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avrbookstuff's review
3.0
This is shortlisted for the Miles Franklin prize this year. Not my type of book at all in style, and the subject matter is pretty grim. But it is well-crafted so I can see why it's on the list.
hannahmayreads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
The apparent shame of womanhood is stark on the page here. The heartbreak, brutality, and trauma are visceral. This whole book is an odd dichotomy of starkness and hazy, childish uncertainty. The observations are brilliant, the innocuous details rendered so perfectly. It is beautiful, poignant, dark, and sparse all at once. What a book, what a writer.
“At Barcaldine my mother gives me money to buy more pads. I don’t know how much blood is the right amount. The woman at the check-out in the supermarket takes the pads over to the service counter where she wraps them up in a sheet of newspaper and sticky-tapes the end down before she puts them in the bag."
It reminded me a little of Anna Burns. The cleverly chosen language, the heaviness of it despite its restraint, and obviously the lack of names. A conscious choice by both writers that I found isolating and intimate. How do they do it? How are they capable of both? It is beyond me, but I relish the challenge of reading it.
“At Barcaldine my mother gives me money to buy more pads. I don’t know how much blood is the right amount. The woman at the check-out in the supermarket takes the pads over to the service counter where she wraps them up in a sheet of newspaper and sticky-tapes the end down before she puts them in the bag."
It reminded me a little of Anna Burns. The cleverly chosen language, the heaviness of it despite its restraint, and obviously the lack of names. A conscious choice by both writers that I found isolating and intimate. How do they do it? How are they capable of both? It is beyond me, but I relish the challenge of reading it.
hanleest's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Fatphobia
wtb_michael's review
4.0
Short and brutal book, about a deeply dysfunctional family through the eyes of a 15 year old girl.
meganori's review
4.0
Very much literary fiction - not plot driven, not character driven, I don't know what it was! But I really liked it 4.5*
penelopereads's review
3.0
Three and a half stars.
Uniquely written with a distinct narrative voice (is that right? Can I say that?) - one that seemed utterly detached. The use of all the mechanic jargon helped to convey that detachment. It’s a clever way to write in the experience of such trauma. At the same time the writing is quite evocative, perfectly setting the quintessentially Aussie, very 70s scene.
This brutal and heartbreaking content was quite hard to read but the novel itself was not. I finished it in one afternoon. Something was missing though. I’m not sure this is going to stay with me the way it perhaps should.
Uniquely written with a distinct narrative voice (is that right? Can I say that?) - one that seemed utterly detached. The use of all the mechanic jargon helped to convey that detachment. It’s a clever way to write in the experience of such trauma. At the same time the writing is quite evocative, perfectly setting the quintessentially Aussie, very 70s scene.
This brutal and heartbreaking content was quite hard to read but the novel itself was not. I finished it in one afternoon. Something was missing though. I’m not sure this is going to stay with me the way it perhaps should.
georgiarybanks's review
3.0
2.5 stars
I appreciate how clever the writing is in this book - Tiffany uses short sentence, with simple words and everyday observations to hint at big messy, painful themes. Who knew that the manual for 1970s model Holden could form the basis of so many poetic ideas. I can see why this book has been shortlisted for so many literary awards.
Despite all that, it wasn't my jam. I wasn't in the right mood for such a bleak and unrelenting story.
I appreciate how clever the writing is in this book - Tiffany uses short sentence, with simple words and everyday observations to hint at big messy, painful themes. Who knew that the manual for 1970s model Holden could form the basis of so many poetic ideas. I can see why this book has been shortlisted for so many literary awards.
Despite all that, it wasn't my jam. I wasn't in the right mood for such a bleak and unrelenting story.
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