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ajitate's review against another edition
2.0
Another review I read for this book said it was a practice run for The Long Engagement. I can sympathise with that viewpoint: it has the same creepy feeling you get when you start to realise your narrator is not so very reliable. There's also a similar gothic atmosphere.
I don't know that I agree with the reviewers saying the protagonist is stupid and says dumb things. Kate Byrne reveals herself to be somewhat delusional and obsessed, while also admitting a certain youth and naivety, emphasised by the interleavened 'story for children' woven into the text. It's an interesting character study, certainly.
There is no doubt Hooper is a talented prose artist, but I do get the feeling she is exploring her material in search of something bigger and better. We shall see.
I don't know that I agree with the reviewers saying the protagonist is stupid and says dumb things. Kate Byrne reveals herself to be somewhat delusional and obsessed, while also admitting a certain youth and naivety, emphasised by the interleavened 'story for children' woven into the text. It's an interesting character study, certainly.
There is no doubt Hooper is a talented prose artist, but I do get the feeling she is exploring her material in search of something bigger and better. We shall see.
mimiecherry's review against another edition
4.0
A very atmospheric novel, which left a taste of tasmania and a feeling of threat every time I put it down. I loved how the main plot intertwined with that of a previous murder, so much so that I sometimes seemed to forget whether it was written in the 1st or 3rd person. I really enjoyed how the world is seen repeatedly through adult's and children's eyes and how those visions reverse the stereotypical representations of childhood innocence. Not five stars because there was something that did not feel right, something missing and I can't quite say what. Maybe the parts with the animals seemed a bit too awkward because not developed enough in between chapters?
charmaineclancy's review against another edition
5.0
Seems from the reviews, you either hate or love this story. I'm on the lovin' side.
It is an uncomfortable narrative, and at time the protagonist is quite selfish and grates on the reader. However, there is a raw honesty in the voices of this story. I found it an impressively smooth transition between the current difficulties of the protagonist, torn between her affair, her role as teacher to her lover's son and the pull of her own moral compass, the background story of a woman driven to murder when she discovered her husband was sleeping with a much younger woman, and the imagined Australian native animals who are attempting to relive and solve the old crime.
It was such a unique read that I found it an entertaining experience.
It is an uncomfortable narrative, and at time the protagonist is quite selfish and grates on the reader. However, there is a raw honesty in the voices of this story. I found it an impressively smooth transition between the current difficulties of the protagonist, torn between her affair, her role as teacher to her lover's son and the pull of her own moral compass, the background story of a woman driven to murder when she discovered her husband was sleeping with a much younger woman, and the imagined Australian native animals who are attempting to relive and solve the old crime.
It was such a unique read that I found it an entertaining experience.
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