.
At times I laughed along at his anecdotes about growing up and his family and made lots of parallels with my own. It is real. And at times my eyes filled with tears at some of the experiences he and his family have gone through. As well as those living in Withernsea.
If you want a searingly honest listen full of anecdotes of aliens, gangs of seagulls interspersed with the truth facing people living in seaside towns on the Holderness coast, mental health struggles and desperation, all told with a wry sense of humour then listen to this.
I feel like I know Adam and I feel like I need to go back to the Holderness coast.
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- Rebecca Scott
- 29-12-22
Couldn’t stop listening…
A beautiful, funny and nostalgic journey back through my childhood by way of Adam’s wonderful storytelling of my home town.
I cannot recommend this enough and you don’t need to be from the east coast of Yorkshire for this to resonate with you, it’s just a wonderful tribute to a loving family, their loss, their struggles but still managed to make by laugh out loud too, I shall laugh about Christopher the seagull for a long time to come!
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- Anonymous User
- 07-09-22
A man on the edge of sanity, love this book
I have found many similarities, My personal in the moment thing is speeding, I totally get the drawn to water thing as well, I liked to swim down as far as I could to test myself. I was laffing and crying in this book. I think putting your balls on a stone like this, shows you might have learned not to pay to much attention to the crowds. your bro would secretly be proud. and would fart in your face for being sentimental. The sooner a human being picks up we are all dying from the day we are born, and most humans are inhumane. you can ignore the negative sounds to create. The sound of the sea is a good noise to drown it out, until the realisation of it kicks in. This was fantastic and depressing to listen to. Thank you
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- emma
- 26-08-22
I laughed, cried and laughed some more
UFO's, werewolves, crumbling coastlines and teenage angst, a wonderfully written insight into one man's life with his bonkers family.
Highlighting the not talked about enough issues on men's mental health.
I love this book so much, thank you Adam
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- Booker Read
- 23-03-23
10/10
Superbly written and masterfully narrated by the author. His voice is richer than Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife. I experienced every human emotion possible during the listening experience. From laughter all the way through to sadness. About an honest a book you’re ever likely to hear. Enthralling from the beginning. Highly recommend. Look forward to the next book from this talented author.
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- Amazon Customer
- 23-05-23
A beautiful rollercoaster of emotions
I was honestly a bit sad when I finished this book, I didn't want it to end. My emotions were all over the place listening to this, Adam narrates it so well. It moves between brutal honesty and hilarious moments so beautifully, an emotional rollercoaster!
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- Sean
- 10-11-23
A brilliant memoir beautifully narrated
A touching and often hilarious memoir from a genuinely gifted author. The finest book I’ve read this year.
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