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A review by juliwi
The Art of Taxidermy by Sharon Kernot
5.0
The Art of Taxidermy is a novel about grief and growing up with the shadow of it. Lottie has lot her mother and has now begun collecting and "fixing" dead things. Her aunt is horrified, since taxidermy or an interest in dead things is nowhere near appropriate for a young girl in the 1960s. Her father, however, might see that there is more to her interest than just grief. Kernot shows us Lottie's growing interest while also slowly developing the world around her. Lottie makes a Aboriginal friend through whose presence both Lottie and the reader are confronted with a very different but equally traumatic loss of identity. Kernot also adds another layer of loss and grief by delving slightly into Lottie's family history as Germans, especially into her father and grandfather's stay in a detention camp during the second World War. Kernot shows us that loss and grief are all around us and it makes for a very raw reading experience at times.
Sharon Kernot's writing is beautiful. The Art of Taxidermy is full of vivid descriptions, of the vastness of the Australian landscape as well as the minute beauty of a mouse skeleton. At times the descriptions may be quite morbid, but by not hiding the blood, guts and gore, Kernot packs a much more powerful punch. Although The Art of Taxidermy could seem sensationalist, involving taxidermy and young grieving girls, it is actually a very meditative novel, which is aided by the fact that it is a verse novel. Kernot takes her time with Lottie but spares words. Acts are repeated, stubbornly, with everyone involved expecting a different outcome each time. For some readers this may be off-putting, but the way the story circled back to Lottie's grief or coping mechanism made sense to me. In the end The Art of Taxidermy was a quick read for me but an interesting one. I found myself thinking of how we look at grief, at loss, how crippled families can be by it, and how we can, maybe, move on from it.
For full review: https://universeinwords.blogspot.com/2019/09/review-art-of-taxidermy-by-sharon-kernot.html
Sharon Kernot's writing is beautiful. The Art of Taxidermy is full of vivid descriptions, of the vastness of the Australian landscape as well as the minute beauty of a mouse skeleton. At times the descriptions may be quite morbid, but by not hiding the blood, guts and gore, Kernot packs a much more powerful punch. Although The Art of Taxidermy could seem sensationalist, involving taxidermy and young grieving girls, it is actually a very meditative novel, which is aided by the fact that it is a verse novel. Kernot takes her time with Lottie but spares words. Acts are repeated, stubbornly, with everyone involved expecting a different outcome each time. For some readers this may be off-putting, but the way the story circled back to Lottie's grief or coping mechanism made sense to me. In the end The Art of Taxidermy was a quick read for me but an interesting one. I found myself thinking of how we look at grief, at loss, how crippled families can be by it, and how we can, maybe, move on from it.
For full review: https://universeinwords.blogspot.com/2019/09/review-art-of-taxidermy-by-sharon-kernot.html