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smitchy 's review for:
Picnic at Hanging Rock
by Joan Lindsay
I took a few pages to really get into this on but once I did it was hard to put down. This is an Australian classic for a good reason. Set in 1900 the issues it raises are still very relevant today. The disappearance of 3 girls and a teacher at Hanging Rock near Bendigo result in a series of events affecting the lives of all the people in the area that day.
Lindsay manages to evoke the sense of isolation that the Australian bush can give as well as set the time (written in 1967 story set in 1900).
The fact that there is no resolution to the story is much more real-world than many mystery stories that I have read recently. So often the author wants to tie everything up in a bow or set something up for a series. But in real life people go missing, there is no resolution, and that event will continue to affect their friends, family and by-standers for the rest of their lives.
I read somewhere that Joan Lindsay originally had a final chapter that did resolve the mystery but at the insistence of the publisher this was never printed - I think that this was a good call: Solved, this story would have never had the staying power to last as long as it has. Unsolved: This mystery will play in your head long after you finish it
Lindsay manages to evoke the sense of isolation that the Australian bush can give as well as set the time (written in 1967 story set in 1900).
The fact that there is no resolution to the story is much more real-world than many mystery stories that I have read recently. So often the author wants to tie everything up in a bow or set something up for a series. But in real life people go missing, there is no resolution, and that event will continue to affect their friends, family and by-standers for the rest of their lives.
I read somewhere that Joan Lindsay originally had a final chapter that did resolve the mystery but at the insistence of the publisher this was never printed - I think that this was a good call: Solved, this story would have never had the staying power to last as long as it has. Unsolved: This mystery will play in your head long after you finish it