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ankarli 's review for:
The Great Undoing
by Sharlene Allsopp
I think I was hooked from the very first page. There was just something about the way that the author, Sharlene used language. The way she crafted each sentence. The right words infused with emotion, sadness, fear, longing.
Style wise, The Great Undoing, hit lots of my preferred genres - Australian history, truth telling, time skipping (where before and present storylines are interspersed and weave around each other), a certainly a helping of dystopian fiction.
In my thinking, the book essentially asks two questions - do we rely too much on technology, while we don't seem to have 'Bloodtalk' we are leaving a lot of ourselves in the digital cloud and our ability to exist 'off grid' is diminishing. What would happen if our digital interconnectedness was taken away from us? And second how much of what we believe as the historical truth that we accept is wrong. She has an interesting query, do we speak of 'dying out' or genocide? How much of our historical understanding is 'whitewashed' due to the choice of words.
The book is set in two localities, Europe (in particular the UK) and Bundjalung Country. The lead character Scarlett; speaks of roaming the coastline from Goanna Headland to northern Minyunbal land. Cavanbah, Arakwal lands are mentioned frequently. Old man Wollumbin casts his eye over all, and she speaks of the black rocks on the shore line. I am not indigenous, but these are places where I have roamed. I am familiar with Sharlene Allsopp's words, the way she described this environment so eloquently, my memory returns to the feel of the sand, the rich red dirt, and the sharpness of those black rocks under your feet.
This is a book that has left a profound impression on me. I think I shall be pondering on it for some time and look forward to more books from this author.
Style wise, The Great Undoing, hit lots of my preferred genres - Australian history, truth telling, time skipping (where before and present storylines are interspersed and weave around each other), a certainly a helping of dystopian fiction.
In my thinking, the book essentially asks two questions - do we rely too much on technology, while we don't seem to have 'Bloodtalk' we are leaving a lot of ourselves in the digital cloud and our ability to exist 'off grid' is diminishing. What would happen if our digital interconnectedness was taken away from us? And second how much of what we believe as the historical truth that we accept is wrong. She has an interesting query, do we speak of 'dying out' or genocide? How much of our historical understanding is 'whitewashed' due to the choice of words.
The book is set in two localities, Europe (in particular the UK) and Bundjalung Country. The lead character Scarlett; speaks of roaming the coastline from Goanna Headland to northern Minyunbal land. Cavanbah, Arakwal lands are mentioned frequently. Old man Wollumbin casts his eye over all, and she speaks of the black rocks on the shore line. I am not indigenous, but these are places where I have roamed. I am familiar with Sharlene Allsopp's words, the way she described this environment so eloquently, my memory returns to the feel of the sand, the rich red dirt, and the sharpness of those black rocks under your feet.
This is a book that has left a profound impression on me. I think I shall be pondering on it for some time and look forward to more books from this author.