In Moonland

by Miles Allinson

‘A parent’s love for a child, you probably know this yourself, it’s pretty bottomless. It goes down into the guts of the world. But a child’s love for a parent is different. It goes up. It’s more ethereal. It’s not quite present on the earth.’

In present-day Melbourne, a man attempts to piece together the mystery of his father’s apparent suicide, as his young family slowly implodes. At the ashram of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, in 1976, a man searching for salvation must confront his capacity for violence and darkness. And in a not-too-distant future, a woman with a life-altering decision to make travels through a climate-ravaged landscape to visit her estranged father.

In Moonland is a portrait of three generations, each grappling with their own mortality. Spanning the wild idealism of the 70s through to the fragile hope of the future, it is a novel about the struggle for transcendence and the reverberating effects of family bonds. This long-awaited second outing from Miles Allinson, the multi-award-winning author of Fever of Animals, will affirm his reputation as one of Australia’s most interesting contemporary fiction writers, and urge us to see our own political and environmental reality in a new light.

Genres: Fiction, Book Club, Australia, Literary Fiction, Contemporary, Death

256 pages, Paperback

First published August 31, 2021

About the author

MILES ALLINSON is a writer and an artist. He was born in Melbourne in 1981, and has a Bachelor of Creative Arts and a Postgraduate Diploma in Creative Writing from the University of Melbourne, as well as a Masters of Fine Arts (Art in Public Space) from RMIT.

Fever of Animals is his first novel, and won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript in 2014.

Reviews

[Jules · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really loved this book which hits on a lot of my areas of interest, and is just weird enough to challenge me without repelling me. Allinson really sucked me in from the get go and I am always impressed when an author can offer me such an immersive experience.

In Moonland is divided into 4 sections, each with a different character’s perspective. First up is Joe: a new dad and not a great one. Joe’s own father died when he was young and he goes on a self indulgent journey to find out more through reconnecting with his dad’s friends, all fairly colorful characters. Allinson captures ‘70s Melbourne so well (not that I was there for it), the grungy vibes reminded me so much of my dad’s stories that I texted him as I was reading to recommend the book.

This masculine energy evoked something in me - made me feel nostalgic for when I was a teenager devouring Burroughs and Andrew McGahan and whatever else my lit teacher handed me, writing melancholic MySpace blogs, thinking one day I’ll be writer. This isn’t to say this book is like those, it’s just how it made me feel. Beautiful prose, I could have read a whole book from Joe.

Joe’s dad got caught up with the infamous Bhagwan and his cult. We hear from him and his friend in the next couple of sections. I’m fascinated by cults and devoured Wild Wild Country on Netflix. I’m always wanting to get deeper into the psyche of the cult members. Allinson achieves this, from the acknowledgements it seems he has spoken with/knows people involved with this cult. Loved it.

The last section is from the perspective of Joe’s daughter in a sadly not-unrealistic Aussie Handmaid’s Tale/1984 dystopian future of bushfires and government surveillance. Not my usual thing but it’s only a small section and it’s done pretty well.

All in all, super impressed by In Moonland. It’s not a perfect book, but it’s not often a book excites me like this either.

[Jaclyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

At a time when many lit fic writers appear to be all writing variations of the same book, Miles Allinson sweeps back in out of seemingly nowhere, and after a long absence, with another novel of ideas. We don’t get many of those. Allinson is the closest we have in Aus lit to Lerner. IN MOONLAND is a novel about fatherhood, mortality, family mythologies and masculinity. This book is dazzling. The four distinct parts contain their own worlds (contemporary inner city Melbourne, an ashram in India in the 70s, a climate-ravaged near future) and together form a complex and layered whole. Allinson’s interest in stories of the father is revisited here and made me want to re-read FEVER OF ANIMALS. He’s such an interesting writer and I’ll happily follow him anywhere. This is also the cover of the year as far as I’m concerned, designed by the uber talented @al_colps

[Nadia · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. I really don’t know how I feels about this. It was so weird but also I think very well written.

[Lia Perkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt very invested in the plot for the first half but got less interested when it changed perspectives. The inter-generational idea was fun and I think the overall message about society from the 70s to today was interesting, but there were some very dull bits of plot.

[Erin Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jesus Christ how did he fit all that into 250 pages

[Nathan Creed · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed parts of this, but it felt like a mess. The first part of the novel muses on Joe and his father Vincent, and in particular why Vincent maybe or maybe not committed suicide by driving into a bus stop.

The second part concerns Vincent in India exploring redemption for a propensity to violence that may have come from a war, maybe. He believes he finds a new purpose in the Osho Ashram (of recent Netflix fame in the tv show Wild Country) and the novel describes what happened in the ashram to some degree, and I have to give credit here, the writing here was the best, especially concerning the Bagwhan (Osho). But I’m not sure how much of this is the author Miles Allinson and how much is quoted from Osho himself.

The third part felt very out of place and concerned an internal monologue by a friend of Vincent’s, Abhi, or Kurt, describing Joe visiting him to ask about his father Vincent and his time in India. This part was frustrating and I’m not even sure what the point of this was, as I don’t feel I got any more about Joe or Vincent or anyone. Although this section is very short.

The fourth part had so much potential, and really needed to tie the whole novel together. It is set thirty years in the future and is about Joe’s daughter Sylvie travelling to see him to tell him she is pregnant. Apparently Australia has been ravaged by climate change, but this isn’t expanded on. Apparently Sylvie and Joe are estranged but this isn’t expanded on except to allude the reason to his earlier trip to India to find out about his father. I couldn’t really tell what affection Sylvie has for her father or mother (her mother who raised her on her own), and there were hints Sylvie had genuinely happy times with her father that were maybe suppressed, but yeah. This whole part felt like it needed to be much longer, and to relate to the other parts of the novel.

Because by the end, it felt like nothing was learned or resolved. There were some questions about parenthood and masculinity, but they didn’t feel properly explored, and it left me with the impression that the author Miles Allinson isn’t really sure what he is trying to say here.

Men fight. New parenthood is hard. Our opinions of our parents are conflicted. But we already know this. I wanted to feel something about it, and I don’t think I got this from this novel, which promised so much, and kind of felt lost in its own way, and unfinished.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a lot that is promising about this author.
His prose is sharp and sparkling.

In Moonland somewhat missed for me. The book is organized into sections that are told in different voices and different timeframes. Pretty much, Present, Past. Future.

When his own daughter is born, Joe starts a journey to recover facts about his father's life, and maybe understand why he committed suicide in his 40s. Joe (the son) loses all perspective, leaves his wife and young daughter as he embarks on a trip to the past. Obsessed and damaged (not to mention a rotten partner and father), he tries to untangle the mess of his father's life and his own. Spoiler: he doesn't.

Vincent, the father, takes us into his past and especially the time spent in Osho's ashram in Pune, where something happens that derails him even further than the damage he had already endured.

And the future is given to us by Joe's abandoned daughter, Sylvie.

Everyone in this book is damaged, wounded, and compulsive. Ugh.

As I said, the prose is enticing. But the story fails to deliver. These are character studies, not a satisfying narrative. I really didn't care about any of these damaged and dysfunctional people.

Not for me.

[Marie Monark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting read. With its roots in Melbourne, I really liked how I could clearly picture the references of the different areas as it really painted a clear picture in my head. I didn't like, however, the first character we're introduced to - Joe. While I understand his want to know why his father, Vincent, (may have) committed suicide, I was far more interested in Vincent's story than Joe's 'investigation.' The most alluring section of the book was part two when we finally got to hear Vincent's story. Honestly, I would've preferred if this section took up most space, as it was the catalyst of the whole story and was actually interesting and (maybe this is not a good thing..) relatable. Part Three and Part Four, where we get in the minds of Vincent's ailing friend, Abhi, and Joe's daughter, Sylvia, respectively, felt a bit detached from the rest of the story.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

All those of us who have lost a parent know the anguish of wanting to ask just one more question.  I lost both my parents within 18 months of each other just a few years ago and I still feel new to this grief thing, so I'm not sure of this... but I think that the desire to ask is not really about knowing something that we neglected to ask, it's more about wanting to have them back.  We think that knowing the parent's past will somehow anchor us, but I suspect that the sense of feeling adrift isn't resolved by facts and information.  I kept thinking about this as I read Miles Allinson's absorbing new novel In Moonland. 

This is how it begins:

In March 1996, a few months before he drove into a tram stop, my father bought an old Ford Torino with the money he'd won on a horse called Holy Moly.  He was a fast, erratic driver, and it made him happy for a while, that car — the roar of it, the faded yellow phoenix on the black bonnet, the way the road seemed to open up for him.  He hated traffic, but when all the lights are green, you can slide through the universe like a spirit without a body.  Then things started to go wrong, and he had to spend a lot of money trying to fix them.

I was seventeen years old when it happened. (p.3)

At the time, speculation about the crash involved a suspicion that Vince was trying to crash and claim the car insurance.  No one really thought then that he was trying to kill himself.  But as the years go by, Joe is not so sure.

... my father died before we could ask him what he'd been thinking. But I also know that it's possible to think or feel a number of contradictory things at the same time and to act decisively anyway.  Maybe he didn't know which of the possible outcomes he preferred, death or insurance, maybe they were both okay in that moment, and what he really wanted was the thrill of sudden fate bearing down on him again.  I think he had been unhappy for most of my life.  (pp.4-5)

Joe's father Vincent was a difficult blend of fond father and angry man, prone to outbursts of violence and fury.  His mother isn't forthcoming about why this might be so, and so Joe (who narrates most of this story) knows very little about the man.

When he's too immature and selfish to do his share of parenting, Joe becomes a father himself and this is the catalyst for a renewed interest in his father's life.  The poignant irony is that his quest to find out more about the life of his own absent parent, makes him an absent parent to his daughter Sylvie.  Her narrative in the last part of the book takes place in a ghastly climate-changed future, and it is unbearably sad.  It's a vivid wake-up call to everyone about the future of the planet that future generations will have to inhabit, unless action is taken now.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2021/08/22/i...

[Jennifer (JC-S) · Rating 3 out of 5]

That’s how it all started. I didn’t expect things to turn out the way they did.’

When Joe’s daughter Sylvie was born, he wants to learn more about his own father, who died when Joe was seventeen. His father died in a car accident and Joe has never been sure whether it was deliberate. It takes Joe a while to approach some of his father’s old friends, to learn about the life he (and they) lived during the 1970s. Joe’s journey into the past takes him away from his wife Sarah and Sylvie.

We undertake part of this journey with Joe’s father Vincent (Part Two) when he ends up in Pune at the ashram of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. He’s drifting, as many people did then, in search of meaning and the purpose of life. But Vincent has a capacity for violence which derails him. And in Part Three, Joe catches up with his father’s friend Abbie and learns more about Vincent’s life.

And while Joe learns about Vincent’s life, his own marriage moves from indifference to failure and Sylvie grows up.

In the final part of the novel, set in fragile future, Sylvie is an adult. She travels west, to where Joe runs a caravan park for old people. She has something to tell him, which she does as she leaves.
What makes people give up the present for a return into a past which cannot give them the answers they are seeking? How can Joe’s desire/need/wish to learn more about his dead father be more important than helping to shape the life of his daughter Sylvie? In trying to disentangle the mess of Vincent’s life, Joe seems to sacrifice his own opportunities.

Oh, I understand regret and the desire to make sense out of seemingly mysterious events in the past. But not at the cost of the present and a possible future. The timeframes reflect this: while I never really embraced the alternative life possibilities of the 1970s, I appreciate the influence they had on many. But hedonism comes at a cost. I don’t think that either Vincent or Joe understood the consequences of their choices. And, Sylvie, with fewer choices than either of them. I wonder what she will make of her life?

While I did not enjoy this story, it has certainly left me thinking.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

[Pence08 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed Miles Allinson's writing very much and found myself turning the pages of In Moonland with regular enthusiasm. However, I'm not sure how much of the story will stick with me. Maybe that's because I didn't connect with the characters to any great extent. And while I was a little intrigued about Eastern mysticism when I was young, as the author points out, perhaps the 'fantasy' is much greater than the reality can be in practice. This is made clear in the juxtaposition of peace/enlightenment and violence/purgation during the excellent 'climactic' moments in Pune during which answers are seemingly provided, though for me, they only served to raise new questions. Not that I mind that!
Allinson is capable of writing breathtaking sentences that stopped me for all the right reasons after I read them. He's also capable of great insight...
'Isn’t that the purpose of friendship — not only to mythologise, but also to understand the truth of the myth?'
And humour...
'I cannot stand the music of Joni Mitchell. She annoys the sh!t out of me.'
Ultimately, my takeaway from In Moonland is to remember the importance of learning from the past rather than living in it.

[Erin Levy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really loved parts 1 - 3, found 4 a bit lacking in the end but beautifully written all the way through

[Lady Drinkwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting book where the author investigates his dead father's involvement in the Osho sect. As somebody who has been involved in new religious movements, I thought he got the tone just right. Although obviously a lot of weird stuff went on, there are still moments of joy and you see that searching for the divine and a more genuine way of living is not such a bad thing, as shown in particular at the end of the book where a depressing dystopian future is described.

[Karen Chiang · Rating 5 out of 5]

“He hadn’t wanted to admit how incredibly lonely he had been the last few weeks, tromping around by himself, looking at everything but never feeling like he was touching anything.”

An incredible little number that showed, not told. Through a breadcrumb trail of sights and senses, the book let the reader piece together how easily people come together and fall apart, how fragile the human heart is, and truly how primal our filial devotion can be.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Scribe Publications]

[A]n ambitious and gripping story of parenthood, utopias and environmental collapse … In Moonland is an astounding book that feels so epic in scope for a novel that is only 240-odd pages long. Fans of Allinson’s first book have much to look forward to with his second, a skilful and existential examination of humanity in the Anthropocene.
Brad Jefferies, Books + Publishing

This is a terrific novel about fatherhood, mortality, the unreliability of family stories and the fractured nature of reality.
ANZ LitLovers

Anxious, elegiac, dreamlike … It’s really about freedom, about characters searching for something to believe in before they jettison the rest. It reads like a requiem — for family, planet, hope for the future — bittersweet and played for laughs, last drinks after the funeral … The lesson of this book about freedom might be that self-sufficiency doesn’t exist — that freedom is other people.
Imogen Dewey, The Guardian

[S]tunning … A novel in parts, traversing three generations and multiple viewpoints, In Moonland is a meditation on family, emotional inheritance, memory and belief. It’s also about the power of the stories we tell ourselves about who we are and where we come from: how, rather than reflecting an objective truth, they can shape, trap and free us. And while its ideas and structure are complex, Allinson’s prose reads with the ease of a knife through warm butter, at times echoing the crisp, wry vulnerability of Helen Garner.
Jo Case, InDaily

A novel that plumbs the vicissitudes of what we call family and what we call love … It is the work of a novelist more in touch with the potential of the form than I have seen in a long time. For this reason, it achieves something that might be called artistic: it reads as an intervention into our times, not as a symptom of it.
Jeremy George, Readings


[In Moonland] is beautifully told … and heart rending in its accumulation of losses that can never be retrieved and dreams that can never be realised.
Barry Reynolds, The Herald Sun

In Moonland is not only beautifully and fluently written, but paced with expertise and subtlety … [Miles Allinson has] the mark of an empathetic person capable of piercing artistic insight [and] In Moonland polishes this insight to jewel-like quality, and lingers, beautifully, after its plot has passed away.
Vanessa Francesca , ArtsHub, starred review

A joy to read, with its relaxed authority of tone, its complex emotional depths, and its curious, daring beauty.
Helen Garner

A story of our hearts, all broken, full, mystifying. Observant, sublime prose.
Tara June Winch, author of The Yield

Wild, tender, fatalistically hilarious, and utterly enthralling. Allinson’s complex insight and love for the people of this novel renders them as real as difficult kin and just as inescapable.
Josephine Rowe, author of Here Until August

A thrilling novel about filial obedience, yearning, and failing that shows three wildly different journeys, exposing the battered and bulging heart that propels each. Like the best, it has me wondering how my own heart is propelled.
Tim Rogers

In Moonland contains everything I want from a novel. It’s heart-breaking, funny, ruthless, and in the final section takes an enormous risk that works so perfectly that any other conclusion seems impossible. I love a finely turned sentence, and this book is awash with them.
Robert Gott, author of The Orchard Murders

[Rém · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I read the blurb for In Moonland, I was excited to read something vastly different from anything I had seen from contemporary adult fiction. Adult fiction is, in general, primarily hit or miss - with many authors seemingly writing the same story with mild variations. There are only so many mid-aged self-discoveries I can handle at once.

However, as I began reading, I wasn't initially planning on giving In Moonland a particularly good review. The novel starts incredibly slow and drags itself out to the point where I was genuinely going to give up. This is In Moonland's most significant fault, and the reason why it took so long for me to finish in the first place; it waffles around for quite a while before entering its main standout point, and this is a detriment to Allinson's overall writing. Around the halfway mark, the pacing picks up slightly from there, as does the narrative overall. Vincent, Joe's father, goes to Pune in India and ends up at the ashram of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. We can see the threads of cult indoctrination and manipulation begin to seed and the disastrous after-effects. Once this section of In Moonland was introduced, I found it compelling enough to devour in a manner of days. It was exciting and well researched. Allinson masterfully displays the methods cults use to manipulate and influence prospective and current members, as well as the long-lasting trauma caused after someone has left or been excommunicated from a cult.

The last section of In Moonland follows Joe's daughter, Sylvie. Sylvie travels across a near-future Australia to meet up with Joe again, with whom she has a strained relationship. While not as compelling as Vincent's section, Sylvie's recounting of authoritarian, dystopia-Australia was an unexpected tonal change from the previous sections. However, the continuous theme around the flawed and not-so-beautiful aspects of human experience threaded through these last few pages. Similarly, the relationship between parent and child continued, which - without spoiling anything - was a welcome surprise.

Overall, In Moonland is a decent read and one where Allinson certainly stands out from his contemporaries. However, getting past the first good chunk of the book is a slog, and whether other readers view Vincent and Sylvie's narratives as reward enough is up for debate.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a joy to read an Australian novel that isn't a coming of age story. Dare I say, if you enjoyed Mayflies by Andrew O'Hagan perhaps this Australian lens of family and fatherhood and chasing pure love might be for you.

[lyny · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Would rate 3.5) New Australian novel by a young novelist recommended on a number of end of year authors’ lists. It is a somewhat strange novel in four parts that each take up the related story from the perspective of a different character, and a different time. In the initial part, set in Melbourne in the present, Joe, semi-estranged husband of Sarah and father of a young toddler Sylvie, is struck at a funeral by the desire to know more about his father Vincent who had committed suicide some time earlier by driving a car fast into a tram concrete barrier. He decides to try to contact old friends to find out more about the story of his father’s childhood, and time in India when he seemed very happy in a photo, and more about the marriage with his mother (who is now remarried and a semi-alcoholic), which Joe remembers as a mix, with some violent times as well as times he felt close to him. He gets glimpses of different relationships and of some mystery relating to the time in India on an ashram. What those who really liked this novel appreciated is its originality in keeping more than one perspective afloat and not resolving them, and its somewhat dreamlike quality. It also is enjoyable for its evocation of the 70s, both in Melbourne and in India. It is well written, though I flagged a bit in part three which was a second take on the hippie period in India. What comes across is the yearning of all the characters for better relationships and their inability to make these work. The accounts of the Bagwhan cult show some of the dangerous rituals and exploitation and rich lifestyle of the leader for which it is subsequently known, but also through the men’s eyes, the way his message and presence genuinely spoke to them and seemed to provide something they needed. The writing didn’t allow one of these perspectives on this to overpower the other.

[Jennifer Elliott · Rating 4 out of 5]

A family saga, spoken by three members from different generations:Vincent Joe and Sylvie.
Vincent comes to life through his son Joe, as he has passed away in a car accident that was either an accident or a deliberate act of suicide of a depressed man.
Joe develops a need to know more about his father after the birth of Sylvie, and visits Vincent's friends, including Abhi who met Vincent through swami Bahgwan in Bombay. Joe never finds out the truth of his father's involvement in the death of another participant, where Vincent lost an important relationship with a woman, as well as his place in the swami's company that may have led to his later depression and risk taking behaviour.
In the most recent chapter the purpose of Sylvie's visit to Joe at his home in a caravan park is to let him know about her pregnancy. They have trouble communicating and Sylvie has trouble relating to Joe's life style with the odd assortment of people who stay in his caravan park.
The description of life in India with Bahgwan is lovingly told, explaining the potential life for Vincent, a new start with love and happiness, that he then lost after assaulting a man and being sent home to protect Bahgwan's reputation. The rituals came alive for me, along with the filth and grime of life in India.
This is an interesting read, revealing the way family members can be unable to know the whole truth of each others lives and experience, even when they want it and need it. Good read, well researched and described recent history of decades of charge, highly recommended.

[Stephen Whiteside · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book in four days. That is fast for me. There is no question that it grabbed me by the throat, and did not let me go until I had finished - by which time I was on the verge of tears. That, surely, is the principal test of any book.

That said, I did find the book frustrating and unsatisfying in many ways. I do understand that flawed characters are the key to great literature, but the principal characters in this book were so flawed and...well...weak (yes, I know, who am I to judge?) that it was downright depressing. I just wanted to shake them by the neck and say, "Come on. Face the truth, and get on with things. Yes, I know, it's not nice, but things will be a lot less nice if you don't." And of course they were.

The writing is incredibly skilled, no question, and felt very post-modern in the way that it jumped around between time periods and perspectives. I surprised myself by being able to cope with it all, but a single paragraph lasting for over twenty pages was a bit much, I thought.

The contemporary cultural references were fun, and there is quite a lot of humour in the book, especially early on. Some of my favourite movies got a mention - Interstellar, Blade Runner (both the original and the sequel) and Terminator 2. Much of the book is set in the Melbourne suburb of Elwood, which was a refreshing change for a Melbournite.

"In Moonland" is powerful, moving, brilliantly written...and yet somehow rather irritating.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this story. On the one hand it was engaging enough to keep me reading from where I left off each time but on the other it did seem to meander along and feel somehow meaningless and transient. The characters were interesting in an abstract kind of way where you never truly got to know them properly. Their feelings and emotions were often held at arm’s length from the reader and their depths were never really plumbed to the reader’s satisfaction. I think I found Vincent and Abbie’s time in the Ashram of most interest. But again, I never felt fully cognisant of the real relationship between the two and what became of it over the years. I wanted to know more. The irony of the obscene wealth eventually bestowed on Bhagwan was not lost on me - faith and spirituality might get you a spot in heaven but loads of money is what makes the world go round!
The layout of the story split into different perspectives was imaginative, I think, but more could have been harvested from each view. I suppose the reader needed to sometimes intuit the meanings, feelings and intentions throughout. I would’ve liked a better sense of closure in the storylines of Vincent, Abbie and Joe and not just the superficial bare bones that are thrown to the reader.
An odd story but I did like it.

[James King · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating and heartfelt multi-generational character study, showing how parents impact their children.

Joe's dad is a short tempered dreamer, who never got over the time he spent at an ashram in India as a youth; the failure of the rest of his life to match this period contributes to his failures as a parent. Joe's obsession with trying to understand his father cause his own trip to India, and neglect of his own daughter; a midlife crisis that he never recovers from. In the final section, the daughter, Sylvia, tries to reconcile Joe's behaviour against her own developing pregnancy.

The book is either sad, or hopeful, depending on your perspective. It does show successive generations of parents messing up their kids, with consequences carried forward to the next generation. But it does also seem that the messiness reduces with each iteration; maybe Sylvia's child, if she has it, will be ok.

An elegant and empathetic novel, that concisely sketches a number of relaistic characters.

[Naomi Shippen · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Moonland tells the story of three generations, ranging from 1970s Australia until the not-too-distant future. The story is told in four parts from multiple points of view, and is about the current generation struggling to find connection and answers from the one that came before.

I was captivated by the meandering, lyrical prose from the opening chapters with Joe trying to make sense of the untimely death of his father, Vincent. A lost soul who doesn’t seem to have much traction in the world, Joe not so much abandons his young family, rather he seems to drift away. Joe travels to India to meet his father’s friend, Abbey, who he hopes will give him some insights into who is father really was. While Joe doesn’t seem to find many answers, he stays on to care for a dying Abbey, and never returns to his family.

The four year old daughter Joe left behind re-enters the story as an adult, on a quest to find connection with her own father. She takes a road trip to visit him in the remote caravan park he runs, in the hopes of gaining some fatherly insight into a difficult decision she must make. Pragmatic and self-reliant, Sylvia skates along the surface of a ruined world in futuristic Australia, not expecting much of life or the father who abandoned her when she was small. There is no mystery for her about who her father is: she sees him with sardonic clarity.

In Moonland is a thoughtful, introspective story about spiritual distress and the trauma one generation can leave on another. It is interesting that after two generations of quixotic men, the story ends with a woman who aspires to nothing more than survival. Accepting the world as it is, she learns to make it her home, in preparation for the generation that is to come.

[Don Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmm. This is certainly an original novel, describing three generations of one family, from the 1970s to about 2040, certainly a time in the dystopian future. I enjoyed the first half of the book, concerning a man with a young family, who was searching out the story of his father, who died aged forty-three of suicide. Apparently the father’s significant past was his time spent in an Indian ashram, with all sorts of weird adventures. The last part of the novel, set in the future, I found less satisfactory and wondered what the third generation (daughter) would experience. I must check out other reviews of this book.

[Tenielle Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book for its honest exploration of intergenerational trauma. Each part focuses on a different character's journey of self-discovery as they try to reconcile the unresolved issues of their past with their aimless present and future. They search for a place of belonging in a fucked-up world and in the process reveal more questions about themselves than answers. However, by rebelling against societal expectations, each character continues a vicious cycle of neglecting those around them and inflicting the same damage they are attempting to heal from.

This is written beautifully and deals with complex themes so cleverly. It was a joy to read despite the confronting subject matter.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting piece of Australian experimental fiction, written from four different interacting perspectives from the 1970s to the 2050s. I certainly wasn't expecting a deep dive into the controversial Osho cult, but Allinson has done a great job in showing how that era of alternative psychologies/spiritualities and politics has fed into the heritage we come from and created the zeitgeist we have today, and how it will ultimately transform as we enter an uncertain future. The first section of this book is particularly good, with some devastatingly beautiful prose - it's so genuine and deeply affecting.

[Kerren Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Above all else, this is a book about intergenerational trauma. At least three generations of suffering in Joe’s family plus the trauma gifted to Abbie by his father.

It’s parts are interestingly distinct, I enjoyed all bar Part 3. That stream of consciousness structure does not work for me. Part 4 came as a complete surprise, initially I struggled to understand its purpose. In addition to the despair about the failing direction of liberal democracy, it’s this part where the passing of trauma, like a baton, becomes so clear.

[Edward · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this novel. A central theme is the love between parents and children. Parents love their children completely. However, a child's love for their parents is represented to be more transactional and sporadic. The novel covers three generations. For most of the novel I read it compulsively. The central character's father committed suicide and his son worked at finding out why and what happened. The end of novel lost me as the third generation ended up in a dystopian Australia that I found unsettling.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last of my Australian Fiction reading for this trip (back "home" to Melbourne)... Fascinating structure to this book, weaving several generations trying to find meaning and purpose, with the first generation being a few who got caught up in the Indian guru Rajneesh/Bhagwan commune of the late 70s. You get to see the effects of that on two generations after theirs, as children try to understand their parents who have mostly gone missing and have neglected to explain what happened to themselves during those years.