Edenglassie

Possibly Lucashenko at her literary best. There is strong plotting, intensely effective characterisations of people you can live and empathise with despite your own cultural blind spots (which get some enlightenment along the way). The story moves along at thriller pace, yet there is emotional depth that can leave your heart beating and your eyes moist.

This was let down by a couple of factors the dual time line story telling, the use of Aboriginal language without a glossary and the character of Winona. The dual timeline thing annoys me greatly, it rarely works, and this did nothing to make me warm to the practice. i get the contrast between the two times in the same place, the relationships between the native people and the invaders and how that echoes through to modern times. But it still feels to me that the two timelines conflict with each other, they don't add to each other. I appreciate the use of language, but it would be more helpful to have included a glossary. After a while I gave up trying to look stuff up and just made assumptions. The 1855 timeline was by far the stronger show more story, with the modern time line being greatly let down by Winona. She is a product of her times, is angry at everything, but lacks any agency to actually do anything. She also seems to want everyone to fit into her definition of Blak, wanting to limit identity to that which she decrees. It felt rather hypocritical.
The past time line was more engaging, more interesting and more informative than the current timeline. I feel it would have been a stronger book to have told one tale, not two. The ending, when the two stories do come together was just very odd. show less

A very good read, though one I am unlikely to have undertaken had I not heard an extended interview on Radio National with the author as to the book. My reluctance stemmed from my not having to 'get into' the earlier, Miles Franklin Literary Award Winner 'Too Much Lip' by the same author.

This flips between present day Brisbane and its early years, when the colony and as importantly the First nations Peoples of the area and its surrounds were still working out how 9and whether) they were to live together.

The contrast between colonists and First Nations Peoples was cleverly mimicked by present day interactions between different peoples occupying modern Brisbane.

There is no fairy story resolution, either then or in the present, but the show more wisdom of (indigenous) Granny Eddie is one of the more uplifting (but not sugar coated) views of a way forward.

Highly recommended.

I will now have to go back to Too Much Lip!


Big Ship

8 April 2024 show less

This was an interesting perspective on both modern Australia and the early colonisation of that country. I can respect the research that went into the historical section. I enjoyed the relationship's crafted between Mulanyin and his adoptive tribe and their mode of living, which I found informative. However, I struggled to like Winona of contemporary times, her aggressive stance and language. As much as I can understand her anger on behalf of her forbears, she lacked the dignity of the true star, her grandmother, Eddie.