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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
"That's why people tell stories, she thinks. They remind us we why love things. They remind us why we love other people". So thinks Molly Hook the gravedigger girl who talks to the sky. This is a magical book about a young girl on a journey in the Top End of Australia after Darwin was bombed by the Japanese in WWII. This was a book that I savoured, and I really didn't want to finish it. It's enchanting and beautifully written and just magical. I love Molly Hook and her unusual traveling companions - a gorgeous actress in an emerald green dress, Greta Maze, and a Japanese pilot who falls from the sky, Yukio Miki. Yukio tells Molly his family's story of mystical swords and butterflies as Molly keeps looking up for direction from the sky.
4.5 stars, I bloody loved this. Haven't been so emotionally attached to characters in a while and the descriptions of the outback were magical.
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is for people who like books that paint pictures instead of telling stories. I'm not one of those people, so I struggled to finish this and wouldn't recommend it to anyone I know.
I'm a sucker for a child and unrelated-adult-forced-into-parental-role survive in the wilderness together. A grittier story then Hunt For The Wilderpeople for sure, but somehow, equally as uplifting? Greta was a standout, deserving recognition as a standout character in the Australian literary canon (and I just really want to play the live-action version of her, sue me Cate Blanchett) and Aubrey Hook was a detestable, terrifying villain.
Everything was heightened, bordering (or tumbling over) into magical realism at times. The characters were larger than life and the story was grandiose. It's a dense narrative, and the repetition of 'blank, Molly, blank' didn't have the effect I think was hoped after the tenth time it was used. That personal preference with writing style; I thought it was really effective during the bombing and grave-digging scene, but after a while it felt like a cop-out for expending on Molly's thought process. The expansive descriptions of the Australian bushlands were mwah... it's well established I'm a sucker for personification of an environment. It's deceptively short for how much you feel you are reading about. It's the kind of story I want to see in multiple mediums, like the stage and screen, and I'm hoping Dalton's blossoming popularity will open this avenue.
Everything was heightened, bordering (or tumbling over) into magical realism at times. The characters were larger than life and the story was grandiose. It's a dense narrative, and the repetition of 'blank, Molly, blank' didn't have the effect I think was hoped after the tenth time it was used. That personal preference with writing style; I thought it was really effective during the bombing and grave-digging scene, but after a while it felt like a cop-out for expending on Molly's thought process. The expansive descriptions of the Australian bushlands were mwah... it's well established I'm a sucker for personification of an environment. It's deceptively short for how much you feel you are reading about. It's the kind of story I want to see in multiple mediums, like the stage and screen, and I'm hoping Dalton's blossoming popularity will open this avenue.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book felt like homework. I was so excited to read a story about Australia from an Australian author since I moved here but I was honestly bored to tears. Only positive I have to say is you can truly see the love the author has for this country with the colourful descriptions of the scenery. But even that got a bit too much. I think the book had the potential to be a great story but it didn’t reach it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Physical abuse, War
Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Grief, Death of parent
Minor: Animal death, Infidelity, Rape
There's only people, Molly. There are good ones and there are bad ones and then there's all of us nuts stuck in the middle.
This is so very different to Boy Swallows Universe, and yet similar at the same time. It's a completely new story in a new time and new place, but that Dalton voice is just as strong and descriptive and captive. It's kinda like an outback Wizard of Oz but with slightly less magic (or more depending on your point of view). Trent walks the tightrope between brutal and beautiful with his story of Molly and sky gifts and utopias and Hells and crocs, salties and freshies both. It's magica; and fantastical but so, so down to earth. You'll love it, guaranteed.
This is so very different to Boy Swallows Universe, and yet similar at the same time. It's a completely new story in a new time and new place, but that Dalton voice is just as strong and descriptive and captive. It's kinda like an outback Wizard of Oz but with slightly less magic (or more depending on your point of view). Trent walks the tightrope between brutal and beautiful with his story of Molly and sky gifts and utopias and Hells and crocs, salties and freshies both. It's magica; and fantastical but so, so down to earth. You'll love it, guaranteed.
adventurous
dark
tense
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:
Yes
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Magical