mtf

2.5⭐

I feel like I should have read this 20 years ago when I could relate; unfortunately now I'm old and just exhausted by it.

Horrible people, damn near every last one of them in fact. And enough plot twists to give me whiplash. At least it only took a few hours to read so I didn't lose to much time over it.

A story about an ugly party of Australian history, told with tenderness. You can feel the anger and sadness the characters have experienced and still endure, but you can also feel their love for one another. A quick read that is full of history and events that many of us probably have had little exposure to.

Considering how much I enjoyed the other books by this author, I was expecting the same here. Sadly I was disappointed. I don't mind a book that jumps back and forth through time telling a story, even one that feels like it needs a map at times; this one needed a map, a guide, and emergency rations in case you got lost. Chaotic, jumbled, and at times poorly written; and yet through all that no real character development.

Had this been my first book by this author there never would have been a second. My recommendation is skip this one and read the other two.

Simply put, I loved it. It sounds conflicting to say, but there is a simple complexity about it that that I enjoyed; almost how life seems so simple when you look at the parts, but is chaotic when you look at it as a whole. It is a story of things lost and things found. It is a story of how the utterly mundane in life can be poetic and interwoven; I for one will never look at a streetlight again without wondering about its ripple affects. While I had more than a few awkward “crying in public” moments with the book–maybe put a warning label on the next printing–I also found myself chuckling at the absurdity that is life as portrayed by the author. Thanks for writing it.