A review by jaclyn_sixminutesforme
A Sand Archive by Gregory Day

4.0

For a construction lawyer and literary fiction fan, this ticked all of the “interest” boxes for me. It’s very much a story about writing and documenting as an act, following a writer who is looking at the construction of the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia. He becomes intrigued by one of the civil engineers involved in the works, and quickly this is the narrative that consumes the bulk of the novel. The narrative uses metaphors impeccably, and the imagery of sand within the plot stands out for its prominence and clever crafting. I enjoyed this story of late-1960s French politics and social movements, unrequited love, and legacies of what we leave behind on the written page and beyond. Really stunning book!