Locust Girl: A Lovesong

by Merlinda Bobis

Most everything has dried up: water, the womb, even the love among lovers. Hunger is rife and survival desperate, except across the border. One night, a village is bombed for attempting to cross the border. Nine-year old Amedea is buried underground and sleeps to survive. Ten years later, she wakes with a locust embedded in her brow. A magical fable, this is a girl's journey through devastation and humanity's contemporary wound: the border. Deeply ingrained in both the system and individual lives, the border has cut the human heart. So, how do we repair it with the story of a small life? This is the Locust Girl's dream, her lovesong—For those walking to the border for dear life, and those guarding the border for dear life.

Genres: Fiction, Australia, Read For School, Dystopia, Fantasy

183 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

Merlinda Bobis is an award-winning contemporary Philippine-Australian writer who has had 4 novels, 6 poetry books and a collection of short stories published, and 10 dramatic works performed. For her, ‘Writing visits like grace. Its greatest gift is the comfort if not the joy of transformation. In an inspired moment, we almost believe that anguish can be made bearable and injustice can be overturned, because they can be named. And if we’re lucky, joy can even be multiplied a hundredfold, so we may have reserves in the cupboard for the lean times.’

Born in Tabaco in the Philippines province of Albay, Merlinda Bobis attended Bicol University High School then completed her B.A. at Aquinas University in Legazpi City. She holds post-graduate degrees from the University of Santo Tomas and University of Wollongong where she taught Creative Writing for 21 years. She now lives and writes on Ngunnawal land (Canberra, Australia).

Her literary awards include the 2016 Christina Stead Prize for Fiction NSW Premier's Literary Award for her novel 'Locust Girl. A Lovesong'; three Philippine National Books Awards (2016: 'Locust Girl', 2014: 'Fish-Hair Woman', 2000: 'White Turtle'); 2013 MUBA: 'Fish-Hair Woman'; 2000 Steele Rudd Award for the Best Published Collection of Australian Short Stories: 'White Turtle'; 2006 Philippine National Balagtas Award for her poetry and prose (in English, Filipino and Bikol); 1998 Prix Italia, 1998 Australian Writers' Guild Award and 1995 Ian Reed Radio Drama Prize for her play 'Rita's Lullaby'; three Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards in Literature Poetry Category (2016: Second prize, 1989: Second, 1987: First). Her poetry collection, 'Accidents of Composition' was Highly Commended for the 2018 ACT Book of the Year.

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Locust Girl is such an exciting find, I hardly know where to start…

Bobis has written an astonishing allegory, one that grew, surely, out of those infamous words: We will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come.

In an unspecified place at an unspecified time in the future, a privileged people police the border to their lush enclave so that the undeserving on the other side must survive in a parody of equality on meagre rations in a drab, futureless environment. The rulers justify their actions by blaming those on the outside as impure, inferior people who have brought their troubles on themselves.

From this unsettling political premise, Bobis has woven a beautiful, compelling story. In the dry dust of the desert, the girl Amedea ekes out an existence with her father…

To read the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2015/10/22/lo...

[Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love this book so beautiful and heart wrenching white people on the reviews who said that they can't understand a thing can choke bc of course they won't really understand a thing

[Cecilie Birkshøj · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tror den ville være god hvis jeg forstod den

[Mims Reilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book sent to me from a dear family friend in the Philippines, written by a Filipino-Australian-Merlinda Bobis is now one of my favourite authors. This book was beautifully poetic, with a captivating story. I can't wait to read more of her work.

[Josefine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Actual rating: 1.5 stars

Had some good writing here and there but that's about it. Very confusing, didn't really get it. Hope that will change after the lecture this coming semester.

[Aida Mae Perez · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is about a futuristic nightmare -- imagine life with no trees and no animals. No love that people would wake up for. No colors, a pure monochrome. Everything is equal; political. And you're one of the strays waiting for a so called blessing of a sand porridge and locust.

I'm not really sure if my little mind understood what the book was about, but this gave me hope and heartache. It speaks a lot about the sad reality of our culture.

Anyway, I recommend this to young people who are exploring different perspectives through art!

[Moonbeam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t really know if I have the right to grade this at 2 stars. But fuck it, I really didn’t understand what I’ve read half of the time. This book is probably too deep for me and I struggled to complete it.

I can imagine literary critics may like this book but I guess it’s either I didn’t like the theme or the writing was too advanced for me. I liked the cover though.

[Calzean · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Stars for enjoyment, 5 Stars for the craftsmanship.
Bobis spins a magical tale, surreal in its penmanship of a future world where the few hold onto the remaining sources of water and food, and control of the plebs via violence and strict laws. At times this read like an adult fairy tale with the hero being a girl who slept for 10 years, a deformed leader and magic realism abounding.
A strange book, challenging to read.

[Jill N · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a prize-winning piece of nonsense, in my opinion. I forced myself to read the whole 179 pages to search for a reason to uphold the 2016 NSW Literary award it claimed. No story. Words leading to nowhere in particular. Probably the worst book I've ever bothered wasting my time on. Sorry, I cannot tell you what this book is about - it's just too weird. I mean, who walks around with a locust in their brow? Who sleeps under a pile of bodies for ten years and wakes up?

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Difficult to read and quite strange. I get the point the author was making but I didn't really connect. Well written with beautiful descriptions and a lead character who lead to some hope for the future, if you were an optimistic person.

[Mark Alpheus · Rating 3 out of 5]

What greater plague is there
Than what we do to each other
What greater love is there
Than what we do for each other

[aleyi !! · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 ⭐ The book made me question a lot of what I was reading, especially because the descriptions of certain items and even people were very intense. Even before I read it, I knew this book had some sort of political element to it. I love reading books that challenge political viewpoints and this one reminded me a lot of Fahrenheit 451.

- In Fahrenheit 451, you can't read or own books because they challenge the actions of the government and they reveal historical events that citizens could eventually use against the government.
- In Locust Girl: A Lovesong, you aren't allowed to sing. Weird concept but it felt very refreshing to read. In this world, the government is called the Five Kingdoms and they forbid singing because they believe it could lead to revolutionary changes and they don't like that.
Then, Ameda meets Beenabe, whose town allowed them to have colored music boxes that SANG to them the laws.

I'd also like to point out that there is a locust embedded in her brow, which people use to distinguish her from "normal people," and they treat her differently because of it. She's often outcasted from her community simply because of this locust.

The end was amazing. I felt a sort of relief come over me as Ameda burned up in flames and TRANSFORMED into a locust because, slowly, her revolutionary thoughts, were eating at her.

[Octavia Cade · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's no other to describe this but strange, I think - it's beautifully, compellingly eerie. I don't quite know whether or not it's magical realism, but it feels as if it ought to be, containing as it does fantastical elements that illuminate political response, this case to environmental change. A nine year old refugee goes to sleep for ten years and wakes up with a locust embedded in her forehead; she wanders the desert, making friends, seeing them all exploited and mostly burnt alive, and in the end... well. I don't want to spoil it.

Admittedly, this is a difficult book. It's so very abstract that half the time I'm only guessing as to what's going on, and to just how much can be traced back to the influence of a contemporary world. It's hard not to read some of what happens here as an analogue for nuclear warfare and radiation, but even so I'm not sure that's accurate. I think the key point is sterilisation; the searing of a land and a people, in order that others may thrive. Which is a deeply unfair and tragic thing, as Bobis so clearly feels, but the horror of it all is somewhat mitigated by the dreamy, beautiful prose.

[shan ಇ. · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5 ⭐️ but I’m rating it a 5 because it’s closer to that than it is a 4.

What a brilliant book. I read through this like butter! It actually got me out of my reading slump. Though there were some parts that were foggy to make out of, the rest of the story is tangible enough to know what’s happening and I think it’s there that we find the beauty of this novel. The strangeness and post-apocalyptic nature of this work really resonates with the world we live in now. Easily one of my favorite reads this year.

Also, I see many people struggling to understand this book but I find that Filipino readers instantly get the impression the piece is making. That alone, I think, reverberates the concept of the strays and the singers of the novel. I recommend everyone to give this book a read, but I especially recommend it for Filipinos.

[Myra Scholze · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Love is clumsy, because it has so many hands"

3.5/5 stars

Lotus Girl is a harrowing tale of love and home and displacement. I think. I'm not actually sure what exactly it's about, but that's what I gathered from it.

It's interesting and heartbreaking and thought-provoking. I enjoyed the prose and the imagery, even if I didn't always understand them.

Considering it in context of the Australian refugee situation was also eye opening. There is much to be said about segregation and displacement as the climate changes and resources become more scarce.

[☽｡⋆ Shells (jlreads_) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 ⭐️


Locust Girl presented various themes and imaginary representation to present and masked scenery in a simple yet vague kind of way through Amadea’s perspective as a child.

This book just not tackled about trauma but also ecological and humanitarian subjects that needed to be voice out not just in this fictional story but also in today’s world that is still very rampant. It does not just tackled the loss of war but also trauma that comes along within it.

Overall this is a worldly concerned story that everyone should read.

[Gwen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ahahaha. Goddamn. I'm so sad about the ending. I was honestly hoping that this book would end on a slightly positive note, but I guess Bobis knows how to stir the heartstrings in the most painful, metaphorical ways. What a beautiful story. Some of the ruminations I have, I'll share later on perhaps.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grabe sobrang ganda… the biblical/prophetic imagery and voice that cut through the politics of dependency, border crises, and cultural violence, all in a narrative that excites as well as it incises….

My second Bobis. She’s amazing.

[amyleigh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. This was fairly okay in terms of a dystopian novel but I just am kinda over the end of the world ya know...

[Kat Foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such an awesome story. Bobis really gets into the mindset of a child

[pfctdayelise · Rating 1 out of 5]

What I learned is "political fable" is really not my jam.

[Jeremiah · Rating 4 out of 5]

It read like a short story, very quick but it didnt linger as much as it could have. It could easily be a 5/5 if it gave itself more time.
Very charming in a sort of Le Guin Hanish cycle way.

[Diletta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Romanzo assurdo e bello. Un linguaggio complesso ma allo stesso tempo lapidario, capace di raccontare con delicatezza la violenza, la morte e la rinascita.

[Pegaunimoose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Utterly incredible I’ve never read anything like it. This book will stay with me for a long time

[Laur · Rating 4 out of 5]

a surreal dystopia with an unsure open ending
weird and i liked it

[Bill Brydon · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘Those are their stories, their own devastation. All other stories and devastation must be forgotten, like they never happened. But not theirs, no, they never forget their own for good, even if they happened once upon a time. Here, they want only a momentary forgetting for rest.

As in The White Turtle, Merlinda spins words that grip you in the face of "strays" crossing borders.

"It was not long before the whispers grew audible. There were six of them, trading in rumours. Only rumours. For how else could they have known this much in a landscape of mostly drab brown? ‘Red,’ the first mouth whispered to the second ear, who whispered back, ‘Red flowers,’ and then passed on the next colour to the third in line: ‘Orange.’ ‘Orange birds,’ the third mouth whispered back and, to the fourth, passed on: ‘Blue.’ ‘Blue sky,’ the fourth mouth whispered back and, to the fifth, passed on: ‘Yellow.’ ‘Yellow fields,’ the fifth mouth whispered back and, to the last, whispered: ‘Green.’ All grew silent. ‘Green trees,’ someone eventually answered and all opened their eyes. Fearfully they looked around. Then ‘steal’ and ‘dreams’ floated in the air like disembodied words as if no mouth had spoken them. Then the light was discreetly extinguished. My brow kept listening to what remained unsaid."

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poetic apocalyptic vision of the world, where the Earth is reduced to a wasteland, with refugees living in a desert, with little water or food. Nine year old Amedea is buried underground and goes to sleep in order to survive. 10 years later, she emerges with a singing locust embedded in her forehead. She and her rescuer, Beenabe, trek through the desert to find the land of trees, water and food. Quite impenetrable as a story.

[Maureen]

I am a judge for the 2015 Aurealis Awards. This review is my personal opinion and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of any judging panel, the judging coordinator or the Aurealis Awards management team. To be safe, I won't be recording my thoughts (if I choose to) here until after the Aurealis Awards are over.

[Michael O'Donnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A hard read. It told a story in the simplest of terms. Monochrome or colour. Outside of horror looking in to those causing the horror. Even if it was the last haven it had no morals. An allegory.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The descriptions of desolation are rich and thoughtful, which truly speaks to Bobis' style. Quite melodic and heartfelt.