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colormecaro's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
At first (and the only reason this isn’t 5 stars), it took me a bit to get in a reading flow because of the changing viewpoints the book is told from (a dictionary, an old letter and the main character) but at some point I just started devouring this book.
As someone who is interested in language and the effects it has on how people think and see the world, I loved this book. As a speaker of different languages (although the languages I speak are nowhere near as complex and full of meaning as many an indigenous language), I appreciated the way in which this book illustrates how words can’t simply be translated. They hold a whole other dimension which is shown in the dictionary chapters of the book. By losing indigenous languages we lose all the knowledge they hold.
Apart from the language aspects, learning more about a culture that has seen the cruelest hardships feels very important. When I was 4 years old, I became fascinated with Australia (mostly its animal world) and as a 6 year old read the stories of the Dreaming (aboriginal origin stories). I was probably too young to reckon with the dark past of Australia, but this feels like a full circle moment. It all ties into my current interests and feelings about the world. I am on a mission to read more indigenous literature from around the world and this was a prime example of my why.
As someone who is interested in language and the effects it has on how people think and see the world, I loved this book. As a speaker of different languages (although the languages I speak are nowhere near as complex and full of meaning as many an indigenous language), I appreciated the way in which this book illustrates how words can’t simply be translated. They hold a whole other dimension which is shown in the dictionary chapters of the book. By losing indigenous languages we lose all the knowledge they hold.
Apart from the language aspects, learning more about a culture that has seen the cruelest hardships feels very important. When I was 4 years old, I became fascinated with Australia (mostly its animal world) and as a 6 year old read the stories of the Dreaming (aboriginal origin stories). I was probably too young to reckon with the dark past of Australia, but this feels like a full circle moment. It all ties into my current interests and feelings about the world. I am on a mission to read more indigenous literature from around the world and this was a prime example of my why.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Genocide, and Colonisation
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Police brutality, and Sexual content
Minor: Eating disorder, Grief, Hate crime, Terminal illness, Murder, Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, and Death of parent
neonskylite's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Discovered when reading this that my Aboriginal friend is distantly related to Stan Grant
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation and Racism
Moderate: Child abuse, Cancer, Sexual assault, Child death, Death of parent, Grief, and Terminal illness
libscote's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
tense
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
This book was slow-paced, but worth the read. It weaves together three different stories about one place in Australia. Two are Indigenous people, and one is a missionary who thinks he is there to do good. The three different stories give you a look at Indigenous life in Australia, which has the most endangered Indigenous languages in the world. When you read about what happened, you might think, "that's awful, but it happened over there." I can promise you that just as bad things happened to Indigenous and Black people in America.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Religious bigotry, Police brutality, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Rape, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, and Racism
anniereads221's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
5.0
This book was a book I had to reread after reading it once. I listened to it and was getting information but did not at all understand how each chapter was interconnecting so I decided to reread it after looking at some people's reviews of it, and understood a lot more of the book as a whole and enjoyed it a lot more
The three points of view as follows is:
August centred POV in the third person
Grandfathers dictionary
And a letter is being written by a reverend of the ex-missionary
When it throws you into the story of August going back to her family home in massacre Plains to go to her grandfather's funeral. She hasn't been home since she was sent to Britain and stayed. She wants to find her grandfather's dictionary that he was seen writing before his death. But with that, she also has the memory of her sister in her mind as her sister went missing when she was a child.
The more we learned, the more I was intrigued and was enjoying the journey of this book.
I feel like this book won't be for everyone, as the POVs prove. But I am so glad I decided to reread it and understand how it all fitted together properly in the end.
I am glad I started with this book for 2024 after my rereads of the Monk and Robot series
The three points of view as follows is:
August centred POV in the third person
Grandfathers dictionary
And a letter is being written by a reverend of the ex-missionary
When it throws you into the story of August going back to her family home in massacre Plains to go to her grandfather's funeral. She hasn't been home since she was sent to Britain and stayed. She wants to find her grandfather's dictionary that he was seen writing before his death. But with that, she also has the memory of her sister in her mind as her sister went missing when she was a child.
The more we learned, the more I was intrigued and was enjoying the journey of this book.
I feel like this book won't be for everyone, as the POVs prove. But I am so glad I decided to reread it and understand how it all fitted together properly in the end.
I am glad I started with this book for 2024 after my rereads of the Monk and Robot series
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Genocide, Death, Murder, Grief, Child death, Racism, Pedophilia, Child abuse, and Colonisation
Moderate: Eating disorder
rainbowpizzastars's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
Heartbreaking, but important telling of how just one trauma affects multiple generations, and then can be compounded by the inter-generational trauma of Australia’s violent colonization and brutality toward indigenous people of the land, and what it takes to even start healing.
Ending felt rushed and a bit incongruent with the pace and nature of the storytelling in the rest of the book.
Also if you don’t like books that skip between different narrators or POVs, you will probably struggle with this book.
There were some confusing parts where the POV briefly shifted off the main characters via whom the story is told.
Overall, I read this in one day - it was compelling.
Edit: I think the digital version has some typos?
Ending felt rushed and a bit incongruent with the pace and nature of the storytelling in the rest of the book.
Also if you don’t like books that skip between different narrators or POVs, you will probably struggle with this book.
There were some confusing parts where the POV briefly shifted off the main characters via whom the story is told.
Overall, I read this in one day - it was compelling.
Edit: I think the digital version has some typos?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation and Grief
Moderate: Child abuse and Pedophilia
Minor: Eating disorder
cantfindmybookmark's review
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Colonisation, and Racial slurs
Moderate: Pedophilia and Murder
holly_133's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Child death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Grief, Pedophilia, Racism, and Sexual assault
bannedfrombookclub's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
sad
4.0
This was really well conceived, a felt all three narratives were distinct and built the story perfectly (I do wish they had been more distinct in the audiobook production I listened to, different voice actors even). The audiobook is great for hearing and experiencing the language however.
Something in the ending felt a little underworked to me, like I didn't feel all the seeds of its main players/events were planted earlier on. I was a little reminded of that observation about Raiders of the Lost Ark, that the actions of the main characters had no impact on the outcome of the movie. Because here ... the graveyard would have been discovered anyway ... I just didnt want to see this family be supporting characters or witnesses in their own story because a lot of the heavy lifting of stopping the mine happens off page and is driven by others. Also, you just hug it out with Aunt Nicki?
Something in the ending felt a little underworked to me, like I didn't feel all the seeds of its main players/events were planted earlier on.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Colonisation
Moderate: Eating disorder and Pedophilia
emzireads's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation
Moderate: Child abuse and Child death
lettuce_read's review against another edition
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racism, Colonisation, and Police brutality
Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, and Pedophilia