Scan barcode
A review by aplace_inthesun
Mountain Road, Late at Night by Alan Rossi
3.0
Nicholas and April live a life not in keeping with their family's views of normalcy. Quiet, peaceful, and isolated from the outside world, the family have been working on self-sufficiency and raising their young son Jack the way they wish to, without the trappings of materialism. Until one night April and Nicholas are killed in a car accident leaving Jack an orphan and needing some one to care for him.
Family members descend on the remote community, each motivated to care for Jack with their own intentions, each thinking they know what he needs. The reader gets a snapshot from Nathaniel, (Nicholas's brother), Katherine (Nicholas's mother), Tammy (April's mother) and finally, and the most poignant snapshot of all, from a dying Nicholas.
I'm largely unfamiliar with streams of consciousness in writing, so Mountain Road was something entirely different for me. Rambling descriptions and thoughts without the inclusion of actual conversation was an adjustment. Paragraphs would sometimes be a page or page and a half long. Each snapshot depicted that character's thoughts, feelings and reactions, a continuous flow of information. Nathanial's and Nicholas's points of view were like bookends for the story, where it started, and sadly, where it ended with Nicholas’s life painfully but slowly ebbing away. It's a powerful story of things left unsaid, how tragedy impacts individuals differently and how loss is manifested.
This was a confronting read, and whilst I struggled early on with the narrative I very much appreciated it's complexity. Thank you to Picador and Pan Macmillan Australia for a gifted copy of this book for the purposes of a review. Thew views expressed are my own.
This review also appears on my instagram page @aplace_inthesun.
Family members descend on the remote community, each motivated to care for Jack with their own intentions, each thinking they know what he needs. The reader gets a snapshot from Nathaniel, (Nicholas's brother), Katherine (Nicholas's mother), Tammy (April's mother) and finally, and the most poignant snapshot of all, from a dying Nicholas.
I'm largely unfamiliar with streams of consciousness in writing, so Mountain Road was something entirely different for me. Rambling descriptions and thoughts without the inclusion of actual conversation was an adjustment. Paragraphs would sometimes be a page or page and a half long. Each snapshot depicted that character's thoughts, feelings and reactions, a continuous flow of information. Nathanial's and Nicholas's points of view were like bookends for the story, where it started, and sadly, where it ended with Nicholas’s life painfully but slowly ebbing away. It's a powerful story of things left unsaid, how tragedy impacts individuals differently and how loss is manifested.
This was a confronting read, and whilst I struggled early on with the narrative I very much appreciated it's complexity. Thank you to Picador and Pan Macmillan Australia for a gifted copy of this book for the purposes of a review. Thew views expressed are my own.
This review also appears on my instagram page @aplace_inthesun.