A review by gitli57
Plains of Promise by Alexis Wright

challenging dark funny informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

This is Alexis Wright's debut novel, so I wasn't necessarily expecting it to have the assuredness and mastery of Carpenteria or The Swan Book, which together put Wright well up my favorite authors list. But Plains of Promise is fine on its own and is pretty sure promise of the masterworks to come. The plight of Ivy, Elliott, Gloria and their Aboriginal families and the horrors of the mission schools in Australia are indelibly etched here. This is not a book for the faint of heart.

Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the U.S. are close cousins in many ways, not least in their savage mistreatment of Indigenous populations. Wright honors her Indigenous ancestors, their experiences and world view in all of her books, even when facing their shortcomings with honesty.