The Octopus Man cover art

The Octopus Man

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Octopus Man

By: Jasper Gibson
Narrated by: Johnny Flynn
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Funny, smart, damaged, Tom is lost in the machinery of the British mental health system, talking to a voice no one else can hear; the voice of Malamock, the Octopus God—sometimes loving, sometimes cruel, but always there to fill his life with meaning. Once an outstanding law student, Tom is now cared for by his long-suffering sister Tess, who encourages him into an experimental drugs trial that promises to silence the voice forever. The Octopus God, however, does not take kindly to being threatened...

Deeply moving and tragi-comic, The Octopus Man is a bravura literary performance that asks fundamental questions about belief and love.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Jasper Gibson (P)2021 Orion Publishing Group Genre Fiction Medical Psychological Fiction

Listeners also enjoyed...

 True West cover art
Whispers Through a Megaphone cover art
The Vanishing of Margaret Small cover art
The Silence cover art
When I First Held You cover art
The Twins cover art
The Butterfly Garden cover art
12 Hours to Say I Love You cover art
Nightingale Point cover art
If I Can't Have You cover art
Frailty cover art
Careless cover art
Mrs. Wickham cover art

Critic reviews

"An exceptional work...A brilliant and necessary book." (Douglas Stuart, author of the Booker Prize-winning Shuggie Bain)

"Funny. Disturbing. Brilliant." (Lily Allen)

"A joy to read." (Johnny Flynn)
All stars
Most relevant  
Wow. This book is something else. Brilliant, original voice. Compelling premise. This author is v accomplished. Love that he didn't feel the need to overexplain or indeed explain everything. He doesn't neatly tie up every question at the end. A fascinating exploration of schizophrenia, mental health, trauma, a hearer of a voice, sibling love, friendship, abuse, institutional care. Again, wow. Like nothing else you've read. It didn't surprise me to hear in the author's note at the end that the author had a personal reason to want to write this. Its authenticity and quality made me wonder if he had some personal reason driving him to write something so powerful. Powerful without being pretentious. And the writing is top-drawer brilliant.*****

Wow. Wildly original, excellent voice

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I really enjoyed this book, so wonderfully written and an epic performance yet again by Johnny Flynn

Amazing book and beautifully read by Johnny x

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I read this after reading the depressing Shuggie Bain. which won the Booker prize.
But this book is so uplifting, telling the story of an outsider, whom everybody assumes is mentally ill, just because Tom has a different God, doesnt mean society should ignore him and treat him like a nutter.
This book should win a prize for its originally.

Terrifically an amazing story, SO ORIGINAL

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Gibson captures south east England. The panoply of modern Britain is here. The dialogue is strong. I wish the Octopus God himself spoke less in Poundian fragments - he seems more modern than old - the product of the electronic fragmentation of discourse to borrow a phrase about Franzen rather than an ancient, lengthier coherency. Still, I think that’s the point - a spiritual health crisis dressed as a mental one in Britain and the West.

Strong, funny dialogue; a snapshot of modern Britain

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Doris Lessing's The Four Gated City and her Briefing for a Descent into Hell, Ken Kesey's One Fell Over the Cuckoo's Nest, R D Laing's discussions of schizophrenia as a family-based issue, Oliver Sacks' investigations of assorted neurological issues - just some works in English which provide insightful investigations of "mental illness" using fiction/non-fiction.

But for me Jasper Gibson is the first writer to have cracked that divide between Us and Them.

Written from the point of view of Thomas who experiences life under the thrall of a very jealous god (Mamalock) this is a very rough journey indeed with the imposition of intensely disturbing stresses, occasionally abated under the clumsy attentions of the mental health service.

There are wonderful chapters devoted to, for instance, logical debate between Tom (patient) and Fredericks (doctor) which give clear insight into the one-way power structure of mental institutions or, another instance, to descriptions of how a panic attack can build on a journey (coffee, low power on mobile etc).

The style is ecstatic, intense, eidetic and memorable; the events funny, heart-breaking, amazing and horrifying. The immersion in character, place and landscape is extraordinary and the plot interestingly structured with clues and obscurities placed throughout to stop us ever determining what is going to happen, let alone what should happen. Lots of rabbit holes for us to fall down, such as Tom and Tess' mother or the spoons.

The critique of the mental health services and hospitals is not flattering but probably accurate. And how can people like Tom survive decently on the money provided?

Tom is a beautiful character, extremely intelligent, observant, a deep lover of nature, funny and kind and he has been a great consumer of mind-altering substances. Perhaps his extraordinary characteristics have rendered him more vulnerable. The other characters are equally well-drawn - Tess the sister, Missy the fellow patient, Phoebe the ex-girlfriend, every person it seems in the hospital, Crowborough and beyond.

I was enthralled by Johnny Flynn's reading: he delivered every note with a musician's ear and every character with an actor's precision. When it was over I just wanted it to begin again.

I'll be telling everyone about this book and about this reading.

Madness - the sanest form of existence for some?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
When I started listening to this I thought I wouldn’t get past the first chapter but it is compelling and incredibly sensitive. Very well written.

Extremely unusual book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
An entertaining yet thought provoking insight to the struggles of living with schizophrenia from the diagnosed individual's perspective to the far reaching impact on family, friends, local community and care providers.
Johnny Flynn brought every character to life through his narration and made me laugh and cry in equal measure.
I tend to save Audible books for my commute and I know it's a good book when I'm hoping for traffic congestion to extend my journey time and give me more time to listen. The Octopus Man made me leave late many days so I could guarantee long queues and more me time. Thank you Jasper and Johnny.

Rollercoaster ride snapshot of schizophrenia

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Loved this. The story was so empathetic and allows you to understand what it really might be like for someone who hears voices. You completely understand the reasons for everything the main character does. Felt that all the characters in the book were so real, I’m sad that this story ended and I now need to find something new to listen to!

Brilliant insight

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This was a joy (sometimes painful) it was an accurate depiction of life with psychosis. as someone who has been a patient I was totally absorbed. characters were fabulous and the narration was perfect. my husband and sometimes carer loved it too

A brilliant insight into life with psychosis

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Written with some insiders knowledge. Superb. Made me want to hug Tom and Tess. And the author too. X

Sensitive and compassionate

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews