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joyceedb's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.0
ursalita's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
Engaging mystery and police procedural
geraldine's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Was originally going to rate this a 3.5 but after thinking about it in the car AND half writing this review I think a 3 is more fair.
i did genuinely like a lot of it! i thought all the different character perspectives worked really well, even the "we" perspective. i thought all the characters and their reactions felt very real, especially constance, hers was the most harrowing and affecting to me. the voice of the book just really worked for me and i was engaged the whole time
however,
look. i said all the characters and reactions felt real, and i did mean that. and with that said i hated sarah. she was well written and felt like a real person i could meet! and i hated her. her and her cop buddy manipulating their suspects in order to arrest them, getting mad when people wouldn't talk to them without lawyers or without a warrant, misrepresenting the confidence of DNA evidence... really gross stuff.
i mean, to an extent i do think you're supposed to recognize that they're flawed individuals just like the rest of the cast, like... it's not like constance is perfect and the book knows that and expects you to realize that as well. but with sarah... she talks about how her exes (or women she expressed interest in that didn't go farther!) all hated that she was a cop and how her ex tried to get her to pull away from it, and she just dug in further and viewed it as an intrinsic part of herself.
plus the whole segment with her and amira's breakup and domestic violence... you can't remove this from the statistics that cops are much more likely than the general population to abuse their spouses/partners. when sarah was thinking "what if she tells my superiors" this was all i could think about! and it IS domestic violence even if it isn't in the same way that lewis's father terrorizes his family.
i also felt comparing sarah hurting amira with shel's drunk driving and esther's subsequent death rang false and left a bad taste in my mouth. i get the message of "sometimes tragic accidents happen when you make an emotional mistake" and how this can change the course of your life, but comparing "sarah getting mad that amira doesn't like that she's a cop, and then shoving her into a nightstand and hurting her" and "shel being triggered by seeing someone involved in her horrific trauma, a friend calling her a liar about it, drinking and then accidentally killing someone with her car" are apples and oranges. sarah wanted to shove amira out of anger. shel didn't want to kill a child. like yes i don't think sarah wanted amira to hit the nightstand and actually get physically hurt, but she did consciously choose to put her hands on her?? i mean i suppose you could make an argument about drunk driving, about it being always dangerous (and you would be right), but it's not a pointed, directed choice against a single person. i'm not even really arguing about either circumstance being in the book but the book directly calling a comparison between them feels so nasty to me.
thestorygraph only note: i do wish i had a better book club so we could actually discuss a book like this. i think there's a lot to discuss!!
the three stars really are for everything else not in my spoiler section. i really genuinely liked the rest, the story, the writing style, the characters...!
i did genuinely like a lot of it! i thought all the different character perspectives worked really well, even the "we" perspective. i thought all the characters and their reactions felt very real, especially constance, hers was the most harrowing and affecting to me. the voice of the book just really worked for me and i was engaged the whole time
however,
look. i said all the characters and reactions felt real, and i did mean that. and with that said i hated sarah. she was well written and felt like a real person i could meet! and i hated her. her and her cop buddy manipulating their suspects in order to arrest them, getting mad when people wouldn't talk to them without lawyers or without a warrant, misrepresenting the confidence of DNA evidence... really gross stuff.
i mean, to an extent i do think you're supposed to recognize that they're flawed individuals just like the rest of the cast, like... it's not like constance is perfect and the book knows that and expects you to realize that as well. but with sarah... she talks about how her exes (or women she expressed interest in that didn't go farther!) all hated that she was a cop and how her ex tried to get her to pull away from it, and she just dug in further and viewed it as an intrinsic part of herself.
plus the whole segment with her and amira's breakup and domestic violence... you can't remove this from the statistics that cops are much more likely than the general population to abuse their spouses/partners. when sarah was thinking "what if she tells my superiors" this was all i could think about! and it IS domestic violence even if it isn't in the same way that lewis's father terrorizes his family.
i also felt comparing sarah hurting amira with shel's drunk driving and esther's subsequent death rang false and left a bad taste in my mouth. i get the message of "sometimes tragic accidents happen when you make an emotional mistake" and how this can change the course of your life, but comparing "sarah getting mad that amira doesn't like that she's a cop, and then shoving her into a nightstand and hurting her" and "shel being triggered by seeing someone involved in her horrific trauma, a friend calling her a liar about it, drinking and then accidentally killing someone with her car" are apples and oranges. sarah wanted to shove amira out of anger. shel didn't want to kill a child. like yes i don't think sarah wanted amira to hit the nightstand and actually get physically hurt, but she did consciously choose to put her hands on her?? i mean i suppose you could make an argument about drunk driving, about it being always dangerous (and you would be right), but it's not a pointed, directed choice against a single person. i'm not even really arguing about either circumstance being in the book but the book directly calling a comparison between them feels so nasty to me.
thestorygraph only note: i do wish i had a better book club so we could actually discuss a book like this. i think there's a lot to discuss!!
the three stars really are for everything else not in my spoiler section. i really genuinely liked the rest, the story, the writing style, the characters...!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Car accident, Child death, Sexual assault, Rape, and Domestic abuse
evabails's review against another edition
3.0
Incredible well written and heartbreaking crime fiction, one of the best I have read in a while. Definitely more of a slow burn but left me wanting more, I couldnt put this down. So so Australian.
hellbent's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
jbt1234's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
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? It's complicated
3.75
It feels weird to be reviewing a book written by a woman who personally taught me a bunch of what I know about writing. I was lucky enough to be one of Hayley Scrivenor's many students at the University of Wollongong (whether she remembers me or not!), taught by all of the same people who taught her.
I was so excited to see this name on the bookshelf, and I grabbed it immediately! But what I also learned at UOW, particularly from one Shady Cosgrove, is that criticism only makes us stronger writers, so here it goes!
Interestingly enough, I found this book really shone after the mystery was done, in the last 15% we see the impact of all these events on all these characters. How they've changed, how they've learned or tried to escape. It might be that contemporary mystery isn't my usual genre of choice, but something about the narrative itself lacked a certain quality to make it super gripping in the lead up to the emotional resolution. I was invested in the people more than the story.
The way Dirt Town is written is unique and captivating, with beautiful Australian metaphor and imagery and a snapshot of the child psyche that's hard to pull off. The alternation between First Person, Third Person, and Collective pronouns was unique, if a little jarring at first. It felt like a late-night crime special on TV, told from Ronnie's perspective, and I quite enjoyed that once I got used to it.
I don't want it to seem like I think the plot was boring, or banal, it just wasn't quite as gripping as I think I was expecting a mystery to be. The beauty of this book lies in its characters, the machinations of a small Australian town, and the impact one missing little girl can have on a community.
I'm extremely proud to have learned from the author of this wonderful work, and I hope to see more from Hayley soon!
PS: A lot of my TBR at the moment is queer literature, and I really expected this to be a break. I was wrong, and this book has wonderful, contemporary, normalised queer representation and it was a wonderful surprise.
I was so excited to see this name on the bookshelf, and I grabbed it immediately! But what I also learned at UOW, particularly from one Shady Cosgrove, is that criticism only makes us stronger writers, so here it goes!
Interestingly enough, I found this book really shone after the mystery was done, in the last 15% we see the impact of all these events on all these characters. How they've changed, how they've learned or tried to escape. It might be that contemporary mystery isn't my usual genre of choice, but something about the narrative itself lacked a certain quality to make it super gripping in the lead up to the emotional resolution. I was invested in the people more than the story.
The way Dirt Town is written is unique and captivating, with beautiful Australian metaphor and imagery and a snapshot of the child psyche that's hard to pull off. The alternation between First Person, Third Person, and Collective pronouns was unique, if a little jarring at first. It felt like a late-night crime special on TV, told from Ronnie's perspective, and I quite enjoyed that once I got used to it.
I don't want it to seem like I think the plot was boring, or banal, it just wasn't quite as gripping as I think I was expecting a mystery to be. The beauty of this book lies in its characters, the machinations of a small Australian town, and the impact one missing little girl can have on a community.
I'm extremely proud to have learned from the author of this wonderful work, and I hope to see more from Hayley soon!
PS: A lot of my TBR at the moment is queer literature, and I really expected this to be a break. I was wrong, and this book has wonderful, contemporary, normalised queer representation and it was a wonderful surprise.
Content Warnings
Minor: Kidnapping, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Homophobia, and Rape
aliena_jackson's review
3.0
In the end, the answer to the question, “What happened to Esther?” wasn’t quite what I expected, and I’m still processing my feelings about that.
kirstenerickson5's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
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? No
3.0
andreatypesbraille's review against another edition
5.0
Wow. This was an incredible first audiobook experience for me. At 10 and a half hours, I wasn't sure how I would like devoting that much time to this book, but I ended up bingeing it over the course of 3 days. I didn't want to stop listening!
The audiobook I found to be incredibly immersive. The narrator did a fantastic job really diving into each character. The author did a wonderful job creating such an atmospheric story. The sweltering heat of rural Australia in summertime I think has as much a role as any other character.
The story itself is not a happy one. There was no happy ending here, for most of the characters, however it is a satisfying ending.
Young Esther Bianchi goes missing on her way home from school in her small, rural Australia town. The story is about the search to find Esther, but also uncovering secrets in this small dusty town. The story unravels slowly, being told from different perspectives in each chapter: Esther's two best friends, Esther's mother, Esther's mother's best friend, the detective sergeant in charge of the search and investigation into Esther's disappearance. There's also the "Greek chorus" that has chapters sporadically throughout the book. I found this Greek chorus to be an interesting touch. It gave more perspective to the lives of the children in Durton. Not just one child's life, as we see with Ronnie and Lewis, but the town's children's overall experience, things both widely known and spoken of as well as the more unspoken truths, growing up in this small town.
Overall, I think the audiobook deserves a 5 stars. The narrator was really fantastic. It helped further cement the mood to have the Australian accent speaking throughout.
The book itself is 4.5 stars. I just had one issue with it, but it pulled me out of the story every time the character of Ronnie has a scene or is speaking. Ronnie, for whatever reason, doesn't seem like a 12 year old. She's incredibly impulsive and juvenile, she doesn't respond in an appropriate way to learning her best friend has gone missing. It's a bizarre choice, and pulled me out of the story, because I kept checking to see whether Ronnie and Esther were supposed to be 12 or 7 or 8 years old.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with the audiobook in exchange for an honest review. It's a fantastic story and one that I will wholeheartedly recommend to others in the future, maybe not my students though.
The audiobook I found to be incredibly immersive. The narrator did a fantastic job really diving into each character. The author did a wonderful job creating such an atmospheric story. The sweltering heat of rural Australia in summertime I think has as much a role as any other character.
The story itself is not a happy one. There was no happy ending here, for most of the characters, however it is a satisfying ending.
Young Esther Bianchi goes missing on her way home from school in her small, rural Australia town. The story is about the search to find Esther, but also uncovering secrets in this small dusty town. The story unravels slowly, being told from different perspectives in each chapter: Esther's two best friends, Esther's mother, Esther's mother's best friend, the detective sergeant in charge of the search and investigation into Esther's disappearance. There's also the "Greek chorus" that has chapters sporadically throughout the book. I found this Greek chorus to be an interesting touch. It gave more perspective to the lives of the children in Durton. Not just one child's life, as we see with Ronnie and Lewis, but the town's children's overall experience, things both widely known and spoken of as well as the more unspoken truths, growing up in this small town.
Overall, I think the audiobook deserves a 5 stars. The narrator was really fantastic. It helped further cement the mood to have the Australian accent speaking throughout.
The book itself is 4.5 stars. I just had one issue with it, but it pulled me out of the story every time the character of Ronnie has a scene or is speaking. Ronnie, for whatever reason, doesn't seem like a 12 year old. She's incredibly impulsive and juvenile, she doesn't respond in an appropriate way to learning her best friend has gone missing. It's a bizarre choice, and pulled me out of the story, because I kept checking to see whether Ronnie and Esther were supposed to be 12 or 7 or 8 years old.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with the audiobook in exchange for an honest review. It's a fantastic story and one that I will wholeheartedly recommend to others in the future, maybe not my students though.