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A review by melbsreads
Songs That Sound Like Blood by Jared Thomas
4.0
Trigger warnings: racism, homophobia, alcohol abuse.
Back in 2015, I read Jared Thomas' first book (Calypso Summer) and enjoyed it but thought it needed another 50 or so pages to really flesh out the story. Still, I enjoyed it enough that when I heard about this one, it was on my radar.
It took me a long time to get around to reading it, but I'm glad I finally did. It's the story of Roxy, an Aboriginal girl from Port Augusta, who gets accepted to study Aboriginal Music at university in Adelaide. She struggles with being away from home, with university, with her studies, with her dad being in a new relationship, with the way that people at home react to her leaving town. But most of all, she struggles with the fact that she's fallen in love. With a girl.
There's a LOT going on in this book, to be honest. And the love interest (who, I should mention, is Maori!) doesn't show up until at least half way through the story. It feels a little disjointed at times because there are so many threads to the story, but ultimately they all pull together with Roxy trying to save the music program from budget cuts.
It examines the struggles Aboriginal teens have being away from home, the difficulties they have with things like research skills and information literacy, and how LGBTQIA+ people are treated within Indigenous communities (something that's also strongly addressed in Witi Ihimaera's astonishing The Uncle's Secret).
I loved Roxy as a character. I loved her dad and her relationship with her family and with her home. I loved the supporting characters. Could things have been tightened up so that it didn't meander as much? Sure. But at the same time, it just WORKS. And best of all, it's Own Voices. (Jared Thomas, like Roxy, is from Port Augusta and is Nukunu)
Back in 2015, I read Jared Thomas' first book (Calypso Summer) and enjoyed it but thought it needed another 50 or so pages to really flesh out the story. Still, I enjoyed it enough that when I heard about this one, it was on my radar.
It took me a long time to get around to reading it, but I'm glad I finally did. It's the story of Roxy, an Aboriginal girl from Port Augusta, who gets accepted to study Aboriginal Music at university in Adelaide. She struggles with being away from home, with university, with her studies, with her dad being in a new relationship, with the way that people at home react to her leaving town. But most of all, she struggles with the fact that she's fallen in love. With a girl.
There's a LOT going on in this book, to be honest. And the love interest (who, I should mention, is Maori!) doesn't show up until at least half way through the story. It feels a little disjointed at times because there are so many threads to the story, but ultimately they all pull together with Roxy trying to save the music program from budget cuts.
It examines the struggles Aboriginal teens have being away from home, the difficulties they have with things like research skills and information literacy, and how LGBTQIA+ people are treated within Indigenous communities (something that's also strongly addressed in Witi Ihimaera's astonishing The Uncle's Secret).
I loved Roxy as a character. I loved her dad and her relationship with her family and with her home. I loved the supporting characters. Could things have been tightened up so that it didn't meander as much? Sure. But at the same time, it just WORKS. And best of all, it's Own Voices. (Jared Thomas, like Roxy, is from Port Augusta and is Nukunu)