A review by siria
Carpentaria by Alexis Wright

4.0

"One evening in the driest grasses in the world, a child who was no stranger to her people, asked if anyone could find hope. The people of parable and prophecy pondered what was hopeless and finally declared they no longer knew what hope was. The clocks, tick-a-ty tock, looked as though they might run out of time. Luckily, the ghosts in the memories of the old folk were listening, and said anyone can find hope in the stories: the big stories and the little ones in between."

Carpentaria is a stunning novel in all senses of the word: astounding in the complexity and concentrated energy of its prose, and at times almost overwhelmingly challenging to read, given the originality of her prose style. Wright is an Aboriginal Australian, a member of the Waanyi nation, and she draws on the history and the oral tradition of her people to create a novel which is an incredible evocation of their way of life and which is written almost defiantly outside of the conventions of the Western literary canon. This tale of Normal Phantom and Joseph Midnight and their families is terrifying and sad and funny and surreal all at once, embracing everything from the Aboriginal conception of the world around them to the appalling effects of colonialism. Wright's torrent of language demands a lot of the reader, but if you're willing to invest your time in Carpentaria, it's well worth the read.