Bookses

[lizbee]

I am currently reading The Broken Shore by Peter Temple, an Australian crime novel which won a lot of international awards a couple of years ago.  It is an incredibly thoughtful story about racism, poverty, history and death in the sort of semi-rural town where the only surviving industries are tourism and drugs.  Very much like the area where I grew up.  It's slow to get started, but the depth of detail is rewarding.  I'm particularly loving Temple's dialogue; he really captures the various patterns of Australian speech, from political soundbytes to working class dialogue.

To sum up my recommendation, I shall draw upon this one-star review from Amazon: I know enough Aussies to know that they all do not live in the gutter. I struggled through about one half of this literary travesty before I threw it in the trash.  Thank you, guy from Arizona, I lolled.

Comments

[skywardprodigal.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the book rec.

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

*tips hat* Any time. It's the first novel in ages that's really hooked me.

[airie-fairy.livejournal.com]

My favorite bit about that review is that he's assuming the writer is making a blanket statement about all Australians' living situations.

[icegemini.livejournal.com]

Aha, I know my dad has that on his bookshelf. When I return to Oz, I shall read!

[kismeteve.livejournal.com]

Oh yay. I wanted to read this but didn't know if it was any good. I'll pick this up this week.

[falena]

*adds to to-read list*
Thanks for the rec!

[copracat]

*makes library list*

[naewinter.livejournal.com]

Amazon really needs three buttons.

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