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tlaynejones's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
5.0
I’m not completely sure what I think. If I had read this five years ago I think it would have been an unequivocal rave review. The writing is beautiful, evocative of place and culture, and the story compelled me forward, I had a hard time putting it down. Truly, in many ways I loved this novel.
However, I’m old and way less tolerant of predatory abusive behaviour then I used to be. I’m also less tolerant of men writing from the pov of people who aren’t men (Kim Scott is a man). Each of these points influenced the other, and grated against my mind as I read. One of the main pov’s is a teenaged girl, and one of the storylines involves grooming and abuse. The pov of the teen girl felt like the least convincing part of the story. The grooming and abuse made me mad in a way that made it difficult for me to think critically about how it was written.
Having said all that I don’t feel any certainty in my discomfort. Physical and sexual abuse of Aboriginal women and children is a pervasive problem, and Scott is writing a novel about his Noongar community. I think (hope) I’ll have a clearer sense of what I think, once I’ve had some time to sit with it.
If you love great literary fiction, that leaves some threads unanswered at the end, you’ll probably love this one too. It really is a compelling, well drawn story of a community of contemporary Noongar people returning to the site of a terrible massacre of their ancestors, and the farmer who currently owns the land.
Obvious CW for SA, grooming, r*pe, gaslighting. Also for racism and genocide.
However, I’m old and way less tolerant of predatory abusive behaviour then I used to be. I’m also less tolerant of men writing from the pov of people who aren’t men (Kim Scott is a man). Each of these points influenced the other, and grated against my mind as I read. One of the main pov’s is a teenaged girl, and one of the storylines involves grooming and abuse. The pov of the teen girl felt like the least convincing part of the story. The grooming and abuse made me mad in a way that made it difficult for me to think critically about how it was written.
Having said all that I don’t feel any certainty in my discomfort. Physical and sexual abuse of Aboriginal women and children is a pervasive problem, and Scott is writing a novel about his Noongar community. I think (hope) I’ll have a clearer sense of what I think, once I’ve had some time to sit with it.
If you love great literary fiction, that leaves some threads unanswered at the end, you’ll probably love this one too. It really is a compelling, well drawn story of a community of contemporary Noongar people returning to the site of a terrible massacre of their ancestors, and the farmer who currently owns the land.
Obvious CW for SA, grooming, r*pe, gaslighting. Also for racism and genocide.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Racism, Colonisation, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Drug use, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Grief, Physical abuse, Sexism, Animal death, Death of parent, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship
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