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A review by andreatypesbraille
Dirt Creek by Hayley Scrivenor
5.0
Wow. This was an incredible first audiobook experience for me. At 10 and a half hours, I wasn't sure how I would like devoting that much time to this book, but I ended up bingeing it over the course of 3 days. I didn't want to stop listening!
The audiobook I found to be incredibly immersive. The narrator did a fantastic job really diving into each character. The author did a wonderful job creating such an atmospheric story. The sweltering heat of rural Australia in summertime I think has as much a role as any other character.
The story itself is not a happy one. There was no happy ending here, for most of the characters, however it is a satisfying ending.
Young Esther Bianchi goes missing on her way home from school in her small, rural Australia town. The story is about the search to find Esther, but also uncovering secrets in this small dusty town. The story unravels slowly, being told from different perspectives in each chapter: Esther's two best friends, Esther's mother, Esther's mother's best friend, the detective sergeant in charge of the search and investigation into Esther's disappearance. There's also the "Greek chorus" that has chapters sporadically throughout the book. I found this Greek chorus to be an interesting touch. It gave more perspective to the lives of the children in Durton. Not just one child's life, as we see with Ronnie and Lewis, but the town's children's overall experience, things both widely known and spoken of as well as the more unspoken truths, growing up in this small town.
Overall, I think the audiobook deserves a 5 stars. The narrator was really fantastic. It helped further cement the mood to have the Australian accent speaking throughout.
The book itself is 4.5 stars. I just had one issue with it, but it pulled me out of the story every time the character of Ronnie has a scene or is speaking. Ronnie, for whatever reason, doesn't seem like a 12 year old. She's incredibly impulsive and juvenile, she doesn't respond in an appropriate way to learning her best friend has gone missing. It's a bizarre choice, and pulled me out of the story, because I kept checking to see whether Ronnie and Esther were supposed to be 12 or 7 or 8 years old.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with the audiobook in exchange for an honest review. It's a fantastic story and one that I will wholeheartedly recommend to others in the future, maybe not my students though.
The audiobook I found to be incredibly immersive. The narrator did a fantastic job really diving into each character. The author did a wonderful job creating such an atmospheric story. The sweltering heat of rural Australia in summertime I think has as much a role as any other character.
The story itself is not a happy one. There was no happy ending here, for most of the characters, however it is a satisfying ending.
Young Esther Bianchi goes missing on her way home from school in her small, rural Australia town. The story is about the search to find Esther, but also uncovering secrets in this small dusty town. The story unravels slowly, being told from different perspectives in each chapter: Esther's two best friends, Esther's mother, Esther's mother's best friend, the detective sergeant in charge of the search and investigation into Esther's disappearance. There's also the "Greek chorus" that has chapters sporadically throughout the book. I found this Greek chorus to be an interesting touch. It gave more perspective to the lives of the children in Durton. Not just one child's life, as we see with Ronnie and Lewis, but the town's children's overall experience, things both widely known and spoken of as well as the more unspoken truths, growing up in this small town.
Overall, I think the audiobook deserves a 5 stars. The narrator was really fantastic. It helped further cement the mood to have the Australian accent speaking throughout.
The book itself is 4.5 stars. I just had one issue with it, but it pulled me out of the story every time the character of Ronnie has a scene or is speaking. Ronnie, for whatever reason, doesn't seem like a 12 year old. She's incredibly impulsive and juvenile, she doesn't respond in an appropriate way to learning her best friend has gone missing. It's a bizarre choice, and pulled me out of the story, because I kept checking to see whether Ronnie and Esther were supposed to be 12 or 7 or 8 years old.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with the audiobook in exchange for an honest review. It's a fantastic story and one that I will wholeheartedly recommend to others in the future, maybe not my students though.