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oliviamaree's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
kcfromaustcrime's review against another edition
5.0
Read for our f2f bookclub gathering this month, TOO MUCH LIP was a perfect book for a club like ours - triggering much discussion. For this reader, starting with that line in the blurb:
"The avalanche of bullshit in the world would drown her if she let it; the least she could do was raise her voice in anger."
... it was a really enjoyable reading experience, providing insight, connection, recognition and an opportunity to learn. Delivered with touches of dark and light humour that frequently had me roaring with laughter, and moments that left me breathless with awareness of past cruelties, of lack of understanding and too many things we have been so unwilling to acknowledge or accept for such a long time, and how much we have missed out on because of that.
TOO MUCH LIP is the story of wise-cracking, externally tough as nails, Kerry Salter and her return to the family fold as her Pop lies dying. It's about old family wounds, next generation struggles, and a sense of place that's enviable in the way it wraps identity and belief systems into absolute connection with place, the past and the future. It's about love in unexpected places, acceptance within fractious and complicated families and inter-generational trauma, the amount of damage that colonisation has left in its wake, and the little battles that everybody has on a day to day basis just trying to keep one foot in front of the other.
Told in perfect voices, Kerry and her family are people who are so real you look for them in the room as you're reading about them. It's about a place which is so beautifully depicted you not only see, but feel it. It's a story of survival and pride that made me admire these people so much, with their reality and spirituality, their connection to place, and the creatures that surround them, their ways of looking back for guidance on how to move forward, and their painful but unshrinking confrontation of past abuse.
Somebody told me years ago that you shouldn't finish a review with a declaration of recommendation, that the review itself should imply it, but in case there's any doubt whatsoever TOO MUCH LIP cannot be recommended highly, strongly, persistently enough. On my Australian's mandatory reading list, it's right up towards the very top.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/too-much-lip-melissa-lucashenko
"The avalanche of bullshit in the world would drown her if she let it; the least she could do was raise her voice in anger."
... it was a really enjoyable reading experience, providing insight, connection, recognition and an opportunity to learn. Delivered with touches of dark and light humour that frequently had me roaring with laughter, and moments that left me breathless with awareness of past cruelties, of lack of understanding and too many things we have been so unwilling to acknowledge or accept for such a long time, and how much we have missed out on because of that.
TOO MUCH LIP is the story of wise-cracking, externally tough as nails, Kerry Salter and her return to the family fold as her Pop lies dying. It's about old family wounds, next generation struggles, and a sense of place that's enviable in the way it wraps identity and belief systems into absolute connection with place, the past and the future. It's about love in unexpected places, acceptance within fractious and complicated families and inter-generational trauma, the amount of damage that colonisation has left in its wake, and the little battles that everybody has on a day to day basis just trying to keep one foot in front of the other.
Told in perfect voices, Kerry and her family are people who are so real you look for them in the room as you're reading about them. It's about a place which is so beautifully depicted you not only see, but feel it. It's a story of survival and pride that made me admire these people so much, with their reality and spirituality, their connection to place, and the creatures that surround them, their ways of looking back for guidance on how to move forward, and their painful but unshrinking confrontation of past abuse.
Somebody told me years ago that you shouldn't finish a review with a declaration of recommendation, that the review itself should imply it, but in case there's any doubt whatsoever TOO MUCH LIP cannot be recommended highly, strongly, persistently enough. On my Australian's mandatory reading list, it's right up towards the very top.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/too-much-lip-melissa-lucashenko
bookisshtoni's review against another edition
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
wertofu's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
A book of the multi generational trauma and poverty of colonisation, revenge and healing.
reflectiverambling_nalana's review against another edition
4.0
I want to amend this review after I've had more time to process this. You can get the plot set up from the publisher. But it's more than a novel of conflict to resolve. It is a striking story about family, identity, about trauma and survival. It's about the real world prejudices and darkness that have occurred and happen to native populations. But it's also about the beauty of community and family these things create. It's about learning to see your own blind spots. It's about anger, love, doubt, finding strength, giving yourself permission to be angry, and spirituality. It's about having the backs and hearts of others even when you can't stand everything around you. It doesn't let anyone make excuses. It tackles subjects of race and community conflict as well as self identification in ways not frequently seen. It's one that absolutely will stick with me.
catcha_'s review against another edition
dark
funny
hopeful
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
carole888's review against another edition
4.0
“Too much lip, her old problem from way back. And the older she got, the harder it seemed to get to swallow her opinions. The avalanche of bullshit in the world would drown her if she let it; the least she could do was raise her voice in anger.”
This is a book that every Australian should read. I will be thinking of Kerry and her family for a long time to come ….
This is a book that every Australian should read. I will be thinking of Kerry and her family for a long time to come ….
bianca89279's review against another edition
4.0
Trigger warning - rape, incest, child neglect, alcoholism.
I've finally got around to reading this multi-award winner novel.
The Salters are an aboriginal family living in Durrongo, New South Wales - a fictional town.
The imminent death of the family elder brings back home Kerry Salter, who's been living in Queensland for over ten years. She's a lesbian and drives a Harley motorcycle. She's got a sharp tongue, or "too much lip". She's scared of and kind of loathes her alcoholic brother, Ken, who still lives in the family home with their mother, Pretty Mary, who is looking after her dying father in law. This family is as far as possible from a perfect family. They've had their share of drama and heartache. There's the intergenerational trauma suffered by predecessors, there's alcoholism, violence, stints in prison, gambling addiction, the disappearance of Pretty Mary's other daughter, Donna, presumed dead. The ups and downs of this family are dizzying.
When the town mayor tries to sell the land adjacent to their ancestors' holly island to build a new prison, the family members come together to stop its development.
Secrets, repressed memories resurface. So much pain, trauma and anger.
Lucashenko managed to infuse some humour and lighter moments to give us a breather from all the drama. One might think that it's too much drama, but the author assures us that "...…lest any readers assume this portrayal of Aboriginal lives is exaggerated, I would add that virtually every incidence of violence in these pages has occurred within my extended family at least once. The (very) few exceptions are drawn either from the historical record or from Aboriginal oral history.
Lucashenko's writing is unadorned and realistic. There's quite a bit of lingo and cussing, which I didn't mind.
I've finally got around to reading this multi-award winner novel.
The Salters are an aboriginal family living in Durrongo, New South Wales - a fictional town.
The imminent death of the family elder brings back home Kerry Salter, who's been living in Queensland for over ten years. She's a lesbian and drives a Harley motorcycle. She's got a sharp tongue, or "too much lip". She's scared of and kind of loathes her alcoholic brother, Ken, who still lives in the family home with their mother, Pretty Mary, who is looking after her dying father in law. This family is as far as possible from a perfect family. They've had their share of drama and heartache. There's the intergenerational trauma suffered by predecessors, there's alcoholism, violence, stints in prison, gambling addiction, the disappearance of Pretty Mary's other daughter, Donna, presumed dead. The ups and downs of this family are dizzying.
When the town mayor tries to sell the land adjacent to their ancestors' holly island to build a new prison, the family members come together to stop its development.
Secrets, repressed memories resurface. So much pain, trauma and anger.
Lucashenko managed to infuse some humour and lighter moments to give us a breather from all the drama. One might think that it's too much drama, but the author assures us that "...…lest any readers assume this portrayal of Aboriginal lives is exaggerated, I would add that virtually every incidence of violence in these pages has occurred within my extended family at least once. The (very) few exceptions are drawn either from the historical record or from Aboriginal oral history.
Lucashenko's writing is unadorned and realistic. There's quite a bit of lingo and cussing, which I didn't mind.
thecurbau's review against another edition
4.0
Melissa's work is always valuable and powerful to read. Having just read Mullumbimby, which I loved, I see a lot of narrative similarities here. This is a far more serious text than that was, and rightfully so. I look forward to digging further into her work.
nina_reads_books's review against another edition
3.0
Too Much Lip focuses on Kerry Salter and her family. The Salters live on Bundjalung country in northern NSW and Kerry returns to the family home as her Pop is dying. She stays longer than she expects as plans by a developer to build on her family’s sacred land are exposed and multiple family secrets can’t stay hidden any longer.
There are a lot of themes woven through the book – Indigenous land rights and cultural history, family dysfunction and racism. There is Indigenous language peppered throughout and the story really shines a light on poverty, domestic violence, alcoholism and the impact of multigenerational trauma.
I’ll be honest and say I found this book slow going and quite hard to read. I found the descriptions of violence and the nonchalant attitudes towards crime a bit hard to take. I know that many of these events are based on Lucashenko’s own extended family and there was a purpose to their inclusion but it was quite brutal and confronting at times.
I think the main issue for me was that the plot felt meandering and slow and it was not always clear where the book was going especially in the first half. There is quite an epic twist though which comes out of the blue and then takes the story through to its conclusion at a faster pace.
Overall I liked it but didn’t love it. I was shocked at the portrayal of life for the Salter family but I also had my eyes opened to what life is like for some modern Indigenous families.
There are a lot of themes woven through the book – Indigenous land rights and cultural history, family dysfunction and racism. There is Indigenous language peppered throughout and the story really shines a light on poverty, domestic violence, alcoholism and the impact of multigenerational trauma.
I’ll be honest and say I found this book slow going and quite hard to read. I found the descriptions of violence and the nonchalant attitudes towards crime a bit hard to take. I know that many of these events are based on Lucashenko’s own extended family and there was a purpose to their inclusion but it was quite brutal and confronting at times.
I think the main issue for me was that the plot felt meandering and slow and it was not always clear where the book was going especially in the first half. There is quite an epic twist though which comes out of the blue and then takes the story through to its conclusion at a faster pace.
Overall I liked it but didn’t love it. I was shocked at the portrayal of life for the Salter family but I also had my eyes opened to what life is like for some modern Indigenous families.