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Thursday's Child
Through the long years of the Great Depression, Harper Flute watches with a child's clear eyes her family's struggle to survive in a hot and impoverished landscape. As life on the surface grows harsher, her brother Tin escapes ever deeper into a subterranean world of darkness and troubling secrets, until his memory becomes a myth barely whispered around the countryside.
Published
(first published 2000)
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It takes Harper and her family a while to realize that Tin is not meant from this above-ground world. It's Harper that finally figures it out, since Tin's her younger brother and all, and since she's charged with watching him. Living during the Great Depression, their barren farm and shack of a house are little comfort to Harper as she and Tin grow older and further apart.
Thursday's Child is a growing up story. A Depression story. A broken-family story. A story of a boy who's happier underground...more
Thursday's Child is a growing up story. A Depression story. A broken-family story. A story of a boy who's happier underground...more
This is another book that leaves a lasting impression. Hartnett's style and simplicity of writing directs all focus to the troubled Tin and his family, who live in a state of poverty and struggle. Despite its setting in outback Australia, Hartnett's book feels timeless. It is a dark and dreamy tale of a secreted and almost mythological family life. Its a beautiful but slightly chilling tale that leaves you feeling edgy and moved.
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Las preocupaciones que asechan a la familia Flute son completamente profundas, las trae el viento, un viento vivo que tiene tantos humores como cualquier persona. De alegres a tristes y trágicos. Túneles es la historia de esta familia, o al menos parte de ella. La mala, puede decirse.
La casi numerosa y sin dinero familia Flute que vive de conejos. Los vende, los come, y aunque esté harta de ello, sabe que lo primero es vivir.
La voz de Harper, nuestra joven protagonista, pinta las cosas como su v...more
La casi numerosa y sin dinero familia Flute que vive de conejos. Los vende, los come, y aunque esté harta de ello, sabe que lo primero es vivir.
La voz de Harper, nuestra joven protagonista, pinta las cosas como su v...more
What would you do if things couldn’t get any worse? Set during the Great Depression in rural Australia, a family deals with loss after loss: the death of a child, the collapse of their home, the loss of themselves to something dark and craven. Harper, the third child of five and the second daughter, tells of growing up and struggling to survive. She tells of family relationships and how loss can change everything and especially everyone. Her younger brother, Tin, is more comfortable burrowing in...more
Dec 05, 2011
Pamela Beason
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
historical-fiction
This book is very well written, and an interesting tale of the very hardscrabble life of a young girl growing up in poverty in the country. There is a somewhat weird aspect to her story in that she has a brother who lives underground in tunnels. I would have liked more of a sense of place and time for this book; I believe the setting is rural Australia but I was never quite sure; the time is definitely during years of depression but never specified, either. Still, wondering what tragedy would be...more
Oct 18, 2011
Natalie Grace
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
school-reading
When I first began reading this book, I found it to be incredibly strange. It does not seem plausible that a family would allow their child to dig tunnels under their house, let alone live in those tunnels. As I kept reading though I realized that Sonya Hartnett is not merely telling a story of a family during the Great Depression in Australia. Instead, she has done an incredibly amazing job of telling the story of Harper and exploring Harper's psyche through her portrayal of Tin. Sonya Hartnett...more
Strange - a bit like an alternative reality Little House. Young Harper (instead of Laura) lives with Mam and Da in a shack, in the midst of the Dust Bowl of the Great Depression. Her younger brother, Tin, roams the ground beneath their shack, digging and rarely coming up into the sun. They all accept the death of new children with little complaint - not enough time to miss them. Tin appears now and then, altering Harper's life a bit each time...and the story ends with, well an ending that Harper...more
Sep 06, 2009
Beth
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Stacey
Recommended to Beth by:
Danica
This book has a weird, weird storyline due to some weird, weird characters (with weird names: Harper, Tin, Vandery, Caffy, etc.). It was certainly not the cheeriest read (I mean, really -- it's a coming-of-age story during the Depression; what should one expect?). The ending is satisfying but not exactly happy.
And yet, I really liked this book. The writing was absolutely phenomenal. Rich without being verbose, the author created the whole feel of the novel just through those well-crafted sentenc...more
And yet, I really liked this book. The writing was absolutely phenomenal. Rich without being verbose, the author created the whole feel of the novel just through those well-crafted sentenc...more
This is a very well written, very weird book. The story is set in Depression-era rural Australia. It is told by Harper, a 9 year old girl. We learn about her family's constant struggles to survive and her little brother Tin's obsession with digging tunnels. Eventually the boy becomes like a wild animal, spending all of his time in an underground labyrinth he has constructed and making occasional ghostly appearances. Very sad, very unusual, but I enjoyed it.
this book is W.I.E.R.D. The idea of a ferral child is just down right sad to me. Im 50 pages into the book as a preview for goose and Im thinking that I won't continue. Im wondering why others on goodreads rated it so high? I thought it would be an interesting read about a family in the depression but instead,they let one of their many children live UNDER THE DARN HOUSE (!) and never come out to see the light of day because he likes it there. The author said that she got the idea for the book af...more
A beautiful book in every way, which I read in a single day. The prose is absolutely lovely, and the story though dark is so full with human spirit that I could not help but love it. Her writing and the subject remind me of Eva Sallis' 'Fire, Fire' in their evocation of the wilds of South Eastern Australia, of families going through hardship, and the ways they find to survive. Wonderful!
I loved SLEEPING DOGS when I read it for a class in my MA program, but haven't read any Harnett since. Decided to read her oeuvre, at least those books available in the U.S.
Beautifully written, but achingly sad, rather than tragic like SLEEPING DOGS. Given the Depression-era setting, not surprising that it is so bleak. Made me think about what makes a YA book -- is this really a YA?
Beautifully written, but achingly sad, rather than tragic like SLEEPING DOGS. Given the Depression-era setting, not surprising that it is so bleak. Made me think about what makes a YA book -- is this really a YA?
Wow! Tin has been a digger ever since he was no longer the baby of the family, living underground and silently observing the experiences of his family living through the Great Depression. Harper, the next youngest of the six surviving children tells the story of her mother and father coaxing a living off a nonproductive homestead that used to be a gold mine.
The writing is really a cut above but I had to check the spine for the YA sticker when I finished - really, YA? I can't see it. I honestly don't know any kids I would recommend it to - but I was depressed and creeped out by it so - success!
Also didn't pick up it was set in Australia for some reason...
Also didn't pick up it was set in Australia for some reason...
A young girl's look back at a tough life during the Depression years..so very sad but beautifully written. I finished the book, put it down and cried. Boy, just in case you think your life has hardships, wait until you read about Harper Flute's family and their struggle.
The writing in this book was really amazing. It was strange--at the end (and throughout) you sit back and say WHOA--but it was brilliantly done. It reminded me a lot of To Kill a Mockingbird. Then again, that might be because the girl's name was Harper. Anyhow, read it.
This was such a great book! It immediately drew me in and held my attention until the very end. The author has the rare ability to weave fantasy and realism into a whole picture that seems entirely plausible.
Oct 21, 2010
LauraW
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
audiobook,
young-adult
What a lyrical book! It has a strange premise, but grabs at you with a fierceness that doesn't let go. Marvelous writing; excellent narration in the audio version. Wow!
Hartnett's genius for considering every tiny aspect of her narrative is never more evident than in 'Thursday's Child' which works perfectly on so many levels.
One of those books it's impossible to categorise. Hartnett is such a beautiful writer and this is one of her best. Heartbreaking and stunning.
Odd book. It never really got better for this family and the little brother started out cute, but turned odd at the end.
Boring at the start, got a bit better towards the end but still not great.
Blending gritty realism and allegorical surrealism, Hartnett sets her story in Depression-era rural Australia. Harper, the young narrator, relates her family's struggles and her little brother Tin's preoccupation with digging tunnels. Eventually the boy spends all of his time in an underground labyrinth he has constructed, making occasional ghostly appearances when his peculiar expertise and skills are needed. Reviewers have compared this with David Almond's novels and with Louis Sachar's HOLES....more
Recommended by Library Journal for teens AND adults. LJ June 2011
"...he was, born on a Thursday and so fated his wanderings..."
This book had a nice rhythm to it, and an interesting story line.
Very well written, good story but very depressing.
This book is heartbreaking, but so moving--worth reading.
Very unusual, but intriguing. Not the book I expected.
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Does Tin actually die in the mudslide at the beginning of this book? | 1 | 3 | Oct 18, 2011 11:51am | |
| Endicott Mythic F...: Thursday's Child - Discussion | 9 | 12 | Jan 06, 2011 10:48pm |
Sonya Hartnett (also works under the pseudonym Cameron S. Redfern) is, or was, something of an Australian child prodigy author. She wrote her first novel at the age of thirteen, and had it published at fifteen. Her books have also been published in Europe and North America. Her novels have been published traditionally as young adult fiction, but her writing often crosses the divide and is also enj...more
More about Sonya Hartnett...
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