Reviews

Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood

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vgk's review against another edition

4.0

A meditative novel about how we are to live in the anthropocene in this time of mass extinction, about grief, loss, forgiveness, regret, guilt and coping. It made me feel less alone.

Content Warnings

leemac027's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Normally when a book is written in the first person, you are drawn into the middle of the action - right into the protagonist's perspective. But Charlotte Wood has cleverly constructed this work, so you are an observer.

This style allows a lot of introspection. It is essentially about relationships and many questions are raised. What makes a good life? What is a good person? It highlights decisions we each have to make, good and bad, how you prioritise, how you justify the decisions you make.

It is such a fascinating narrative of a woman who leaves everything to live in an isolated religious community, even though she is an atheist. But this isolation brings up many issues about how she has treated people in the past and how she is treating people now. What do we give up to get the life we believe we want?

I also loved the analogy of the mouse plague - no spoiler here - but to me it symbolised so much.

Highly recommended.

thebendshop's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

kirstym25's review against another edition

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challenging reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Content Warnings

rojaed's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

vkce23's review

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emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Compulsive to read, with beautiful descriptions of the Australian landscape. A reflective meditation on grief that sometimes felt a little too cyclical for me and whilst I do love an ‘all vibes no plot’ book, the vibes in this one were quite depressing. Well written, melancholy and a little confusing in places due to the lack of joined up narrative. 3.5stars