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hickey_mt 's review for:
Boy Swallows Universe
by Trent Dalton
Among this extraordinary story, one question Eli, the protagonist, asks repeatedly is “are you a good man?”
From boyhood to manhood, a string of damaged and damaging men come and go from the lives of Eli and his speechless brother, August. Some are the source of the brothers’ trauma, others are the source of their resilience and strength to overcome it.
Coming of age amidst a colourful cast of criminals, Eli’s constant meditation is on the notion of goodness. Even more than the intricately woven sense of time and place Dalton achieves in this novel, what remains with me is his invitation to grapple with that question of goodness.
Especially pleasing was reading a novel set in Brisbane, my home town, but one which shines a light on different locales and amplifies different voices from those we’ve heard before in novels set here (in the works of Astley, Malouf, McGahan, Earls et al).
Dalton has an impressive and well-deserved reputation as a journalist. That doesn’t always guarantee talent as a novelist. In this case though, Dalton is no one-trick pony. He is an exciting writer, whose prose is filled with heart and energy. I’m very much looking forward to what comes next from him.
I can’t commend this book highly enough. It is, as the blurb on the cover suggests, truly unputdownable.
From boyhood to manhood, a string of damaged and damaging men come and go from the lives of Eli and his speechless brother, August. Some are the source of the brothers’ trauma, others are the source of their resilience and strength to overcome it.
Coming of age amidst a colourful cast of criminals, Eli’s constant meditation is on the notion of goodness. Even more than the intricately woven sense of time and place Dalton achieves in this novel, what remains with me is his invitation to grapple with that question of goodness.
Especially pleasing was reading a novel set in Brisbane, my home town, but one which shines a light on different locales and amplifies different voices from those we’ve heard before in novels set here (in the works of Astley, Malouf, McGahan, Earls et al).
Dalton has an impressive and well-deserved reputation as a journalist. That doesn’t always guarantee talent as a novelist. In this case though, Dalton is no one-trick pony. He is an exciting writer, whose prose is filled with heart and energy. I’m very much looking forward to what comes next from him.
I can’t commend this book highly enough. It is, as the blurb on the cover suggests, truly unputdownable.