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bobbijopmh's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
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? It's complicated
4.5
A moving story of finding home, connection and country.
It's a really captivating plot and is written across multiple perspectives and timelines. At first, I found this a little jarring, switching between modern-day August & the 1900s; but the perspective switching really adds to the pacing of the story and sort of helps to gradually feed the reader the right emotions and information at the right points in the main narrative.
This book deals with some painful themes, but Tara June Winch's writing is beautiful and emotive. I'd definitely classify this as an #OwnVoices read, and I really loved the inclusion of Wiradjuri language as central to the book. I also really enjoyed the connection to the land and the environment that was so central to the plot.
The only, singular reason this was not a five-star book for me was the way it ends. I would have liked it to go on just a little longer, but I loved it regardless.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Grief, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Violence
avadore's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
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
5.0
I struggled a bit with the pacing to begin with, it is admittedly a slow start, but please stick with it until the funeral where August really starts to wake up to what is happening not just with herself but with her family. You just have to make it through the weight of August's malaise to get there. I raced through the other sections of the book to get to Albert Gondiwindi's part-dictionary part-memoir sections, which were sad and delightful and beautiful all the way through.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Eating disorder, and Child abuse
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Genocide, Murder, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence
This book does not shy away from the experiences faced by Aboriginal people on missions in Australia during the late 19th and through the 20th century, including rape of women, violence, forced work, and the removal of children. The author is not overly graphic in her descriptions but she does not shy away from the realities faced by Aboriginal people who lived through the start, establishment, and continuation of the colony.egg_cup's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
A tale of grief, trauma, and the healing power of family and connection to culture - the range of this book and it's ability to capture the way the past trickles down into the present results in a heartwrenching narrative. The characters feel candid and authentic, and the masterful way Tara weaves together three separate stories from three different time periods creates a rich tale of history and healing. This is a story that is sure to stay with anyone who reads it long after the last page has been turned.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Grief, and Death
Moderate: Child abuse, Racism, and Pedophilia
Minor: Genocide, Violence, and Slavery
abbie_'s review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
I know shockingly little about Indigenous Australians, and while this is fiction you can of course learn a lot from fiction. It also provides a good jumping-off point for learning more, and Winch provides a reading list in the author’s note which I was frantically scribbling down!
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The Yield is split into three narrative strands, one of which is the Wiradjuri dictionary compiled by Albert ‘Poppy’ Gondiwindi, the grandfather of another main narrator, August. It was such a unique and clever way of telling a story, and being able to hear the Wiradjuri words out loud was wonderful. I also read that Winch is donating some of the profits of this book to Indigenous language classes in Australia. Sadly Australia’s Indigenous languages are among some of the most at risk in the world of disappearing.
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Honestly this book takes on so much, from colonialism and intent versus impact to big corps stealing land for profit and child abuse. Winch handles it all deftly and sensitively.
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Like with The Mountains Sing, another brilliant audiobook, I really want to reread this one in print too. I feel like there’s so much more to uncover and unpack on a second reading in a different format.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence
definebookish's review against another edition
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Twentysomething August Gondiwindi is living on the other side of the world when news of her grandfather’s death reaches her. ‘Poppy’ Albert helped to raise her back in Massacre Plains, on the banks of the now dried-up Murrumby River – a home she was ready enough to leave behind for England a decade ago. Returning for his funeral, she now finds the family land under threat from a mining company and her grandmother resigned to impending displacement.
I loved this story of family and legacy and language from Tara June Winch. In the present day we have August, grieving not only her grandfather but a lost sister, and parents lost in other ways entirely. Interwoven with her narrative are excerpts from the Wiradjuri dictionary that Albert was writing before his death – much more than context or seasoning, the definitions tell his own story of love and loss as one of the Stolen Generation. A third strand is a serialised letter penned over a century earlier by one Reverend Greenleaf, a European missionary whose supposed benevolence brings suffering upon the indigenous people he means to help.
While Greenleaf’s sections perhaps don’t sing in the way the other two do, together all three strands combine into a compelling feat of scale and perspective. This is both the story of the violent colonisation of an entire people, and an intimate story of personal pain and personal joy.
The sense of place is beautifully vivid here, all the more so for the privilege of seeing the country rendered partly through indigenous words. The author’s note explains that pre-colonisation, there were over 250 distinct languages in Australia, and about 600 dialects – and having read this story of a man rediscovering his ancestral language after having it wrenched so brutally away, there’s a bittersweetness to the thirty-page Wiradjuri dictionary Winch includes at the end of the story. A moving, hopeful, triumphant book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, and Forced institutionalization
demo's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Racism, and Violence
Moderate: Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Child abuse
Minor: Alcoholism
miaj_99's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexual violence, Racism, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Death, Child abuse, and Child death
Minor: Cancer
graceesix's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
This book needs to be the next book you read, especially for Australians. It discusses the loss of connection to culture by Australia's Indigenous people after the invasion by British colonists. The devastating impact of the stolen generations and how it contributed to the loss of language, practices, traditions and people throughout Australia's terrible and bloody history. Winch finishes the book with a dictionary from the Wiradjuri language, and provides resources for how readers can further learn about Australia's Indigenous land and cultures.
This land was stolen and never ceded. Always was, always will be.
This land was stolen and never ceded. Always was, always will be.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Child abuse, Racism, Racial slurs, and Genocide
firstbreaths's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse
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