This was quite brilliant, hilarious at times the 2001 Orange Prize winner by Australian author Kate Grenville. Set in the modern Australian outback it’s a charming witty yet quite simple story of two people coming together from a city into a small town – Karakarook (pop 1374). This book is perfect for all of those people unlucky in love, those that missed out in the beauty stakes or were at the back of the queue when the sparkling personalities were being handed out!
I really haven’t laughed so much over a book for a long time and yet the most hilarious passages aren’t some complex personality clashes but really simple things like a stray dogs behaviour or being harassed by a herd of bored looking cows!. How this author manages to convey the intense pain of being shy or awkward or not knowing just the right thing to say is quite excellent. The author conveys the cringe making feelings of trying to do even simple things whilst dying of embarrassment – like trying to act nonchalant in a crowd. Couple this with exquisite detail of small town life in Australia, wilting in the intense heat, right down to the cockerel that only manages Cock-a-do never quite getting to the Doodle-do! Throw in a neurotic ageing model who has a crush on the Chinese butcher but won’t smile for fear of wrinkles and the stage is set for a right good romp in the outback.
I really didn’t know what to expect with this novel, let down as it is by the blurb on the back of my paperback edition. It would lead a reader to believe it is a gooey love story but after just a couple of pages I was laughing out loud at the oddball characters and the town they were drawn to by the local heritage and a falling down 100yr old bridge. A superb piece of comic writing, how do you make a suicide note funny let alone the suicide itself? This author manages both and I was howling with laughter. Perhaps it is a handbook for all of those people not fitting the film/TV/literature bill of good looks and bright personalities but those people with inner character and beauty that sadly tend to lose out in life and love in today’s unforgiving society. Whatever the message the novel has for the reader it really is a funny and astonishingly well-written and paced book – a real page-turner to quote a phrase. I thoroughly recommend this delightful book – it is an idea of perfection (well almost) – well written, hilariously funny, well paced and absolutely believable, never lapsing into corniness. A must read in my opinion!
I really haven’t laughed so much over a book for a long time and yet the most hilarious passages aren’t some complex personality clashes but really simple things like a stray dogs behaviour or being harassed by a herd of bored looking cows!. How this author manages to convey the intense pain of being shy or awkward or not knowing just the right thing to say is quite excellent. The author conveys the cringe making feelings of trying to do even simple things whilst dying of embarrassment – like trying to act nonchalant in a crowd. Couple this with exquisite detail of small town life in Australia, wilting in the intense heat, right down to the cockerel that only manages Cock-a-do never quite getting to the Doodle-do! Throw in a neurotic ageing model who has a crush on the Chinese butcher but won’t smile for fear of wrinkles and the stage is set for a right good romp in the outback.
I really didn’t know what to expect with this novel, let down as it is by the blurb on the back of my paperback edition. It would lead a reader to believe it is a gooey love story but after just a couple of pages I was laughing out loud at the oddball characters and the town they were drawn to by the local heritage and a falling down 100yr old bridge. A superb piece of comic writing, how do you make a suicide note funny let alone the suicide itself? This author manages both and I was howling with laughter. Perhaps it is a handbook for all of those people not fitting the film/TV/literature bill of good looks and bright personalities but those people with inner character and beauty that sadly tend to lose out in life and love in today’s unforgiving society. Whatever the message the novel has for the reader it really is a funny and astonishingly well-written and paced book – a real page-turner to quote a phrase. I thoroughly recommend this delightful book – it is an idea of perfection (well almost) – well written, hilariously funny, well paced and absolutely believable, never lapsing into corniness. A must read in my opinion!