A review by lucyrutherford
Gilgamesh by Joan London

1.0

I have to admit I skim read the last few chapters. I started reading this book because I have read so few local Perth authors which I definitely have to remedy! I know Joan London is generally praised as a good author so maybe I'd like her other novels but this one just left me thinking what was the point of all that. I enjoyed the beginning, the setting up of British settlers in WA's south west after WWI. How Edith's parents were not at all suited to their new home. But the rest of the story I found somewhat contrived. It's understandable that Edith would want to travel and find the father of her child but it seemed really dumb to leave the safety of England and think she could just find Aram in the whole country of Armenia during the outbreak of WWII. The rest of the book contained characters and descriptions that while occasionally interesting in themselves, just seemed to happen without any point to them. There were themes that were interesting that could have been explored in detail, mostly around nationality, but those were just touched on with most of the story taken up with pretty dull descriptions of Edith's day to day life in Armenia and then trekking it back to Australia, with some random Russian service stuff thrown in. Perhaps if Edith had been a more likeable or interesting character I could have gone along with the story, but she comes across as selfish, uncaring and pretty boring. Jim is portrayed as much more interesting what with being half Australian and half Armenian but fitting into neither country, but he's only given a point of view at the end. Maybe the story from his perspective would make a more engaging read.