It's Raining in Mango

by Thea Astley

Like a deal of Astley's fiction, It's Raining in Mango is set in north Queensland, an inhospitable locale in many ways but one which the Laffey family of Mango find compelling and to which they are drawn back after their half-hearted forays into urban life. The book is written in the saga form, spanning four generations from 1861 to the mid-1980s, though the path from past to present is neither straight nor defined. It is, rather, a broader and interwoven series of relationships in which the generations of the past continue to inform the present and all meld in the land and landscape. As Connie Laffey puts it: 'So closely meshed all of us, the nature of our closeness bound up with this place. With family.'

The novel opens in the early 1980s with Connie Lafey and her middle-aged son, Reever, protesting against development which is decimating to the rainforest in the Mango area. Connie, anxious about Reever's safety—he has chained himself fifty feet up a celerywood tree—heads off to find help when she falls and concusses herself. The attendant delirium is the starting point for the narrative saga as the past and present converge in Connie's reverie. The narrative transports us back in time to the first generation of immigrants and the courtship and marriage of Cornelius Laffey and Jessica Olive in 1861.

Genres: Fiction, Australia, Historical Fiction, Classics, Literature, Novels, 20th Century

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Thea Astley was one of Australia's most respected and acclaimed novelists. Born in Brisbane in 1925, Astley studied arts at the University of Queensland. She held a position as Fellow in Australian Literature at Macquarie University until 1980, when she retired to write full time. In 1989 she was granted an honorary doctorate of letters from the University of Queensland.

She won the Miles Franklin Award four times - in 1962 for The Well Dressed Explorer, in 1965 for The Slow Natives, in 1972 for The Acolyte and in 2000 for Drylands. In 1989 she was award the Patrick White Award. Other awards include 1975 The Age Book of the Year Award for A Kindness Cup, the 1980 James Cook Foundation of Australian Literature Studies Award for Hunting the Wild Pineapple, the 1986 ALS Gold Medal for Beachmasters, the 1988 Steele Rudd Award for It's Raining in Mango, the 1990 NSW Premier's Prize for Reaching Tin River, and the 1996 Age Book of the Year Award and the FAW Australian Unity Award for The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow.

Praise for Thea Astley:

'Beyond all the satire, the wit, the occasional cruelty, and the constant compassion, the unfailing attribute of Astley's work is panache' Australian Book Review

Reviews

[Michael Livingston · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant, multi-generational portrait of a slightly odd family living in oppressive tropical north queensland. Astley is a clear but exciting stylist, with a sharp turn of phrase and rich, vivid imagery - I was sweating my way through the build-up and hearing the thunk of mangoes on a tin roof as I sank into this. The characters are drawn with such love - these are messy, complex people who make terrible mistakes, but they're human and Astley finds the fundamental decency in them all (at least the main characters - the supporting cast are sometimes broad-brush illustrations of NQ's oppressive conservatism). It's my first Astley, but it definitely won't be my last.

[Kali Napier · Rating 4 out of 5]

A family saga set across generations from the 1860s to the 1980s in a northern Queensland town called Reeftown. I'm not familiar with FNQ, so am not sure which town it might be, but the climate is familiar. There is a lot of fecundity, overgrown weeds, rain, and, of course, flooding, in this slim novel by Thea Astley. In fact, I found myself taking notes at how she was able to cover such ground and expanses of time in so few pages. Each chapter takes the perspective of one of the Laffeys, or their descendants, as well as some Aboriginal characters, the Mumblers, where we also see two generations. I sped through some chapters and immersed myself in others. The problem with devoting so little time to a character of one particular generation, then skipping to another about 60 years later, and back again, is that I did find I forgot who was who and how people were connected at times. Towards the end, Connie sums up this experience of forgetting who's who by declaring that she also had the same issue -- she was all of her ancestors at the same time. Indeed, the cycle starts again and again, with each new generation. Some move away, others go back to where they came from. But something persists.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting family saga set in North Queensland, beginning in 1861, spanning four generations to the mid 1980s. The novel covers a lot of issues including rainforest degradation, the plight of aborigines, the affect of floods on the inhabitants, family and relationships. Good character development and plot momentum.

Another very good Thea Astley novel. Thea Astley won four Miles Franklin Literary Awards. The prize winning books are: The Well Dressed Explorer, 1962. The Slow Natives, 1965. The Acolyte, 1972, and Drylands, 2000. The Miles Franklin Award is Australia’s most prestigious literature prize, first awarded in 1957.

Thea Astley died in 2004.

This book was first published in 1987.

[Bee Wong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just like the anticipation and hot flushes waiting for the Queensland ‘Wet’ this book built up a beautiful Australian spiel of intergenerational stories. Cheeky feminist themes; considered insights of the ignorance of colonisers gold-panners and a commune of hippie pot heads were some of the sagas that I loved in this book.

[Jayden McComiskie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. This was amazing. I started it to break up the complex Vollmann book I'm reading, and I ended up reading this in one day.

[Nicoline Elder · Rating 4 out of 5]

I especially loved the intricate and nuanced intergenerational family relationships, although I don't think the ending quite did them justice.

[Christine Seet · Rating 5 out of 5]

essential. should be an Australian classic read by every single high school student

[Kris McCracken · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thea Astley is an interesting case study of gender and publishing in Australia. The winner of four Miles Franklin Awards (tied with Tim Winton as the most frequent recipient), most of her books remain out of print. It Is fair to say that she’s not as widely read as a great talent and unique voice in the Australian literary landscape deserves.

Which leads me to It's Raining in Mango, which spans multiple generations of the Laffy family in Far North Queensland. The book covers from the 1860s through to the 1980s. In it, they carry the family (and local) stories with them, and they identify as something more than themselves.

These stories intersect with the history of Australia itself, from the brutal invasion and settlement, the scramble of the gold rush through the misery of the Depression to the Stolen Generation, two World Wars and the hippies, freaks and dropouts of the 1970s.

Despite being published before the jingoistic Bicentennial celebrations of 1988, this is no celebration of the Australian character, nor is it some heroic family epic. The family is flawed, but decent, and thus echoes of failure and violence occur and reoccur throughout – tales of failed marriages and farms, the lawlessness on the mining fields, of poverty, of the betrayal of returned soldiers after World War I and the damaged veterans of World War II. The cruelty practised to the natives, the women, the children, the church, the police, the mobs and the state. Indeed, the novel opens and closes with the bulldozers of developers who tear down the rainforest to make way for ‘progress’.

It is an angry book, albeit a tired sort of anger. Incidents of dispossession and dispersal of the original inhabitants ripple through the book, with those stories written out of official histories forcing their way back in. It is an unapologetically feminist book, with women at the centre rather than at the periphery of the family stories.

The novel's other key strength is how Astley writes about the weather, and this is a hot and sticky book. Tropical heat rises from the page, with years measured not by anniversaries or holidays, but by the ‘build-up’ through the dry months and the breaking of the Wet, and with it cyclones and floods. The weather is, in many respects, the central character of the book.

Recommended it to all and sundry!

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

[Sharon Mensing · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in Australia – a sort of frontier saga. Emphasis on racial issues during settlement. Hard to get into – both the Australian cadence to the writing and the setting were off-putting to start with. After 50 pages or so, though, I was hooked.

[Julia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disjointed and it felt like some story lines were introduce to push something else on the reader (ie the gay tangent) it just tried too hard and lost me jumping around from one time to another.

[Hamad AlMannai · Rating 3 out of 5]

Depression but make it in Queensland.

In all seriousness this is a beautiful novel. The reason it doesn’t get more stars is because it is positively a very demanding book to read, and that’s no secret to people who are familiar with Thea Astley. Raining in Mango is a bone fide Australian classic. It even comes in the orange Penguin sleeve.

A multigenerational story of an atypical family that lives in Far North Queensland ‘FNQ’, from the 1860s til the 1980s. With their inherited struggles and angst. Their live’s sometimes got as unforgiving as the harsh Queensland weather. The stories aren’t particularly linear but they are linked, and they don’t follow chronological order which gets confusing.

[Kiri Lucas · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an Australian, I feel so blessed to have access to amazing Australian fiction. I've never read anything by Thea Astley before but I think I'll start hunting around for more of her work.

This story is about four generations of the Laffey family and is set in Queensland in the 19th and 20th century. I wouldn't have thought it possible to write a compelling story which spans about a century in only 200-odd pages. But Astley's novel is essentially arranged into a number of short stories about different members of the Laffey family. They all link together because of the relationships between characters but there are gaps. No one in this novel is perfect but they are all very human. I also liked that the characters are involved with key events in Australia's history.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Characters disappeared, timelines were disrupted, some characters got loads of attention, while others … died while reaching for rosella jam. Luckily Astley included a little summary of each at the beginning of the book, because I would have been quite lost without it.

That said, I enjoyed the book a lot, especially because I am Australian and Astley explored many topics I have an interest in – from the treatment of the Indigenous People in the early years of settlement, through the horror that was The Stolen Generation, to the beginnings of ‘greenie’ protests in the late 70s, early 80s.

One of my favourite sentences ended: ''...the continuum of the country she knows from the houses that have held her.''

[benj landman · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. a portrayal of strong Australian women and the weakness in men.

[Toni · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most accomplished novels I have ever read

[Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was difficult to get into at first but I enjoyed it in the end. It spans across a hundred years but doesn’t give markers for where you are at each chapter. I think i would have preferred to of read the physical copy so that I could jump back to the start to read the timeline of each character. It reads like lots of short stories that have a thin connecting thread. They’re all family. One to re-read in the future.

[TheCosyDragon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review has been crossposted from my blog at The Cosy Dragon . Please head there for more in-depth reviews by me, which appear on a timely schedule.

It's Raining in Mango is a required novel I read for Australian Literature and History B at Griffith University. It is a typical Australian gritty novel, but the themes in it are varied and have the potential to be enjoyable.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I hate Australian literature. Astley is an Australian author who has received the Miles Franklin award four times - just like Tim Winton, who is far more well known. Do you wonder why that is? It's that Tim Winton writes accessible, modern fiction (that I'm also not particularly fond of), and Astley prefers to tackle the racism of early Australian history. Or at least she does in this novel.

It's Raining in Mango covers five generations of the Laffey family. It takes quite a bit of getting used to, because the perspective jumps generations quite frequently. I really don't like perspective jumps at all, and these ones also overlap in time. For example, Connie calls Will to tell him Harry has died, but then it jumps to Will going away for the war and he comes back as Harry dies.

I was surprised to find mid-way through this book a gay storyline. It turns out that Will is queer, but he finds it impossibly hard to accept it within the contraints of early Australian society. It's sad to see that he can't accept himself, and seems to be doomed to be lonely. At one point, it appears that he has sex with Connie instead, to comfort him from the horrors of war - but I can't quite be sure.

The underlying themes of the book, as I mentioned before, include racism against the Australian Aboriginals, and also the judgement of women and men's sexual choices. That's one of the more interesting themes to me - in depicting the typical men and prostitutes, but also presenting a young prostitute's side of things. Also, Connie's son seems to be out of wedlock as well, so at least within the Laffey family, noone seems to mind about what women do with their bodies.

I borrowed this book from my local library because I didn't think I'd care about it enough to want it on my shelves. There are a variety of covers it has had, but Amazon appears not to have any of them at the moment.

[Lesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m not sure why I liked this book so much. The jumping from one generation or decade to another and randomly back again is a literary device I usually get very annoyed with. And I was frustrated when a new chapter started “That winter was unusually cold,” and then proceeded to describe a winter twenty years further on than the unresolved incident in the previous chapter. But I guess I forgave that in lieu of all the incidents so beautifully and realistically describing attitudes and scenarios in the colonisation and modernisation of Northern Queensland.

I am a North Queenslander myself so it became easy to visualise those hot wet summers and the verdant plant growth and the turquoise ocean. I have wandered Maytown and Byerstown and could imagine the rough early prospecting days in that inhospitable environment. And I loved the names of the fictional towns given to shroud their real identity so historically possible but maybe inaccurate incidents could be attributed to them. Mango, Reeftown and Flystrike are certainly more descriptive names than the real ones reflecting some notable person or explorer in the area. And I believe I’ve visited them all.

When someone addresses the end of the family line, Reever, near the book’s conclusion and says, “You’re nutters, all your family was nutters”, you realise that this attitude was the constricting force through all the generations. Any deviation from society’s norm, any desire to show individuality, any humanely decent and humble act for those lower in society, any wish to demonstrate helpful and loving attitudes to strangers, any compulsion to utterly protect and enfold family, is all treated with disdain by others.

But I loved the compassion, I loved the characters, I loved the flowing lyrical storytelling and I loved tropical Queensland oozing through the pages.

[Susie Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

the lush way Astley wrote about her home state was so intoxicating. I loved following the different families through their lineage and found my interest consistently engaged - not like those multiple perspective novels where you are frustrated by the switching viewpoints. everything flowed. it was also great to read a fuller picture of what was going on during colonisation, although it was admittedly from a white woman, her sympathy in the mid 80s in a work of fiction is unusual and welcome. but grim grim grim that this novel showed the continuation of the brutal oppression of our mob. there is some of that unquantifiable Australianness in this book. to me, it's the landscape and its effect on every character both non-Aboriginal and Aboriginal.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not an easy read. It's heavy and oppressive like a North Queensland summer. That's the beauty of it though she captures the essence of the place. Definitely worth a read.

[scherzo♫ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinatingly insightful about men, women and children (native, immigrant and visiting); about Australia (past and present); about the effects of humans on nature and nature on humans.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the sense of place that comes through, the cyclical nature of life that is as much part of the weather as the family as the racism. Loved.

[Max Davine · Rating 2 out of 5]

A uniquely lyrical addition to the vistas of Australian literature, set in Northern Queensland, in which fourth-generation Australian Connie Laffey suffers a concussion, and dreams her way through her family's history, in which she, and by way of Astley's dreamlike prose, we witness the founding of an Australian bloodline by way of settlers Cornelius Laffey and Jessica Olive back in 1861. While the usual suspects arise, Laffey patriarch Conrlius' entanglements with his superiors over his reporting on the hideous treatment of Indigenous Australians, the reliance upon prostitution amongst early white town-building, and the misogynistic machismo that trickles down into homophobia which then builds a disturbing connection with incest, of which we realize that Connie's son Reever is the result.

While reviews describing Astley's work as "dreamlike" and "poetic" are not wrong, she handles the subject matter of the intertwining storylines with the subtlety of bashing the reader in the face with a cinder block. Next to no information is given organically, either through dialogue or visuals, but narrated directly to the reader, in which we get a list of things more important to a man than his wife, for example, upon which she is bested by the dog, the horse and the mate. That's one example. Another is the compulsion Connie gives in to when she learns of her brother's homosexuality, and tries to fix him by having sex with him. He later commits suicide, but it's unclear which cardinal sin plays upon his conscience to the extent that this is his solution.

It's got a message, alright, but it's not altogether believable. A pouty daughter runs off to sell herself, and ends up getting washed out to sea in a flood, along with the entire brothel, a la the hurricane in "The Wizard of Oz". Connie signs off her delirious dream by conversing with ghosts of generations past. Given the importance of the subject matter, and the dubious connections Astley draws, this is a work which might have been taken more seriously. Why not, for example, show us that a man's dog, horse and wife are more important to him that his wife, in the context of the narrative? Why not let the drama play out?

Astley's expository, but pretty, writing belies the impact of the novel's many messages, and takes much weight from the impact of issues which plague the Laffeys, such as the aforementioned race relations, sex work and homosexuality. Subtlety is key, to suspend the reader's disbelief. With Astley's powerful command of language, she could have accomplished far greater than what "It's Raining in Mango" ultimately is.

[Luna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently decided to sign up to a book subscription box. Imagine my utter surprise when the very first book that was sent to me was this one - something I read some fifteen years ago.

I first read this book, like so many other young Australians, as part of the required reading while in high school. I was 16, going on 17, and had never quite enjoyed the books thrust upon us. Something was different about this book, though, and I found myself getting drawn in by the meandering, twisted timelines and references to events gone past that were never fully clear; was Cornelius the drifter that stumbled upon the farm on his voyage home? Was the referenced uncle actually a cousin? Where did Charlie and Billy and Molloy fit in?

Much of the reason I loved this book as a late teen were the reasons I loved it again as an adult. My favourite chapter will always be Nadine's, with the imagery of her gripping the chair in the kitchen as the waters rise. I also found Connie and Will's coming together on the beach somehow less explicit this time around, and I found myself questioning if they really did bone in the water or if it was just a strange turn of phrase. This second time reading it, too, I enjoyed Jessica Olive a little more, and her long-suffering plight in 19th century Queensland.

Some folks have mentioned how difficult this book is to read, but I encourage you to remember that these was published over a series of months in a newspaper or magazine, so if it reads disjointed, that would be why. Try not to let this style pull you away, but take it as that sort of episodic framework that would have been how most books were read at the turn of the century.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finished: 18.11.2019
Genre: novel (240 pg)
Rating: D
#AUSReadingMonth 2019
Conclusion:

Setting: Reeftown (Carins)
Timeline: 4 generations
Narrator: Connie, the remaining mother-figure of the Laffey family
I was unable to really enjoy the book.
It was difficult to connect to the
...4 generations of characters in just 240 pages.


Plot:
The book begins Cornelius Laffey who takes his family to northern Queensland
... where thousands of hopefuls are digging for gold in the mud.
Plot twist: They confront the horror of Aboriginal dispossession,
and Cornelius is sacked for reporting the slaughter.
Story continues based on a four generations of the Laffey family.
They are all hard working people....told in a very simple style.

Strong point: Cornelius Laffey generation was the most interesting to read about:
Cornelius's feisty wife Jessica ...and his children Nadine (tragic ending)
and George who tries to build his life on a new plot of land at Mango (Kuranda).

Weak point:  I missed the dense writing style when Astley
...drenches her story in metaphors, latin or musical  phrases,
irony, social satire and Catholic Church-bashing!
The book just felt hollow....lacking the elements I've grown to love!

Strong point:  Astely's  female characters give shape to the
possibilities of womanhood:
Jessica Olive (1st gen matriarch)...ends up running a pub
Nadine (Jessica' s daughter) and Chloe of the Dancing Bears
whorehouse treat their business ...as the best way of life!

[Dominic]

To try and get my footing on some solid, recognisable, ground I will start by bring up Richard Flanagan's DEATH OF A RIVER GUIDE. In my reflection of that book I commented that Flanagan was telling the story of Australia through one little family. Before Flanagan, however, Astley told a similar history through a fictitious family in a fictitious town.

In talking of Australian history and culture with travellers from the older parts of the world there is an asterisk hovering over it. Its almost seen as second class in comparison, due to its recency. This is more aligned with the "white settlement" view of history, as its well documented that the country was populated well before the first fleet landed. Not to disregard that side of history, but that first-fleet and consequent colonisation marks a moment where this country was set on its new path to today.

One can write of slaughter and hardship, but its not for me to write about right now. Astley shows a family with roots in this country that are established during colonisation. Right at the start, yet, there is an unsettled state about them. No matter where or what they do, the concept of "home" doesn't stick. Even to the last page, where the youngest generation sets out back North to where it all stared, it is not with a sense of finding home, but just a continued and never ending quest.

Despite its (controversial) youth, Australia does have history. To a lot of people this country represents struggle. Physical struggle against the natural hostility as well as mental struggle of find home.

[Mandy Partridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why hasn't 'Raining in Mango' been made into a film? It's got everything a great film needs- exotic location in far north Queensland, a family history from colonists who witnessed massacres of Aborigines, through the depression with the marching swagmen, world wars, to the modern era where the youngest generation protest the destruction of the remnant rainforest. A daughter works on the outpost's brothel, which is swept out to see in a flood. A survivor of the massacres sneaks back into the town, to carve a life for himself, and his descendants thread through the lives of the settlers. A gay solder loses his stretcher-barer partner in Borneo, and never looks for love again. He rents part of his farm to a 'family' of hippies, who build their shacks and grow weed, and play music, reminding the old man of his youth.
Thea Astley's greatest strength is her treatment of suicide. Her "Descant for Gossips" also dealt with this topic, I called it Australia's "Catcher in the Rye". Intergenerational misunderstandings and homophobia lead to this book's shocking suicide, which this reader did not see coming.
"Raining in Mango" won the Steel Rudd Award, and deservedly so.

[Noah Melser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Focuses on a family over 100 years in north Queensland. Astley's characters have that same slightly distant and unsettled disposition and their low key inconsequential lives are pleasant to observe. It's interesting how she jumps and leaves people, makes it loose and open, and I like that lack of fuss. Yet she has some wam bam passages along the way which makes you just impressed with the writing of it. And such a nice title too.

[Lin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A family saga set in far North Queensland. The story is discontinuous as it begins with the ageing Connie as she looks through the family album, each chapter following a different member of not only the Laffey family but also an indigenous family who interact with the Laffeys. The novel describes the role of women, appalling treatment of the indigenous people but is also humorous and beautifully captures the environment of the north

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this read on a slow weekend; it's the kind of book that draws you into its richly textured prose and stays with you long after you’ve put it down. Thea Astley weaves together generational stories with sharp wit and powerful imagery, offering a reflective, often melancholic lens on Australian history, injustice, and identity. I found it a beautifully written, thought-provoking book perfect for an unhurried, contemplative weekend.