It tells the story of Gepetto (yes, that Gepetto) trying to eke out his remaining life after being swallowed my the giant sea creature. It starts with a brief retelling of the more famous story of Pinocchio from Gepetto's point of view and explaining how he came to be where he is before embarking on less familiar fare.
To be fair, even his retelling of Pinocchio feels fresh since it's not from the usual viewpoint.
By some miracle, Gepetto has managed to land inside a ship previously swallowed by the shark/sea creature. The ship is reasonably sturdy, but, just as importantly, it contains candles, food and the captain's logbook and ink where our narrator writes his weird history.
After the familiar story, we learn about Gepetto's early life and loves. We also learn how he tries to survive the loneliness of his captivity in the stomach of the creature. However, his supply of candles is running low, as is his food, and something is scuttling in the recesses of the ship.
The prose is scattered with more of Carey's rather distinct artwork, and assorted strange photographs that complement the narrative perfectly. The tone of the book is as weird and wonderful as Heap House was even though this is aimed at an older demographic. He managed the almost impossible and surprised me with the final chapter of the book.
I can't recommend this too highly to those people who like a skewed take on familiar tales.
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